Saturday, July 22, 2023

Engine Trouble, Belgium Babes in Peril

Not even Belgium escapes slasher horror. Maybe you thought Belgium was only good for beer, chocolates, and weak political leadership...not so! Flemish horror does indeed exist. Just like Italy and Germany...Euro-babes also exist in Belgium, too. Today we look at 2002's "Engine Trouble," directed by Marc Ickx.

Two Euro-babes, Rebecca (Cecilia Bergqvist) and Sandra (Marlene Simons) are going on a two-week vacation together. The dolls pile into Sandra's old car and head out of the city. Uh oh...the car breaks down just past a really creepy gas station. Rebecca is too creeped out to go back to the gas station which seems to have a wild animal locked up inside. Sandra goes...and we'll never see her again...at least in one piece. With Sandra missing-in-action, Rebecca believes she is fortunate that the station's tow truck just happens by. Robert (Bob Dougherty) seems like a clean cut mechanic and fixes the car. Rebecca drives back to the station and finds out no one there has seen Sandra...or so they say. 

Unbeknownst to Rebecca, when she drives away, whatever creature (Marcel Romeijn) was locked up at the station has moved to her trunk. Yep, the old car breaks down again and now the creature in the trunk starts attacking Rebecca. Oh yeah, we see Sandra again...first her head, then the rest of her body. Very bloody. The creature, armed with a menacing sickle now pursues Rebecca and chases her into an abandoned military installation. She'll be captured by the creature who loves collecting Euro-babes as play toys. Strung up with another Euro-babe, Melissa (Arlette Adriani), the two will be tormented by the thing. Melissa will be torn to pieces but Rebecca will find a way to free herself of her chains. Now she must outsmart, not only the creature...but the evil antagonists who have placed in in harms way. 

Will Euro-babe Rebecca survive the aroused creature, or become another one of its broken toys? Just who, is responsible for funneling a steady stream of Euro-babes to this creature? Is the creature a thinly veiled metaphor for Belgium's horrid show in fighting off the Nazis in World War 2? Rebecca and Sandra give us some great Euro-babe scenery and their predicament is quite horrific. Fans of 1980s slasher films will love this Flemish horror movie. For some nice gore, cheesecake, and scary creature action, see "Engine Trouble." 

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