News

This past Friday marked the VOD release of Rammbock director Marvin Kren's Blood Glacier (review), and on tap for you today is a brand new poster for the flick, which is covered in the red stuff.

Check it out, courtesy of our friends over on Badass Digest!

Kren's new film stars Michael Fuith, Edita Malovcic, and Brigitte Kren.

Synopsis

Janek is a technician on a climate observation station high up in the Alps. He is a loner; the regularly changing scientists who share the rocky idyll with him are just tolerated by him. Making things more difficult is the approaching visit of the environment minister, which brings rivalries at the station to the boil.

So everyone involved is grateful when their barren routine is interrupted by a strange discovery. A red liquid pours from a nearby glacier, melted free from the ice crust shrinking with climate change. This “glacier...

The film comes from director Marvin Kren who is best known for Rammbock Berlin Undead which we gave a 4.5 out of 5. While we did not enjoy Blood Glacier as much as Rammbock Berlin Undead its still worth the watch. Directed by Marvin Kren and stars Gerhard Liebmann Edita Malovcic Hille Beseler Peter Knaack Felix Romer Briggitte Kren Wolfgang Pampel Murathan Muslu Michael Fuith Adina Vetter and Coco Huemer.

“A Slice of Horror Reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing!”, screams the poster for Blood Glacier. No kidding! This looks good though and I really like the title (much better than the snooze original title The Station).

Blood Glacier opens in Select Theaters and Available on Video on Demand May 2nd

Four technicians and scientists at an alpine research station discover a glacier of blood high in the mountains. Testing the red liquid oozing from the ice, they discover a new alien organism with the astonishing capability of transforming the local wildlife into horrific hybrids and monster mutations. With the Minister of the Environment hiking to the station for an official visit, many frightening questions must be answered if the confrontational team are to survive and cope with the giant wood lice, the beetle-foxes, crossbred flying predators and much, much worse…

Here’s what the critics are saying:

‘A...

It's been a few months since we've had anything to report about Rammbock director Marvin Kren's Blood Glacier (review), which hit UK DVD back in January. Now that it's at long last set for release here in the states, we've gotten our very own trailer, which shows clear inspirations from John Carpenters The Thing. Dig it!

Look for Blood Glacier in select theaters and on VOD platforms May 2nd.

Kren's new film stars Michael Fuith, Edita Malovcic, and Brigitte Kren.

Synopsis

Janek is a technician on a climate observation station high up in the Alps. He is a loner; the regularly changing scientists who share the rocky idyll with him are just tolerated by him. Making things more difficult is the approaching visit of the environment minister, which brings rivalries at the station to the boil.

So everyone involved is grateful when their barren routine is interrupted by a strange discovery.

IFC Films will release Blood Glacier in select theaters and VOD on May 2 2014. In the film scientists working in the Austrian Alps discover that a glacier is leaking a liquid that appears to be affecting local wildlife. The film comes from director Marvin Kren who is best known for Rammbock Berlin Undead which we gave a 4.5 out of 5. Lets hope that Kren can deliver another great horror film. The was film was released in Austria in 2013 under the title Blutgletscher the later The Station. Directed by Marvin Kren and stars Gerhard Liebmann Edita Malovcic Hille Beseler Peter Knaack Felix Romer Briggitte Kren Wolfgang Pampel Murathan Muslu Michael Fuith Adina Vetter and Coco Huemer.

The new flick from Rammbock director Marvin Kren, Blood Glacier (aka The Station), will be hitting DVD across the pond on January 20, 2014, and right now we've got a a new clip for you to dig on that may just have you losing your lunch.

Kren's new film stars Michael Fuith, Edita Malovcic, and Brigitte Kren.

Synopsis

Janek is a technician on a climate observation station high up in the Alps. He is a loner; the regularly changing scientists who share the rocky idyll with him are just tolerated by him. Making things more difficult is the approaching visit of the environment minister, which brings rivalries at the station to the boil.

So everyone involved is grateful when their barren routine is interrupted by a strange discovery. A red liquid pours from a nearby glacier, melted free from the ice crust shrinking with climate change. This “glacier blood” turns out to be a very special juice,...

