German Angst

The best story is probably "Final Girl", which opens the movie, probing that less is often best. It is the shortest, only has occasional narration as a girl mutilates her (probably abussive) father, and ends when it starts to get more interesting, leaving you wanting more, which is good anyway. The second segment, "Make a Wish", is a story of old nazis and present-day neo-nazis torturing and killing Polish persons in the past and the present. It is the more complex, a tale that mixes strong ideological content with fantasy and extreme violence, but it keeps the tension. "Alraune", the third one, is the last, and I guess it was placed in the end because it delivers what horror fans like best: sex and gore. But it is the less effective: it is decidedly the worst. Too silly approach to male menopause crisis, with not-too-pleasant actors, anti-erotic situations and despite its sucking tentacles, flirt with S&M and horrific sex scenes, it is the less "angst" inducing segment of the three. A nice puke trilogy, though.

Like usual art for the sake of art,gore for shock... Big fan of European horrors,specifically French.This trilogy is artful,disturbing and that's that.Didn't provide with any substance to really engage me.Better to rewatch the great Antichrist film,by van Trier again...

If you are into anthologies, this has some pretty good stories to tell. Starting off with a witty one, it gets better and better. The best of the three "shorts" being told last, which is good thinking/planning. The first story has a pretty solid story/idea, which unfortunately is being blocked a bit by sub-par "acting" (if you can call it that). The development and the "twist" (if you can call it that), is more than decent, but the acting might bother people (or not, it's up to you, if you care or not).

The second one is also really good, also has a couple of issues with some of the acting. In this case it's more the support "players" than the couple who are the main characters in this. And then comes the last one. And that's really how you should end a anthology, because the last impression stays with people (which could be the reason why some rated it higher than they actually would have if they'd shown the shorts in a different order). Apart from the horror theme itself, there is not a major connection between those movies, they all handle a different sort of "fear" ... and that's a good thing too.

This film was not for me. Personally I found it very disturbing and perverse, though I admit I made it partway through the second story only. I am not one with a weak stomach but this film managed to actually make me ashamed of my German ancestry. I'm not judging, you might enjoy it and maybe I'm just too sensitive. Like I said, it's just not for me.

I went to see German Angst after hearing that Jörg Buttgereit has directed the first part of three movies. I hadn't heard about the other directors: Michal Kosakowski and Andreas Marschall.

The first movie draws a parallel between a pet guinea pig and people. Very gritty and painful movie really with many levels of meaning. Buttgereit's direction is as strong as ever here.

The second movie is topical with all the racism going on in East-Europe and Ukraine where minorities are increasingly blamed of the problems instead of the "owners" that are causing the problems. The violence looks very painful and realistic without having to use excess gore and the conclusion is strong.

The last movie was a true surprise. A well told story of a man looking for some extra spice from outside his current relationship. Well, he finds it. Some scenes remind me of Andrzej Żuławski's Possession, which is the ultimate relationship movie. The last movie features one of the most outrageous sex scene I have ever seen.

No laughs here. German Angst is something that needs to be digested for a while. Something that is very rare these days where the actual content is often missing. Empty shells masked with glitter and hype.