DVD Reviews

The following reviews of the Nekromantik and Schramm DVDs appear in the recent edition of Australia's premier Horror magazine, Crimson Celluloid. For more info, write Crimson at crimsoncelluloid@hotmail.com.

Like esteemed English author and publisher David Kerekes observes in his introductory notes to the Barrel Entertainment DVD of Nekromantik, this low-budget German film is a landmark release that still has the ability to shock any audience. In an era that has increasingly gone too soft for too many politically correct reasons the value of Nekromantik is raised to the point of being completely priceless. The Australian government certainly sees it that way as they've actively declared it a forbidden item not to be witnessed at all on these shores. But then again could you expect anything less of a film that celebrates the warm fuzzy aspects of necrophilia?

Again, it's been more than a decade since eyeballing Nekromantik and it's somehow easier to laugh about it now, mainly due to the copious extras that reveal that the people behind the cameras weren't completely perverted maniacs, a feeling that's only increased by the screening of a tenth generation dub with the sound turned up full-bore. What we get here is the clearest and sharpest version of the film that's ever likely too occur. It's hard to see anyone devoting as much attention to the film as has been heaped onto this exceptional release. Even the director invokes the new "best possible format" cliche but only because in this case it's entirely true.

After all Nekromantik is possibly the second most viewed Super 8 film of all time, behind the immortal 8mm Zapruder footage. The source for the DVD is producer Manfred Jelinski's 16mm inter-negative. The last we heard of Buttgereit his deep very German English speaking voice was co-commentating with Buddy Giovinazzo on the latter's superlative Combat Shock disc. Buttgereit's effects work on Killer Condom was recently on cable which is where you'd probably find the episodes of The Lexx: The Darkzone Stories the German/Canadian sci-fi series that he's helmed and acted as creative producer on. He's also directed several video clips for various bands.

For me, the most shocking moment in Nekromantik has always been the cat sequence so it was a jolt and a surprise to see it here as the lead trailer image. We get trailers for all of Buttgereit's features to date along with a detailed and well selected photo gallery that's set to the haunting Nekromantik score by lead actor Daktari Lorenz. Under the heading of Bonus Footage we're supplied with two documentaries and Horror Heaven, which is a 22 minute collection of amateurish but fun shorts by Buttgereit devoted to various aspects of horror and casually strung together in between shots of the director narrating the proceedings. The Making of Nekromantik is 12 minutes of behind the scenes footage put together by the filmmakers. The often too hard to read menu pages tell us it's a slightly different version than the one for Corpse Fucking Art. The Nekromantik featurette of 9 minutes utilises images from the film but hangs it all off an interview with Jorg sitting in the editing room. Odds and Ends presents glimpses of two Nekromantik comics along with the slick for a video release wearing the controversial JB logo. The feature has commentary from Buttgereit and collaborator Franz Rodenkirchen. Do I have to say the DVD of Nekromantik should be required viewing for anyone who thinks they're involved in deviant filmmaking?

Schramm like it's labelmate is an excellent disc that positively pushes the enevelope on what and how you can present material on DVD. The filmmakers have plumbed the depths of their resources to back up a beautiful clean 16mm print with two commentaries and a plethora of extras. The first commentary is provided by Jorg and Franz Rodenkirchen while the second features stars Florian Koerner von Gustorf and Monika M. The Making of Schramm is a 35 minute behind the scenes doco that reveals much. Captain Berlin and Mein Papi (a film about his Dad) are two Super 8 films from the early 80s that both appear with English subtitles. A clip for Mutter the band who Florian drums for also has a short making of clip that runs for as long as the video. There's also a strange Mutter boxing event staged inside a band venue that's narrated live by Jorg. Yes Schramm achieves it's aim to place you inside the mind of a serial killer, and yes you're gonna be affected by this completely idiosyncratic take on the serial killer genre.

Both these superb releases are produced by US-based Barrel Entertainment www.barrel-entertainment.com where you can read of their next major project: Last House on dead End Street another milestone in the history of films made by maniacs.

– Michael Helms