The new flick from Rammbock director Marvin Kren, Blood Glacier (aka The Station), will be hitting DVD across the pond on January 20, 2014, and right now we've got a giant sized image gallery and more for you! Dig it!

Kren's new film stars Michael Fuith, Edita Malovcic, and Brigitte Kren. Check out the first stills below, and look for more soon.

Synopsis

Janek is a technician on a climate observation station high up in the Alps. He is a loner; the regularly changing scientists who share the rocky idyll with him are just tolerated by him. Making things more difficult is the approaching visit of the environment minister, which brings rivalries at the station to the boil.

So everyone involved is grateful when their barren routine is interrupted by a strange discovery. A red liquid pours from a nearby glacier, melted free from the ice crust shrinking with climate change. This...

Announcing nine out of ten titles from its 2013 lineup, Tiff’s Midnight Madness blazes in with a fever pitch, promising to be one of the most notable programs we’ve seen from the most perennially pleasing film festival sidebar dedicated to the horror genre.

Colin Geddes has placed the latest film from Lucky McKee, All Cheerleaders Die (co-directed by Chris Sivertson of I Know Who Killed Me fame) as the section’s opener and this marks the first time for horror alum McKee in the lineup (he usually premieres at Sundance, and if you remember, his last film, 2011’s The Woman got quite the notable reaction there). While Siverston’s name as co-director may arouse some naysaying, McKee is an excellent and exciting name to open with (see pic above).

It’s no surprise that Midnight Madness alum Eli Roth will premiere his latest effort, The Green Inferno, which looks...

If you missed Rammbock: Berlin Undead earlier this year, do yourself a favor and seek it out. It's in every store both online and off and is available on Netflix, etc. Once you see it we can pretty much guarantee you'll be excited for director Marvin Kren's next film Glazius.

Kren's new film stars Michael Fuith, Edita Malovcic and Brigitte Kren. Check out the first stills below and look for more soon.

Synopsis

Janek is a technician on a climate observation station high up in the Alps. He is a loner, the regularly changing scientists who share the rocky idyll with him are just tolerated by him. Making things more difficult is the approaching visit of the environment minister, which brings rivalries at the station to the boil.

So everyone involved is grateful when their barren routine is interrupted by a strange discovery. A red liquid pours from a nearby glacier,...

Writer/Director: Markus Schleinzer Starring: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Christine Kain, Ursula Strauss, Victor Tremmel, Xaver Winkler, Thomas Pfalzmann Not to be confused with the Nora Ephron film starring John Travolta, Austrian writer-director Markus Schleinzer’s Michael is an everyday portrait of a pedophile. (Yes, you read that correctly.) A very average-looking thirtysomething, Michael (Michael Fuith) spends his mundane days working in an insurance office. Then, when he arrives home after work, Michael closes the shutters of his windows nice and tight and heads down to the basement to visit Wolfgang (David Rauchenberger), the 10-year-old boy whom he keeps locked up down there. Michael and Wolfgang have dinner, wash dishes, watch movies and play games; then Michael ushers Wolfgang back to the basement and locks him up again... Schleinzer makes Michael’s disturbing sexual deviancy seem surprisingly normal. Except for one scene, Michael never becomes the stereotypical, creepy and deranged...

We first saw writer-director Markus Schleinzer’s Michael at Fantastic Fest 2011 and it literally sent ice cold shivers down our spine. Schleinzer’s film also screened in the main competition at Cannes Film Festival, and was an official selection at AFI Fest, Toronto and Chicago International Film Festivals. The film won the Golden Pram Award for Best Feature Film at the Zagreb Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Miskolc International Film Festival. Strand Releasing will be releasing Michael on DVD in the United States on May 15, 2012. Since we consider Michael to be one of the creepiest pedophile films ever made, we jumped at the opportunity when Strand asked us to give away a few copies of the DVD to our loyal readership. Director: Markus Schleinzer Writer: Markus Schleinzer Starring: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Christine Kain, Ursula Strauss, Victor Tremmel, Xaver Winkler, Thomas Pfalzmann Not to be confused...

