There is something about potty humor and potty horror that, if done right, works, and if it misses it by the slightest of margins, it becomes something irredeemable. Somehow, director Grégory Morin (Ultimate Zombie Feast) and screenwriter David Neiss (Noir comme neige: Morts au Sommet) carefully treaded this line and made their repulsive toilet movie, Flush, a brash and truly insane final product that requires the audience to have a relatively strong stomach for something outlandishly over-the-top insane and entertaining enough to warrant the truly revolting moments. If you cannot witness toilet-leveled violence and atrocities, Flush is not the movie for you. But if you can bear the concept of a man getting stuck in a toilet, and everything that comes with the inner workings of said toilet in a facility, then get ready for the gross-out event of the year Flush.
L-R: Elliot Jenicot as Sam and Rémy Adriaens as Dindon in FLUSH. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
Flush focuses on middle-aged coke addict Luc (Jonathan Lambert) as he’s in the bathroom trying to have a phone call with his ex-girlfriend, Valentine/Val (Élodie Navarre), trying to win her back. She really has no interest in hearing what he has to say. He gets frustrated, steps into the toilet and cusses, and she essentially tells him where to go. Somehow, this one moment spirals into his entire evening, which starts with him fishing his shoe out of the toilet. It’s a clearly loved Converse. (I understand you’re in a shady club, but it’s a clearly loved, relatively cheap Chuck Taylors — cut your losses. Don’t go fishing in a standing toilet for your shoe and go home.) If Luc had left his shoe, the events of Flush never would’ve taken place. Instead, he decides to fish out his shoe and the man he bought the drugs from, Dindon (Rémy Adriaens), is convinced that what he’s searching for in the toilet is the cocaine — the cocaine that mysteriously went missing from Dindon who is now convinced that Luc stole it. Shortly thereafter, Sam (Elliot Jenicot), the club owner, enters the bathroom and things get out of hand. Luc gets the life beaten out of him and ends up with his head in the toilet. They decide to leave him there and come back to deal with him after closing and retrieve their cocaine then, but Luc is not about to accept his fate and chaos follows.
Jonathan Lambert as Luc in FLUSH. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival 2026.
While Morin and Neiss don’t want to shy away from the disgusting concepts and execution of their film, some of them are so horrifically graphic that it’s hard not to look away. It really begs the question of how strong the stomachs of an audience can be pushed and what our personal limitations are. Morin and Neiss blend this level of truly absurd uncomfortableness into a real movie that’s fleshed out and has a story of someone just trying to reconnect with their ex and inevitably escape the coke dealer who feels they’ve been wronged and the club owner who also has it out for him, and his largest obstacle is being stuck in a standing toilet.
When it comes to a movie that hinges on absurdity and tight quarters, the lead needs to be truly excellent — and, thankfully, Lambert manages to be exactly that. Whether having Luc trying to just explain himself in the beginning or being stuck in a truly unruly situation, like having his head stuck in the toilet, Lambert creates panic, determination, and perversion that forces the audience to stay locked in with his performance while simultaneously being disgusted and ever so worried about his well being.
Élodie Navarre as Valentine in FLUSH. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
Flush is by no means meant for anyone with a weak stomach, but carefully blending toilet humor and toilet horror in the way that Gregory Morin and David Neiss manage to do is something to be admired. A very fine balance of going incredibly gross but not so gross that it’s irredeemable, and a terrific performance from Jonathan Lambert (Reality) lead Flush to become something needing to be seen to be believed.
Screened during The Overlook Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official The Overlook Film Festival Flush webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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