Schramm

I must say that out of all the Jörg Buttgereit movies I have seen so far this is by far the best. It uses all of the same themes as his other movies (nudity, sex, mutilation, violence, killings, death) but it's more successful with it than usual, making this an artistic successful one, as well as an powerful one that is being effective with its themes.

The movie gives us a real look inside the head of a serial killer/rapist/necrophiliac. We see his weird fantasies of extreme violence and sex but we also see his fantasies of how he truly wants to be. The movie doesn't present its main character as a deranged psycho but more as a man who can't help being the way he is. He's struggling with it himself at points but in the end he just can't help being the man that he is. With self mutilation he tries to fight the feelings and punish himself for the deeds he has done but it's all in vein.

Yes, it's a quite odd movie, due to its themes and the way it's being brought to the screen. Jörg Buttgereit often picks the artistic approach and uses some symbolism and metaphors. For this movie he obviously got inspired by Luis Buñuel's work. Jörg Buttgereit is like the German Luis Buñuel and Takashi Miike, though not all of his movies work out as well as this one does.

It shows the world as a dirty place. Not only with it's extreme violence or people living in it but also with its almost depressing settings. The main characters apartment looks like it's an outdated '70's bachelor shack, in the middle of a bad and poor neighborhood.

It's a movie that works on so many levels with its themes and with the story it tries to tell. Jörg Buttgereit always aspires all of his movies to be like this but not all of his work works out as well and successful as this one does though.

9/10

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I have known and heard of this movie ages ago. I was expecting something along the lines of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Hostel, but i got something new here.

Compared to the director's previous works of Nekromantik and it's sequel, this movie actually seems to be meaningful. The idea and the gore visuals are awesome. This is the first time that we are watching exactly through the killer's mind.

It is sort of similar to the movies like The Untold Story, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Angst, as we just follow our main lead. Compared to the three films i just listed, this movie actually showcases how our main character is struggling, how he is truly lonely, and how he actually has schizophrenia, and you actually feel sorry for him. However, also compared to all the previous three films, all three of the films were made better, plot-wise and technically-wise.

Now it's time for the negatives: None of our characters really have any depth. Angst just is a pitch-black dark movie, and you care, here it's really a mixed bag. The movie repeats it's scenes that we have already seen and that's pretty annoying. At the start of the movie, we learned that our main character is dead, which sort of spoiled the ending.

I feel like i have to rewatch this a second time, but this movie is just a mixed bag.

I think of Schramm like a train and you're tied to the tracks. Its a primitive film, full of aggression and violation. Buttgereit's film Nekromantik was snide and built up a cult, Schramm has more narrative than his film Der Todesking but its definitely not linear. Schramm retains the trademark cinematic dissociation Buttgereit does so well and which makes this film disturbing. Its the cheapness of the gore and the ordinariness of the surroundings which makes the dissociation possible. Odd to say, but there's a scary realism here in the blankness and bleakness. Its grosser than ever in Buttgereit land and this tale of a self-abusing, disturbed killer is compulsive viewing if you can

Schramm (1993)

*** (out of 4)

Lothar Schramm (Florian Koemer von Gustorf) is lying in a pool of his own blood where she's slowly dying. Through flashbacks we take a look at his relationship with a neighbor (Monika M) and learn how he became a serial killer.

SCHRAMM comes from German director Jorg Buttgereit and in many ways you could probably argue that it's the best of his early films. As with NEKROMANTIK, its sequel and DER TODESKING, this one here deals with the typical stuff like violence, sex, mutilation and murder. This one here also comes across more like an art film than just some cheap direct-to-video horror film. This one manages to work once again because the director clearly has talent and makes you realize it even if you might be turned off by the subject matter.

This one here clocks in at just 66-minutes so there's really no fat or scenes that are just dragged out for no reason. I really thought the director did a fine job at getting us into the mind of this killer and you can tell what a messed up person he is. I thought the relationship with the neighbor, who just happens to be a hooker, was quite believable and in a strange way you care for both of them. Both von Gustorf and Monika are good in their roles and this certainly helps.

SCHRAMM certainly isn't a movie that's going to appeal to everyone as there's a lot of blood, some really graphic violence and of course some bizarre sexual stuff. If you're a fan of the director's work then you should enjoy the picture, or at least enjoy it as far as your stomach can take.

This has to be one of the best serial killer films if not for the camerawork or editing (much better than Buttgereits previous stuff) for its deadly realism. The special thing about this one is that it doesn't depict - instead it forces viewers to see from the killers eyes and think the killer's way.

Moreover, and mainly because of the obvious improval of the technic (it LOOKS much more professional than, say, Nekromantik, even if it's not, and I know because I watched the special edition where we see how they filmed this thing) , this film might appeal to other people as well, apart from sickos and people on weird / gore films.

I can imagine that some serious cinema-lovers could take this very seriously and consider it a great film as it is.