DVD Release Date: May 15, 2012

Price: DVD $27.99

Studio: Strand Releasing

Michael Fuith stars in the German drama Michael.

The 2012 German drama Michael focuses on a five-month period in the life of seemingly meek insurance agent (Michael Fuith) with a dark secret: he’s a homosexual pedophile who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement.

Disturbing? Yes. But not to the critics, who praised the film when it was screened at the major international film festivals in Cannes, Moscow, Paris, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and London. In their notices, many film journalists compared debuting filmmaker Markus Schleinzer’s suspenseful and unnerving style to that his fellow German filmmaker Michael Hanake (Tthe White Ribbon). The film later opened on a couple of screens in U.S. theaters in February, 2012 to positive reviews from Stateside scribes.

Writer/director Schleinzer is best known overseas as the German film and television industry’s leading casting directors.

The Josef Fritzl affair and similar cases of horrendous incarceration revealed in its wake have now produced a sizable body of documentaries, feature films and fiction too, of which Michael is a minor, rather puzzling addition. The 40-year-old Austrian film-maker Markus Schleinzer, whose first feature film this is, has worked as a casting director on over 60 films, among them Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf and, most significantly, The White Ribbon, on which he coached the child actors.

The eponymous Michael (Michael Fuith) is a 35-year-old minor official with an Austrian insurance company, who keeps the 10-year-old Wolfgang (David Rauchenberger) a prisoner in the soundproofed basement of his suburban home. Michael is a bespectacled, nondescript loner with a brother and sister both married with children. He largely keeps to himself, rejecting the advances of a female colleague, whom he physically throws out of his house when she intrudes.

Michael (18)

(Markus Schleinzer) Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Gisella Salcher. 96 mins

The daily routine of an Austrian paedophile who keeps a young boy locked in his cellar was hardly something anyone was queuing up to see, but this challenges us, and itself, to take a look. At the same time, it thankfully averts its gaze from scenes of actual abuse. There are keen observations on parenting, privacy, power relations and more, but the flat, factual approach verges on dull, and the absence of empathy ultimately just leaves you feeling grubby. So get in line for the grimmest movie of the year!

This Means War (12A)

(McG, 2012, Us) Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon. 98 mins

Two suspiciously close CIA buddies fall out when they discover they're dating the same woman – cue the misuse of government equipment and their own combat skills for one-upmanship. The romcom high concept is novel for a good reason: it's completely ridiculous.

A film about a paedophile's home life by one of Michael Haneke's acolytes is an unbearable satire on parent-child relationships

Brilliant and macabre, this debut feature from Austrian film-maker Markus Schleinzer shows the ordinary life of a man called Michael, played by Michael Fuith. As well as being a conscientious middle-manager in an insurance office, Michael is a paedophile, keeping a 10-year-old boy locked in a reinforced cellar beneath his bungalow. The film is not merely a chilling insight into the day-to-day banality of evil, but also an unbearably suspenseful and tense drama. I can't think of any other movie recently in which I have wanted so much to yell instructions at the screen – especially in the final five minutes, as we approach, in Graham Greene's words, the worst horror of all.

Schleinzer is a former actor, and a prolific casting director with over 60 features to his credit,...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published as part of our Fantastic Fest 2011 coverage on October 11, 2011. But since most of you have not yet had the chance to watch the devil himself practice good dental hygiene (and because the film is hitting limited theaters this Friday, February 17), we’re re-posting it here for your…enjoyment? Masterpieces tend to be weighty. They tend to aggravate and enthrall both during the runtime and once the credits have rolled. They tend to have a heft that makes them difficult to carry even though they demand to live in your gut for months or years afterward. On that front, and on many others, Michael defies the rules and expectations by being a shockingly breezy masterwork. Make that a shockingly breezy masterwork about a pedophile with a young boy locked in his basement. Writer/director Markus Schleinzer has created a film that shoves all of the horrifying elements into your imagination...

