Nekromantik

A hardcore underground experiment. The main subject: The search for oneself and the means of salvation from crushing loneliness. The main role in the film is played by the association of sex with death and the fetishistic obsession with “dead matter” in the form of human and animal entrails. The psychedelic wandering between reality, dreams and visions is underscored by cheap-sounding but surprisingly effective and compelling music – it’s literally beautiful in the romantic passages (piano). The violence in the film is not gratuitous, as it fulfils the role of symbolism expressing the state of the main character’s mental processes. The film is hindered by the cringeworthy acting in its reality-based (non-dream) storyline, which devalues its presentation as a work of art. In any case, it is a strongly emotional, morally deviant film requiring a significant degree of detachment and free-thinking tolerance. If you look at it through such a lens, you will be superbly entertained by the absurd splatter slapstick and you will be moved by the beautiful love scenes with the skeletal, half-decayed corpse. As I was expecting cheap, gratuitous repulsiveness, I was pleasantly surprised by Nekromantik. (02.09.2002)

It's so warm, romantic and loving. A young couple of weirdos collect body parts, store them in alcohol and bathe in blood. Their emotional lives get more colourful with the arrival of a new companion, a rotten, decaying corpse with whom they share many romantic, loving moments, as if cut out of Daniele Steele's novels. After the protagonist's companion runs off with the other (you know, corpse), the plot leads to the final dramatic climax. What's interesting about this film are the poetic scenes accompanied by romantic music, like something out of a bodice ripper library, interspersed with some very disgusting moments. Daniele Steele would have an aneurism, I survived, but it was hard work. (28.09.2003)