Die Totenschmecker

Movies rarely come as obscure as this one. It hasn't got an international title in English (nor in any other language, for that matter) but there are no less than FIVE different titles in German, which undoubtedly means there wasn't even a semi-decent offset market in its own native country; namely (West-) Germany. The titles vary from neutral and unappealing ("The Girl from the Farm") to spectacular but completely irrelevant ("The Maniac of the Zombie Farm") and a couple ones that I wouldn't know how to accurately translate.

Now, you won't hear me say this is a hidden gem or even a good film, but it's definitely a unique and fascinating piece of work that I'm sure fellow fanatics of Euro-exploitation cinema wouldn't mind watching. Writer/director Ersnt Ritter von Theumer (known mostly for "Jungle Warriors") seems unsure of what he wants to accomplish here; - either a gritty and raw exploitation thriller or a more complex social drama about geographical isolation and the pressure caused by family honor and tradition.

The story takes place at a picturesque farm amidst the Tyrolean Alps (it looks more like a cozy family hotel rather than a farm, in fact). The patriarch farmer lives here with his ailing wife, his oldest son and his wife and cute teenage daughter, another son who's a bachelor and more carefree, and a mentally disabled son who always remains in the barns. When the latter assaults a woman of a nearby living Roma gypsies' community, the father and oldest son do what they think is necessary to protect the family farm, even though it sets in motion a non-stop series of violent murders and traumas.

Many sequences in "The Girl from the Farm" seem clumsy and poorly accomplished, and the acting and directing aren't exactly overwhelming, but there's something tragical and fascinating about this effort that keeps you glued to the screen. The murders (and one rape) are cheap looking but vicious of nature, and there are a handful of uncanny moments (like when the girl freaks out at her granny's funeral). Admirably is also that the plot twists don't go as you'd expect, and the third act of the film is truly downbeat. Lead actor William Berger, as the oldest son, is a familiar face for fans of spaghetti westerns and Gialli. A minimum of knowledge of the German language is required should you wish to seek out this film, as the (classily) restored DVD-version doesn't contain a dubbed version or subtitles.

This alpine drama tells the story of a father and his three sons who unintentionally cause the death of two women on their remote farm and, in order to cover it up, have to eliminate more and more witnesses.

On one hand, the story has a moral lesson, because once they took the first wrong step, the main characters become entangled in more and more criminal acts. On the other hand, it is rooted in the political incorrectness of the time it was written, with clichés about the mentally handicapped, the rural population, and also Roma and Sinti. The ambiguity of the story aside, this is good craftsmanship with strong acting performances in particular from Maria Beck as the daughter who freezes in horror at her family's guilt, the Loonie (Claus Fuchs) and William Berger as the eldest son, who feels he has to show his younger brother (Herb Andress) how not to be a wimp, consumed by the ambition to finally run his father's (Peter Jacob) farm, at any price.

The film was no success in the cinema because it was too disturbing for many people. I'm not talking about the murders here, but for example the grandmother's funeral scene when the pretense of religiosity is exposed as hypocrisy. On the other hand, the attempt to sell it as a Zombie movie (with the alternative title "Der Irre vom Zombiehof" = "The Madman from the Zombie farm") to the horror audience was entirely misleading. This is a controversial movie, interesting, but with a target audience problem.