Michael (played by Michael Fuith) drives home from his office job with some groceries. Michael prepares dinner. Michael lets the young boy he’s kidnapped out of the basement to eat and watch television. Michael takes the boy downstairs and closes the door. Michael washes up afterward. “Michael” examines the mundane existence of a blank-faced office drone who happens to be a pedophile and a kidnapper, and director Markus Schleinzer lets us get to know this monster in the least hysterical way possible. There’s almost no music here, the camera never gets...

Hailing from the Michael Haneke school of brutally austere Austrian cinema, Markus Schleinzer’s debut feature, Michael, opens with a revealing bit of misdirection. A thirtysomething insurance salesman (Michael Fuith) comes home with a bag of groceries and quickly sets to work on dinner, frying up some ham and setting up a table for two. He summons a 10-year-old boy (David Rauchenberger), presumably his son, and the two eat quietly, their silence broken only by the kid’s request to watch TV that night. After the two retire for the evening, the true nature of their relationship is revealed in ...

Trace it to the 2006 Natascha Kampusch case or the even more terrible 2008 Elisabeth Fritzl one reverberating through into fiction, but longterm kidnapping is having a moment. Despite apparently opening with a card that claims otherwise, the incidents seem unavoidable inspirations for Frédéric Videau’s "A Moi Seule," which just had its premiere in Berlin, a film that tracks through the eight-year relationship between an man and the girl he kidnaps and hides in his basement. Emma Donoghue's acclaimed 2010 novel "Room" is narrated by a five-year-old kid who's lived his entire life in the claustrophobic space in which he and his mother have been imprisoned. And Markus Schleinzer's "Michael," which opens in New York this week after bowing at Cannes last year, gazes impassively at five months in the life of the title character, played by Michael Fuith, who's been holding a 10-year-old boy named Wolfgang (David Rauchenberger)...

There was no film more controversial at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival than Markus Schleinzer's feature film debut, "Michael." The gripping tale of five months in the life of a pedophile (Michael Fuith) and the young child he keeps in his basement, "Michael" took Cannes audiences by surprise with its provocative story, which the festival did not reveal in advance. While critics were mixed, there's no doubt that Schleinzer has established himself. Schleinzer launched his career in the film industry 17 years ago, when he took a part-time job working for then-casting director Daniela Stibitz. He's since worked with some of Austria's biggest names, including Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl. In this First Person piece Schleinzer penned for Indiewire, he opens up about his reasons for making this film and the inevitable comparisons to Haneke. [Go here to see our interview with Schleinzer out of Cannes.] "Michael" opens today,...

Critics have described the Austrian thriller Michael as "unnerving" and "alarming," but these adjectives fail to properly capture the intense dread that lingers after watching the film's haunting trailer. Viewable below, it is disturbing on a level that may surprise you, considering there's no violence, gore or sex revealed. Instead, what's offered is a terrifying window into evil accompanied by a sickeningly jarring soundtrack from a broken jack-in-the-box. Michael centers on the secret life of a seemingly shy insurance salesman. Unbeknownst to the world outside his small soundproofed home, Michael (Michael Fuith) has a 10-year-old boy named Wolfgang (David Rauchenberger) trapped in his basement. This troubling feature exposes the five-month span the pair spends together. If you've watched as much Investigation Discovery as I have, you knew with a sickening certainty where this trailer was headed as soon as you spotted the soundproofed door. Michael's writer-director Markus Schleinzer admits his...

Markus Schleinzer‘s Michael is a movie I want to see and don’t want to see. The Austrian film, called a “haunting profile… detailed in excess with the aim to truly unnerve” by our own Raffi Asdourian after its Cannes debut (full review), is a calm portrait of a pedophile, the titular Michael, and his kidnapped victim. While some festival goers appreciated Michael for its boldness, others found the movie as sickening as its subject. “What The F*Ck Is Wrong With Everyone In Austria. Seriously.” Mike D’Angelo tweeted after sitting through a Cannes screening. Many festival attendees agreed.

Among critics, Michael is a divisive film, and I doubt it’ll find a large audience here in the Us, but it will see what I assume will be avery limited release starting February 15, so check your local art house theater schedules if you’re interested. The trailer below...

Vancouver, Canada – A somewhat unsettling film screened at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival, Michael tells the story of a button-down executive with a spotless suburban home who appears attractive to women but is also a 30ish old pedophile.

