mikegdelisi

Bloodsuckers From Outer Space is an odd movie. Some scenes are acted, shot, and written with all the professionalism of a middle school play. Other scenes have a veneer of competence, often only just barely missing the mark. Regardless of which type of scene you're in, you'll likely catch some hilarious dialogue when you aren't expecting it. Everything from the special effects to the very 80s theme music are all clearly the work of amateurs, but the tongue in cheek vibe make for a fun watch, anyway. I'd put this movie on the shelf next to something like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, though the production values are clearly skimpier, here.

Schramm is a film that I find difficult to put my finger on why it exists. What is the theme? What is the message? Why did this story need to be told? Buttgereit is no stranger to making transgressive movies, but when a story is transgressive just for the sake of it, it loses some of its meaning. What we have here is a (very) brief view into the life of Lothar Schramm, a taxi driver(?) who never seems to go to work, who moonlights as a serial killer with a lipstick obsession. Schramm spends most of his time (and most of the movie) in his run down apartment either working out, hallucinating, killing people, masturbating, or cleaning up after one of the other things. What meager run time there is has been padded out by the unnecessary repetition of several sequences. There is a partially realized side-plot involving one of his neighbors that feels a bit like it's from a different, and possibly better, movie. The movie we do get explores some aspects of Schramm's mental illness, but only in a superficial sort of way. He imagines(?) waking up in varying stages of disfigurement, and even carries out some self mutilation, but we're left to put the pieces together ourselves. There is some interesting stuff here, but the film feels incomplete in more ways than one. Another 20 minutes of character development would have gone a long way to elevate this movie.

Nekromantik is a film made with the specific goal of offending the West German Motion Picture Rating Organization, who were notorious for censoring content throughout the Cold War era. In that capacity, I imagine it was extremely successful. Within its runtime of 75 minutes, the movie pushes the boundaries of sexual fetishism into the criminal and (at least to most) the truly disgusting. I had long heard about this film, and had my idea of what I was getting. Considering the low budget, I assumed that the 'corpse' that is the subject of sexual desire would be an actor in makeup playing dead. Instead, the corpse is barely more than a skeleton, with moldering bits of slimy flesh and a singular rotting eyeball. To see the two characters passionately engage in sexual exploits with this cadaver as gentle romantic music plays in the background is the definition of transgressive. If you're the type to explore out the darker corners of film, Nekromantik is almost a rite of passage, but I can't say that watching it is much of a rewarding experience.