German Angst (2017)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Lola Gave, Axel Holst, Andreas Pape
Directed by Jorg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski and Andreas Marschall
With a three-headed directorial collaboration, the horror has returned to Germany, for sure! Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik), Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed) and Andreas Marschall (Tears Of Kali) all return and dig way down deep into their bags of very dirty tricks to offer up a threesome of very violent and sordid tales, all for our entertainment, of course.
Buttgereit’s yarn is first up on the slab, and it’s titled “Final Girl” – about a young girl (Gave) that wakes up to begin her day, all against the chirping in the background from a radio news reporter giving the details about a recent domestic violence crime. As she makes her way around the house, it becomes painfully clear as to what’s up with this adolescent, and the subsequent results of her actions are cringe-inducing for sure – this is Buttgereit’s wheelhouse, and he swings for the fences on this one. Next up is “Make A Wish” from Kosakowski, and it stars Matthan Harris and Annika Strauss as a young couple in love, and despite their handicaps (both being deaf and mute), their love for each other is evident, and one day while on a relaxing walk, they come across an abandoned workhouse, and when Harris’s character gives a showy piece of jewelry to his girl, it unleashes an extremely violent chapter that flashbacks to the time of Nazi rule, and it impedes upon present time. The instances seem to stem from the talisman in her hand, and the results are alarming, disturbing, and more than likely will be found racially offensive by some.
The third and final story is called “Alraune” and it’s a very sordid depiction of a man who tells his girlfriend about the time that he met a mysterious woman off of a porn site, and without even knowing what she looked like, took her to the bathroom at a strip club and they had “relations”…or, at least he THINKS that’s who he was supposed to meet. The display of intensive and ardent sex is something that reels the man in, and the remainder of this tale is one that must be focused upon to fully grasp its conveyance – I’m still taken aback at this one a little bit, but in all honesty the matter fits right in line with the rest of the product. Overall, German Angst is one of those anthologies that doesn’t use a conventional middle story to interconnect its pieces, but it’s the nature of the three shorts that will unite to disturb you – a method that all three directors have prided themselves on over the course of their work. If you’ve got a strong stomach and don’t offend easily, then I’d recommend this one to you – if not, then stick to a nice Saturday afternoon chick-flick on the Lifetime Network.
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Film
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