The main character of Michael (Michael Fuith), is clearly seeking a normal life, but keeping a 10 yr old boy trapped in his basement, is anything but normal.

There is no doubt that the subject matter is disturbing, but Austrian director, Markus Schleinzer, does a good job offering the viewer a story full of suspense and subtle humour.

Unlike other movies that deal with topics of this nature, the film’s focus is not on the actual exploitative acts or their violence, instead the film tends to focus more on the story of Michael.

The viewer gets an inside look into his life; at work and at home. Michael prefers to remain distant from his own family.

Do the sensibilities of Michael Haneke offend? If your answer is yes then stay far away from the directorial debut of Haneke casting director Markus Schleinzer. The first feature, Michael offers an exceedingly simple dramatic snapshot covering a period of five months in the life of Michael, a pedophile, and a ten year old kidnap victim he keeps locked in the basement. It would be an uncomfortable scenario for any cast and crew to bring to life but Scheinzer and his lead Michael Fuith (Rammbock: Berlin Undead [2010]) do a solid job of laying the groundwork for audiences to be drawn in to the disturbingly mundane details of a horrendously deviant crime scene. Evil? It is almost completely faceless here and yet also compelling. It...

We don't know anybody who doesn't like free stuff, which is why we're passing on the news that the seven-minute short film Zombiefication is available for free download via iTunes.

Zombiefication, which also appears as an extra feature on the Rammbock: Berlin Undead DVD, is the ultimate manual when it comes to the proper handling of the living dead. The film features recommended behavioral patterns in case of imminent zombie epidemics, which are vividly executed and comprehensively explained.

Zombiefication is bloodthirsty horror fun for the entire family! Click here for downloading info.

Rammbock: Berlin Undead, which was released on DVD, Video on Demand, and iTunes on June 28th, has been called "a story of love set against a zombie apocalypse." Rammbock (iTunes download info here) follows heartbroken and clueless Michael (Michael Fuith) as he arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of his brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But...

The Michael Teaser Trailer has premiered. Markus Schleinzer‘s Michael (2011) teaser trailer stars Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Gisella Salcher, Ursula Strauss, and Victor Tremmel. Michael‘s plot synopsis: “the story of an insurance company employee who shares his life, forcibly, with a 10 year old boy [locked in his basement].”

Sexual predators are students of the world in which they inhabit. That sound proofing and the locks are very telling. When I see this “cold, remote and straightforward approach”, I think of One Hour Photo. I am looking forward to seeing where the kidnapper abducted Michael from and what mind set you have to possess to keep someone prisoner like that. In The Disappearance of Alice Creed it was for money, here its just sexual.

More about the film (some spoilers):

“Illustrating the banality of evil in an impressively controlled and sometimes darkly humorous fashion, Michael takes a coolly nonjudgmental, non-psychological approach to a disturbing topic,...

One of our favorite zombie films in recent years is Rammbock (due June 28 on disc from Vivendi), a “short but sweet” feature film from German director Marvin Kren. Rammbock (see the mini-review) follows a poor schnook (Michael Fuith) who goes to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment block to make amends and instead get trapped inside by a 28 Days Later-style viral outbreak. Fango spoke with Kren at Spain’s Sitges Film Festival last fall.

Zombies continue their dominance of the international horror film world (see France’s The Horde and Norway’s Dead Snow) with the release of the German zombie movie Rammbock: Berlin Undead on DVD from Vivendi on June 28 for a list price of $19.97.

Zombies invade Germany in Rammbock: Berlin Undead.

It’s the latest title in the Bloody Disgusting series of horror titles released through The Collective’s homevideo partnership with Vivendi Universal.

The movie zooms in on the heartbroken and clueless Michael (Michael Fuith), who arrives in Berlin to win back the heart of his ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But all doesn’t go exactly as planned as Gabi isn’t at home and Berlin is being rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of the undead. Michael quickly learns that his only friend is the teenager Harper (Theo Trebs, The White Ribbon), a plucky plumber’s apprentice in Gabi’s complex.

