Film Review: NEKROMANTIK (1987)

Writer/director Jorg Buttgereit has made a career of infamous and controversial horror films, so it is with great “pleasure” that I mention that I’ve finally decided to watch one of them starting with one of his most famous which is Nekromantic (1987), a hard to define erotic necrophilia filled psychology gore fest.  You are more than excused if this type of film is not something you’d be interested in nor was I at first but since it defies explanation and is on most hard-core horror fans must see list.  This being said, since I study horror films from all genres and all types I was bound to get around to this one.

In this film Rob (Daktari Lorenz) is a street sweeper who cleans up the roads after accidents most involving the grisly demise of someone.  He has a strange fetish in which he brings “spare” body parts home to his equally disturbed girlfriend Betty (Beatrice Manowski) but when he brings home the entire corpse of someone their relationship takes on a whole new level as the corpse becomes the third leg of their threesome.  At first this brings the two closer together but when Betty begins to grow closer to the corpse this threatens everything that Rob has put together.  When Betty decides that she no longer wants to share the corpse, Rob starts to descend into a darkness that he may not return from.

Buttgereit’s film is filled with disturbing images that will sit with you long after the film is over.  It is not an easy film to digest similar to that on the infamous Cannibal Holocaust (1980), which is also an acquired taste.  This is not to say that it doesn’t have its points of interest.  The black and white cinematography is quite good and it has that grunge look like Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).  This being said, I still can’t recommend this film to the “normal” horror fan but just those interested in investing in a film that borders on pornographic-gore-horror but those brave enough to take the plunge will come away a different person.

Book Review: CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST AND THE SAVAGE CINEMA OF RUGGERO DEODATO Edited by Harvey Fenton

The name Ruggero Deodato is most recognizable because of his infamous film Cannibal Holocaust (1980) but he is a director that had a profound impact on Italian cinema and the horror genre itself.  In the book Cannibal Holocaust & the Savage Cinema of Ruggero Deodato Editor Harvey Fenton puts together a collection of interviews, photographs, posters and other memorabilia to represent director Deodato’s long career in film making.  Deodato’s entire career in films represents a response to not being predictable and complacent with his place in Italian cinema. 

He may be most famous for his horror films such as House on the Edge of the Park (1980), Last Cannibal World (1976), and Bodycount (1986), but he has also dabbled in post apocalyptic (The Lone Runner – 1986), fantasy (The Barbarians – 1987), disaster film (Concorde Affair – 1979), and even several television series (of which Italians are most familiar with him and where he has made a huge impact).  This book not only celebrates the Cannibal Holocaust, widely considered the best cannibal movie ever crafted as well as the fore runner for the found footage style of film making, but all of Deodato’s films and their place in his career and the impact of those films not only in Italian cinema but in film making as a whole.

Contained within the book are two separate interviews with Deodato that allow him to discuss how his films have impacted his career for both the good and the bad as well as a synopsis and brief look at all of his films and television series.  A huge chunk of the book focuses on Cannibal Holocaust’s impact but the book is also an eye opener on all of Deodato’s other films.  There is a huge collection of posters and production stills from his films (including some from other countries).  This is a book not only for people wanting to know more about Cannibal Holocaust but also and incite on Deodato and his many films and his own personal outlook.