Stereo

Stereo: Eric (Jurgen Vogel) is living in rural Bavaria, he runs a garage, is easy going, has a girlfriend. But her policeman father is suspicious of him. To be honest Eric is suspicious of himself, he's a bit dubious about his past, what really happened in his Berlin days. To add to his confusion a character called Henry starts to stalk him, Henry knows more about Eric's past than Eric does. The trouble is only Eric can see Henry. A therapist/medium with the aid of a wheelchair bound Aleister Crowley lookalike tries to help. Then a Roma man appears who seems to know Eric and attempts to involve him in a criminal scheme. A black comedy, gangster flick and revenge thriller which is quite edgy and violent. Vogel is good at portraying Eric as the confused everyman who just wants a quiet life and a family. But like Job the troubles of the world are showered upon him. Good acting all round as the film moves from fields to seedy nightclubs and a grand guignol finale. Directed and written by Maximilian Erlenwein. 8/10.

Likeable middle aged rogue tries to go it straight in a small rural town when he starts to find himself almost literally haunted by his own dark past. Somehow the film manages to thread a confusing path balancing the fantastic and the mundane to reach it's bloody, bullet ridden climax. For me, this film did a much better job of bringing together it's various "out there" plot points than most similar efforts on the market. But then again, it does manage to both have good ideas but also not bludgeon the audience over the head with them.

A man follwed by a hooded mysterious man then he tries to solution for get rid of him.. Good thriller and action and mystery movie.. First 40 minutes you cant judge anything about the movie then they reveal past and ended nicely..

Edgar Poe ,"William Wilson" .

At first ,this thriller shows a Roman Polanski influence : the hero's peaceful life , in a common milieu,suddenly subject to the intrusion of maleficent hostile world,and sinister-looking characters looming in everyday life : ever since the first meeting with his girlfriend's father , one feels something bizarre in his attitude towards his (future?) son-in-law ;which the second one (the handshake) does nothing to dispel .In the meantime, a sinister -looking figure appears ,some kind of double, a persecutor, or his conscience,because ,slowly but inexorably, one feels that the hero has skeletons in his closet ,that fueled by the girlfriend's dad 's investigations (he's a cop).

The man who follows him everywhere and which nobody but the unfortunate hero can see may seem sometimes intrusive at times ,but it inspires the excellent scene with the little girl :children often invent an imaginary friend ,and for her ,it's only natural that her mom's friend has one too.

Not only the hero thinks he's losing his marbles ,which the people who are supposed to help him do nothing to rectify : on the contrary ,the thespian in the hospital sends him to a most peculiar therapist ,as though they were all part of a huge conspiracy

Of course ,there are elements taken from former movies ("Jacob's ladder" ,"fight club".... ),and the last twenty minutes are a bit disappointing , for gore and violence which were kept to a minimum level so far ,come to the fore ,a la Tarentino .

In spite of these reservations, "stereo " is a good thriller,well acted by both principals , off the beaten track ; and the "explanation" makes sense , despite (or thanks to) the intrusion of the fantasy and horror in the trite world of a motorcycle mechanic.

I anticipated this being more of a horror movie than the thriller it was, but that wasn't an unwelcome surprise. Stereo does a great job of establishing the main character in his initial setting, and I enjoyed seeing how he handled the turmoil of seeing the mystery man. It's around that part of the movie where I got a little bored waiting for the big reveal...

I really enjoyed this movie overall, and there were moments that bummed me out and made me angry. That being said, the story-telling is a bit disjointed and choppy, the pacing was a bit too slow, and nothing about the plot stood out as "new" to me. I would still casually recommend this, but it's not a must-see.