Fresh off of its theatrical run, the latest bit of German flavored zombie goodness, Rammbock: Berlin Undead, is now on its way to DVD and more! Read on for the info!

Look for flick on DVD on June 28, 2011. It will also be available to fans via Video on Demand (VOD), Netflix, etc. Released though The Collective’s home-video partnership with Vivendi Universal, Rammbock, along with the other titles in the Bloody Disgusting Selects series, will be stacked with bonus features and special packaging. Look for updates on what's to come soon.

Filmmakers Marvin Kren and Benjamin Hessler have given us Germany's first foray into the zombie genre. Rammbock (review here) is an unlikely tale of love, terror and survival set against the dystopic backdrop of a zombie-infested Berlin.

Synopsis

Heartbroken and clueless, Michael (Michael Fuith) arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But...

Reviewed by Aaron Hillis

(from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Markus Schleinzer

Starring: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Christine Kain, Ursula Strauss, Viktor Tremmel and Gisella Salcher

While watching Markus Schleinzer’s meticulously measured and styled, nonchalantly disturbing study of a pedophile’s double life, one might be inclined to think “Michael” refers to the fellow Austrian filmmaker whose frequently chilling, formally controlled provocations it most quickly evokes, Michael Haneke. But while Haneke shoves audiences’ noses into themes and issues that extend beyond the screen, former Haneke casting director Schleinzer’s debut offers an artfully sparse but drearily one-note take on the banality of evil, set over a five-month span.

By day, schlubby 35-year-old insurance exec Michael (a creepily convincing Michael Fuith, looking like “Arrested Development” actor Tony Hale’s Euro doppelgänger) works hard enough to stumble upward into a promotion. He leads a boring, organized life, gets along...

Reviewed by Aaron Hillis

(from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Markus Schleinzer

Starring: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Christine Kain, Ursula Strauss, Viktor Tremmel and Gisella Salcher

While watching Markus Schleinzer’s meticulously measured and styled, nonchalantly disturbing study of a pedophile’s double life, one might be inclined to think “Michael” refers to the fellow Austrian filmmaker whose frequently chilling, formally controlled provocations it most quickly evokes, Michael Haneke. But while Haneke shoves audiences’ noses into themes and issues that extend beyond the screen, former Haneke casting director Schleinzer’s debut offers an artfully sparse but drearily one-note take on the banality of evil, set over a five-month span.

By day, schlubby 35-year-old insurance exec Michael (a creepily convincing Michael Fuith, looking like “Arrested Development” actor Tony Hale’s Euro doppelgänger) works hard enough to stumble upward into a promotion. He leads a boring, organized life, gets along...

Fun Facts Although Schleinzer has made his directorial debut with the divisive Cannes competition entry "Michael," he has more than 60 credits as a casting director working with some of Austrian's biggest names, including Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl. Why He's On Our Radar: The gripping tale of five months in the life of a pedophile (Michael Fuith) and the young child he keeps in his basement, "Michael" took Cannes ...

Updated through 5/17.

"Illustrating the banality of evil in an impressively controlled and sometimes darkly humorous fashion, Michael takes a coolly nonjudgmental, non-psychological approach to a disturbing topic, spending five months in the life of a 30-ish pedophile who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement," begins Alissa Simon in Variety. "Although it begins in medias res, Austrian writer-director Markus Schleinzer's feature debut slowly reels viewers in with Michael Fuith's strong lead performance, a creepy accumulation of ordinary detail and suspenseful twists."

"Although Schleinzer is a first-time director, he was the casting director for films including Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf, and The White Ribbon, for which he also coached the children," notes Barbara Scharres in the Chicago Sun-Times. Michael "often treats his victim as if he were a stern foster parent, making him help with chores, monitoring his TV time, and even...

Cannes wouldn’t be Cannes without movies built to shock. Usually there’s (yawn) sex involved — bonjour, Brown Bunny! Antichrist-like degradation is also nice and will suffice. This year, for his first feature, Austrian casting director-turned filmmaker Markus Schleinzer methodically, balefully observes a 35-year-old pedophile (Michael Fuith) who gives the movie its title, and Michael’s victim, 10-year-old Wolfgang (David Rauschenberger), imprisoned in Michael’s basement. This is no Silence of the Lambs voluptuous horror show; it’s a matter-of-fact, daily-life horror show of “normality.” Michael goes to his regular job at an insurance company, interacts with colleagues, comes home to a tidy house,...

