The film consists of three segments. The first segment, "The Albino Spider of Dajette", is about a sex worker named Dajette and an albino spider that takes the form of an eight-armed humanoid, the latter of whom murders sex workers by breaking their necks. The second segment, "Change of Face", concerns a mysterious stripper who collects the faces of other women. The final segment, "Drukija Contessa of Blood", follows a countess who kills virgin women and bathes in their blood.
The film is based on comic books by published by Verotik, a company owned by writer-director Glenn Danzig. Danzig has referred to Verotika as a "tribute" to horror anthology films such as Black Sabbath and Trilogy of Terror. The third segment in the film, "Drukija Contessa of Blood", has been described as "a take" on historical figure and murderer Elizabeth Báthory.
Release and reception
Verotika premiered on June 13, 2019 at the Cinepocalypse film festival in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout the screening, the film elicited laughter from the audience. In a Q&A session following the showing, Danzig asserted that he did not intend for the film to be comedic, stating that viewers laughed at parts that " wouldn't have". Verotika was panned by critics, with multiple publications comparing it to the 2003 filmThe Room, which is commonly considered to be one of the worst films ever made. Patrick Bromley of Bloody Disgusting wrote that "the audience reaction at Cinepocalypse suggests that Verotika has a future as a midnight movie in the same vein as The Room. There's plenty of entertainment and plenty of laughs to be had, even if I'm not sure it's what director Danzig originally intended. Creating a new horror cult favorite might just be the most punk rock thing he could have done." Nick Allen of Vulture wrote that Verotika " in the tradition of Ed Wood and Tommy Wiseau", and noted that Danzig may have unwittingly created "the horror-comedy of the year". Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club called the film "funny on a level that most comedies can't achieve. It's that rare fusion of painstakingly expressed love and total lack of ability that deliver the best of bad cinema, and should be proud." On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 23% based on thirteen reviews, with an average rating of 2.11/10.
