The Burning Moon

Indie film at its most base. I really dug the whole segmented story line. However, the very last scene could shock the fur off a kitten. By then the drugs were kicking in anyway. This is the most horrific portrayal of Hell I have EVER seen. And I have seen a lot. The leg-ripping sequence alone is worth two quarts of Miller High Life. I feel sorry for the butcher shop that sponsored this film. He must have went broke. Was there a moral? Maybe. Perhaps we should all watch what we say to one another...blah blah blah. Or maybe we should drink from cans whilst watching a truly disturbing horror film because bottles spill when you bolt out of your chair after seeing a man eat his own eyeball.

Olaf Ittenbach's Burning Moon earns high praise as he carries on the tradition of film in the underground genre of the splatter horror film. Combing a Romero/Fulci world, the movie tells a story of Peter (played by Ittenbach) who recites 2 horrific bedtime stories to his sister.

One entitled "Julia's Love" tells the story of a serial killer who takes his blind date and her family on a blood soaked killing rampage. The scenes of splatter are suspiciously amateurish compromised of blood splatter on walls, and good old exploding heads. Ittenbach relishes in gratuitous gore and a standard knife to the head is done with like almost flawless spectacular Stan Winston special effects.

The second bedtime story called "The Purity" is about a crazed satan-worshipping priest and the disturbed small German town that has been invaded by some mysterious killings. The townspeople try to find revenge on an innocent suspect. This story gets long and tedious but the payoff is almost worth it.

The end of the story sequence is interrupted by "Hell" the neverending, non stop gore footage. Body parts, intestines, decapitated arms, heads, legs. Ittenbach includes a unique ocular trauma scene in which a man eats his own eyeball.

Ittenbach shares his German glory with Jorg Buttgereit and his Nekromantik films. If you like the previously mentioned films, Burning Moon is up your alley.

They don't make movies like this anymore and it seems the more we get bombarded by Hollywood horror teen scream-a-thons, the more you appreciate an all out gore-fest.

This movie is just an excuse to kill off a lot of people on screen and show plenty of blood and guts and torture. Some scenes in this movie are just downright brutal and it's all very much over the top. For the low budget this obviously had the effects are fantastic and makes you wonder if they were only effects. This movie is extremely hard to track down and when you do find a copy it will likely cost you a lot of cash but it is well worth it. When you see the torture scene at the end you'll know exactly what i meant.

One day while surfing the net I happened to come upon a gif of some guy getting torn in half from his crotch up. And it was awesome. I happened to find out it was by a guy I was indeed aware of. One of the true gorehound horror directors out there. Mister Olaf Ittenbach. With that scene and the realization it was made by Olaf, it was time to watch The Burning Moon.

The story is about some doucher/druggie/low-life who tells his young sister some stories before she goes to bed. Not that she wanted to hear them. He was shootin up so he thought it was a good idea. Anyways, he tells her two grim as hell stories that don't skimp out on the red stuff. The first revolves around an escaped blood-thirsty mental patient and a young girl who accidentally went out on a date with him. Bad things go down. Which is good! The second story revolves around an evil priest, an innocent young man and a bunch of angry town folk. This second story also delivers the red stuff, and the last third of this one is pretty much non-stop grue.

Both stories were very grim, very evil, and just flat out what a serious horror fan should appreciate. Olaf's movies are rarely ever produced on high budgets, but what he manages to show us is pretty impressive. The atmospheres and overall tone of this flick really was very ugly and downbeat. And as usual the writing is very weak, but still, as usual, pretty funny.

The Burning Moon is another gore-filled flick from Olaf that any fan of said director, gore and horror should definitely give it a peek. And did I mention a dude gets graphically ripped in half? Oh yeah.

Olaf Ittenbach's Burning Moon is the perfect example of nihilism. This anthology movie is split into two shorts: Julia's Love and The Purity. Julia's Love shows how no one can be trusted and The Purity shows that jumping to conclusions can have awful, awful consequences. The meanings behind these stories are, of course, up to interpretation but it is no question that the second short, The Purity, has a deeper, nihilistic message. A cynical take on religion, this segment quickly ramps to horrific deaths and an end scene that will leave the viewer shocked.

The gore in this movie is nothing short of stomach churning and over the top. Any gorehound would be pleased. So I encourage you, if you're a fan of SOV horror and gory movies, to give this movie a shot.