About half of our critics managed to see the unique screening for Michael earlier today -- it was given less screenings perhaps because it is the other film in this year's Main Competition from a newbie filmmaker. While Julia Leigh comes from a book author background, this import from Austria comes from a veteran casting director. Info was mum on the film beforehand, and there was a reason for it. Most would agree that Markus Schleinzer's debut will divide critics, probably infuriate the public and most likely, every single review you read will mention he was an understudy to the great Michael Haneke (which he cast several films for). The film is filled with malaise, Michael Fuith plays the lead character with such aplomb that each time life doesn't go according to his plan, you secretly cheer. Most troubling nature of the film is the normality and the execution...

Salient Media’s Rammbock: Berlin Undead is one of the first acquisitions by Bloody-Disgusting Selects and I have now watched and completely enjoyed this German zombie tale!

First off, this is an original take on the zombie story. Director Marvin Kren’s Rammbock tells the story of Michael ( Michael Fuith ), a really likeable guy who has been dumped by the love of his life Gabi ( Anna Graczyk ) Michael has that don’t quit mentality (or maybe he’s a stalker) but he just can’t let go so he “politely” decides to return Gabi’s keys to her. This isn’t just your regular zombie outbreak story but it falls under what the viewer might call a zombie/love story maybe? You’ll see.

Michael arrives at Gabi’s place and she’s nowhere to be seen but there are some strange things going on, people are going nuts!

We’ve got 5 “admit two” passes to the showing of Rammbock: Berlin Undead at AMC Theaters “Bloody Disgusting Selects” film fest at AMC White Marsh. Every month there’ll be a new horror movie on offer each Wednesday and Friday night. First up? A zombie movie with a twist:

Breaking up can be a bitch, but trying to reconcile in a city full of walking dead can really add complications to an already difficult relationship. Filmmakers Marvin Kren and Benjamin Hessler have given us Germany’s first foray into the Zombie genre, Rammbock, an unlikely tale of love, terror and survival set against the dystopic backdrop of a zombie-infested Berlin.

Heartbroken and clueless, Michael (Michael Fuith) arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But he’s in for a little disappointment: she’s not home and the city is rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of zombiefied Berliners.

AMC will be showing a handful of limited engagements of a variety of horror films, and today we have the U.S. one-sheet for Rammbock: Berlin Undead (May 4th). Directed by Marvin Kren, the film follows a heartbroken and clueless Michael (Michael Fuith). He arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But he’s in for a little disappointment: she’s not home and the city is rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of zombiefied Berliners. His only companion? The plucky Harper (Theo Trebs), a teenage plumber’s apprentice at work in the apartment complex. From their overnight redoubt in Gabi’s bedroom, the unlikely duo must escape the infested building, outwit the undead and find her…before it’s too late. Rammbock is hide and seek…with zombies!

Here’s the trailer:

Source: Bloody-Disgusting...

In anticipation of its limited theatrical run, we have received the U.S. one-sheet for Rammbock: Berlin Undead . Select AMC Theaters across the country will host the film on May 4. Heartbroken and clueless, Michael (Michael Fuith) arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But he's in for a little disappointment: she's not home and the city is rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of zombiefied Berliners. His only companion? The plucky Harper (Theo Trebs), a teenage plumber's apprentice at work in the apartment complex. From their overnight redoubt in Gabi's bedroom, the unlikely duo must escape the infested building, outwit the undead and find her...before it's too late. Rammbock is hide and seek...with zombies!

The announcement came a couple of days ago that The Collective and Bloody Disgusting would be distributing little seen horror flicks theatrically via AMC Theaters, and now one of them even has a release date ... the German zombie-fest known as Rammbock (review here).

Breaking up can be a bitch, but trying to reconcile in a city full of walking dead can really add complications to an already difficult relationship. Filmmakers Marvin Kren and Benjamin Hessler have given us Germany's first foray into the Zombie genre, Rammbock, an unlikely tale of love, terror, and survival set against the dystopic backdrop of a zombie-infested Berlin.

