FILM REVIEWS

NEKROMANTIK

Directed by Jorg Buttgereit, 1987
Starring Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice M., Harald Lundt, and Suza Kohlstedt
Produced by Manfred O. Jelinski
Written by Jorg Buttgereit and Franz Rodenkirchen

Reviewed by Vlad Krystiansn, 2-17-03
Rating: 4 Skulls


Apparently the only things held sacred to director Jorg Buttgereit are sex, love, and sorrow. Everything from cute little kittens, fluffy innocent rabbits, and urinating humans to the rotting corpses of somebody?s late loved ones are exploited to the fullest in his masterwork, NEKRomantik.

Daktari Lorenz stars as Rob, a new employee at Joe's Street cleaning Agency, a company that cleans up the messes of roadside accidents once the police are through investigating. Rob and his lover, Betty (played by Beatrice M.), are a pair of necrophilia's living in a Berlin flat decorated with porn, photos of Charles Manson, and jars containing various body parts which Rob brings home from work on a daily basis. One day, Rob and his team recover a mostly decomposed body from a swamp. Being in charge of taking care of the body, Rob steals it and takes it home as a present for Betty. Thus begins a typical love triangle in which Betty decides she loves the corpse more than Rob, due to Rob's lack of self-esteem and his losing his job. When she leaves him, taking the 'present' with her, Rob starts having anger-management issues.

I personally find it amazing that this was shot on Super 8 format, rather than say, 16mm or 35mm. It looks really good, and the low quality of it enhances the emotions and story line quite effectively. I'm a big fan of really fucked up disturbing movies, and I must say NEKRomantik is high on my list of favorites. For being such an amateur film, Buttgereit and his team did a great job. The music is haunting, the special effects are super realistic (much more so than his later film, Schramm), and the acting is quite decent. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in broadening their film horizons and shocking their conservative friends. In spite of some of the really disturbing scenes, the rabbit scene especially, I could really appreciate the underlying humor of the shock value of it. I can just picture the filmmakers smiling at thoughts of a shocked audience and public controversy over their art.

Over all, as far as this type of movie goes, I would give it 4 skulls (out of 5). Definitely worth your while.