Nekromantik
DVD Barrel Entertainment
1987, 75 minutes
Not Rated 
Directed by Jorg Buttgereit
Starring: Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice M., Harald Lundt, Suza Kohlstedt

review by Lee Peterson

"The first erotic film for necrophiles!"
               --John Waters
 

When Jorg Buttgereit's Nekromantik first creeped into the U.S. via cruddy 5th-generation bootlegs (accompanied by boneheaded rumors that the corpses used in the film were real), jaded horror fans were revitalized. A sick, gory antidote to the corporate Freddy/Jason snooze-fests that dominated the late '80's horror scene, Nekromantik was a feel-bad slab of German depression-ism, an homage to necrophilia and narcissism.

Thirteen years (and lots of imitators) later, the raw intensity may have subsided, but the film still throbs like an old toothache. Still banned in many countries, the mixture of sex and unflinching gore is, as they say, not for the squeamish (reportedly, an elderly German translator quit his job after viewing the film for this DVD release!). 

Rob (Daktari Lorenz) and his girlfriend Betty (Beatrice M.) are a couple of sick little fucks living in a Berlin flat. Rob's job cleaning up motor accident debris with Joe's Streetcleaning Agency yields him a steady supply of human body parts, which he likes to bring home and keep in jars. He hits paydirt when he finds a bloated, semi-fresh corpse and brings it home to share with Betty. In a lovingly photographed sex scene, Rob and Betty copulate with their putrifying roommate, to the strains of the elegiac violin/piano theme music (written and performedby lead actor Lorenz, Hermann Kopp and John Boy Walton). 

The idyllic home-life takes an unfortunate turn when Rob is fired from his job, prompting the fickle Betty to ditch his ass, taking the rapidly-decomposing corpse with her. Heartbroken, alone and half crazy (okay, so he was half crazy before the story began), Rob takes a hard slide down the slippery slopes of madness and self-abuse. 

Barrel Entertainment's first DVD release, Nekromantik is presented full-screen (in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio), in an amazing new digital transfer taken from an original 16mm inter-negative. The image is a bit grainy at times, as should be expected, but this is a million times better than the best of the dupe-y bootlegs (and even the "official" VHS release from Film Threat Video). Considering the film was shot on Super 8, with a budget of about ten dollars, Barrel Entertainment has done an absolutely phenomenal job with this disc. 

Not only is it one of the best DVD's of the year, but I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and say that it's one of the Top Five Horror DVD's of all time! * 

Just check out these Special Features:

• audio commentary by director Jorg Buttgereit and co-writer Franz Rodenkirchen
• a 12 minute Nekromantik featurette, with outtakes and interviews ( in English with an additional audio track containing a German radio interview with Buttgereit)
• The Making of Nekromantik , a shortened, re-worked 10 minute version of the "Corpse Fucking Art" documentary 
• Horror Heaven , a 22 minute early Buttgereit Super 8 monster parody short, with English subtitles and optional audio commentary
• trailers for Nekromantik , Nekromantik 2 , Der Todesking and Schramm
• an extensive still gallery featuring over 100 stills, artwork, posters, etc., accompanied by the soundtrack music

At a time when some studios just slap their films on DVD with no effort and no special features at all (and consumers are supposed to be thankful for the scraps they get), it takes a fan-friendly upstart like Barrel Entertainment to show 'em how it should be done. 

I can't wait to see what their next release will be. If it's as good as this one, Barrel Entertainment will automatically join Anchor Bay and Elite at the head of the DVD class.

500 copies of the Nekromantik disc signed and numbered by Jorg are available through Barrel Entertainment for $38 (the non-signed one is $35), but act fast!
 
 

Official Website:

http://www.barrel-entertainment.com