From the Press Release

The Collective, a full-service entertainment management and content company, along with AMC Theatres (AMC), a leading theatrical and exhibition company, and popular horror website BloodyDisgusting.com, recently announced a film distribution partnership dedicated to acquiring and marketing the best horror and thriller titles...

Germany's zombie offering, Rammbock , is slated to open on U.S. shores Wednesday, May 4. AMC Theaters is hosting the film under its agreement with The Collective and Bloody Disgusting Selects. Director Marvin Kren and writer Benjamin Hessler's Rammbock is an unlikely tale of love, terror and survival set against the dystopic backdrop of a zombie-infested Berlin. Heartbroken and clueless, Michael (Michael Fuith) arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But he's in for a little disappointment: she's not home and the city is rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of zombiefied Berliners. His only companion? The plucky Harper (Theo Trebs, "The White Ribbon"), a teenage plumber's apprentice at work in the apartment...

The current craze for fast running zombies spreads to Germany with “Siege of the Dead”, a.k.a. “Rammbock”, another slice of ghoulish mayhem that marks the debut of writer Benjamin Hessler and director Marvin Kren. Following a handful of unfortunates trapped in an apartment block while the hungry undead swarm outside, while the film steadfastly adheres to the new, post-Romero genre rules as laid down by the likes of “28 Days Later” and “[Rec]”, raising the question whether it offers anything new, or if it is simply another by the numbers Euro gut-muncher. Viewers can decide for themselves, as the film now arrives on region 2 DVD via Revolver Entertainment. The film kicks off with the recently dumped and decidedly morose Michael (Michael Fuith, also in “Rimini” and “Free to Leave”) arriving in Berlin, having decided to hand over a set of keys to his ex girlfriend Gabi in person, in the...

Siege of the Dead UK ArtThe German shot Rammbock now has a new name and a new trailer. The film is now known as Siege of the Dead and the synopsis of the film has been fleshed out a little, as tenants barricade themselves in an apartment building to protect themselves from "mindless homicidal maniacs" (Revolver). Revolver Entertainment Group will release this title on DVD in the United Kingdom October 25th; a North American release date has not been announced. Enjoy the one minute, action based clip inside.

The synopsis for Siege of the Dead:

"Barricade yourself in and prepare for the apocalypse - the Siege of the Dead is upon us...

When Michael arrives in the city to visit his girlfriend, he soon realises that a terrible virus has spread across the city, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Trapped in his girlfriend's flat, he teams up with Harper,...

Let's face it: Zombie movies can be stumbling messes with running times that are so lengthy that many genre film festival programmers and fans want a break from the subgenre. It's not that I don't like zombies, but when it comes to celluloid it's zombie overkill. However, when a film as tight as writer Benjamin Hessler and director Marvin Kren's Rammbock comes along, I'll definitely make an exception. The film clocks in at 61 minutes due to pressure from the producer to keep the budget down and a format that would be conducive to television broadcast in Germany. Yet the story engages viewers so quickly and keeps a steady pace that my only complaint about the brevity of Rammbock is what happens in the next chapter of this story.

The central protagonist of Rammbock is Michi (Michael Fuith), who becomes a reluctant hero by being at the wrong place at the right time.

Year: 2010

Directors: Marvin Kren

Writers: Benjamin Hessler

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: rochefort

Rating: 7 out of 10

Zombies again, folks, this time in Berlin. Michi (Michael Fuith) has been on the outs with his girl Gabi (Anka Graczyk) for some time, and decides to surprise her by showing up unannounced at her apartment to try and rekindle their glory days. When he gets there, she's not home, her apartment instead occupied by a couple of workers who are busy doing repairs. Except for that one repairman who is puking up black bile and going into seizures. Before you can ask "Is there still life in this old dog?", the apartment complex becomes infested with an ever-growing number of the infected, and Michi has to choose between finding either his ex or an escape route.

Chances are you remember the scene in "28 Days Later" where Jim and Selena make their way...