The Dark Comedy About a Man Who Can Make Things Disappear Inside His Butt

The headline above is not a misprint. There, in fact, exists a film about a man whose penchant for sticking things into his butt makes him a type of supervillain with a hard-boiled detective in hot pursuit. The movie in question is the 2020 horror comedyButt Boy, the directorial debut of writer Tyler Cornack, adapted from an earlier comedy sketch into a feature-length film. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2019 and stars Cornack in the leading role of IT specialist and family man Chip Gutchel. Chip develops a compulsive disorder after a routine rectal examination and is shocked, or perhaps thrilled to learn, that anything he inserts into his rectum instantly disappears. His obsession quickly escalates as everyday household objects disappear, and this expands to include household pets and, oh my god, yes, even people. This entirely juvenile and surprisingly excellent movie is technically quite sharp from a screen-writing perspective and so unbelievably audacious in a see-it-to-believe-it kind of way that the film deserves to be on any horror comedy fan’s next watch.

What Is ‘Butt Boy’ About?

Chip is a depressed family man unappreciated at his job and seemingly baby-bound to an unloving and miserable wife. He languishes in a type of pathetic man’s limbo, watching his wife, Anne (Shelby Dash), excitedly talk on the phone to her secret boyfriend as he reclines in defeated repose on his couch. The trappings of family life seem to have taken its toll on the couple, with his wife deeply resentful for cutting off her youth by becoming a mother far too early, seemingly ungrateful for the life they have built together. To make matters worse, Chip is getting on in years and needs to check in with the doctor for his yearly rectal exam. However, things take a turn during the examination when Chip finds out he really likes it when things go inside his bum. That night, after his wife leaves, Chip goes on a spree where he inserts everything he can into his rectum: the remote, the family dog and, strangely enough, a young boy who happens to be the son of Detective Russel Fox (Tyler Rice).

It turns out that anything that goes inside Chip seemingly stays there and disappears forever, and this super kink makes Chip feel good about himself. The more stuff he inserts into himself, the more powerful the man becomes. But he is a family man after all, and the guilt he feels over the missing child propels him to go to AA, unbeknownst to his wife, where he lies about his addiction and, unfortunately, makes the acquaintance of the hard-drinking Detective Fox. The disappearance of his child has ruined Fox’s marriage and life. Then another child disappears, this time to “take your kid to work day” at Chip’s office, where Detective Fox is assigned. Detective Fox becomes suspicious of Chip’s involvement with the disappearances, prompting an investigation into Chip, who struggles to keep his condition hidden until the showdown between the two, where the full ramifications of Chip’s obsession are laid bare in what is likely to be one of the most comedically disturbing climaxes ever.

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Why Is ‘Butt Boy’ a Must-See Comedy?

Questions, of course, abound, like who financed this film and why anyone should watch it, which are admittedly great questions. Butt Boy is one of the most bonkers movies ever made. It’s safe to say that the film was a labor of love for its creators. According to Cornack in an interview with Caution Spoilers, the low-budget independent (the film cost a paltry $150,000) feature was developed out of an earlier comedy sketch. Cornack says,

“Yeah, it started as a sketch, but the original sketch itself had the serious rhythm and tone to it all. So it was already set in stone – the joke was, in fact, how seriously we took it. And then the more we talked about the characters, and expanding the world, and their lifestyles, it just became more and more serious, and we just figured we could see how far we could take that.”

And they certainly took it far and, in doing so, created one very weird movie. The film is undoubtedly juvenile and so unbelievably ridiculous that its plot can barely be construed as one, and this is precisely why anyone should see this film. Its audaciousness is something truly unique, something akin to a frat boy fever dream come to life, and those who appreciate cinema will be thrilled to see the sheer imaginativeness of the film as nothing short of impressive and deeply hilarious. What is most striking about the film, however, is that the screenwriting is, surprisingly, so damn good. As zany as the plot of the film is, there is a lot of character development going on that would be right at home in any movie thriller. The disappearance of his child deeply haunts Fox, and it downright destroys him, finding redemption by literally getting sucked into Chip’s butt and having to fight his way out, saving his child in what is an absolutely wild redemption arc. Then, of course, there is Chip, the very picture of the banality of evil, a boring button-down weirdo who sucks children into his butt. The notion is disturbing and downright evil, but paired next to Chip’s modus operandi, it is so wonderfully absurd that one can’t help but laugh.

‘Butt Boy’ Is a Unique Genre Blend

What makes Cornack’s film unique is the combination of dead-pan street crime thriller and irreverent juvenile comedy. The ridiculous plot pairs surprisingly well with the seriousness of the events of the film, and somehow, it makes the idea of missing children hilarious. There is this perfect balance between the two, and of this cinematic tightrope, Cornack says,

“That was scary all the way through, even up until we released the movie, you know? It was new territory that we haven’t seen before. But again, that was the whole point of making the movie. That’s the whole reason we wanted to do it, just to see if we could create this new tone, a new way of laughing at things. That was the goal, anyways. I hope that it did that. It sounds like a good idea to make something that would be new and people haven’t seen before, but when you’re in front of an audience watching it, it becomes very horrifying and frightening. But I’m glad we stuck with it and it’s paid off in the end.”

If one can get past the silliness of the film’s title, viewers are in for a treat: a unique comedy that walks a fine line but absolutely, as Cormack says, finds a way to get jaded audiences to laugh at something entirely new in a new way. That is what is so great about this film: it undermines expectations by taking a half-baked plot and then pushing it as far as it will go, almost to the bursting point, which is precisely how Detective Fox frees himself, in all its gory and twisted glory. Butt Boy is a must-watch comedy, a hilarious gift that keeps on giving that will have people rolling on the floor from the title alone.

Butt Boy is available to stream on Plex in the U.S.

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