No Reason

Six minutes wasted right off the bat, more than were needed to serve as contrast for what is to come. One scene of stark violence; two minutes of dubious editing and dialogue; 14 minutes of exposition. Even as some of the preceding moments are woven into the narrative thereafter, it's not until one-third of the runtime has passed that it seems like the movie begins in earnest. The concept sounds promising, and surely grotesque; the execution is distinctly uneven and wanting, sometimes needlessly obscene, and less than convincing. Whatever you think you're going to get out of 'No reason,' there's at best a 50-50 chance that you're right. For my part, I'm at best unsure this was worth my time.

Credit where it's due: the blood and gore looks good, and the effects generally. The violence and otherwise ghastly imagery is emphatically extreme, graphic, explicit, and excessive, including genital mutilation amidst near-constant nudity. Yet the crimson and viscera are also the bread and butter of the film, with any sense of plot being little more than an excuse for the visuals, so by that measure one would certainly hope this element is executed well. To that point, the makeup, prosthetics, and costume design mostly look pretty great, and mostly equally wretched. The exception is the cephalopod being, whose mask especially betrays the pointedly low-budget nature of the production, and the voice effects for whom are downright tawdry. I appreciate the set design and decoration, especially in the more gnarly scenes, and if a little on the nose, the use of lighting is pretty swell.

All this is well and good. On the other hand, the acting generally leaves much to be desired. The editing is wildly overzealous - presumably trying to compensate for weak material - including disjointed sequencing that adjoins poor writing. Individual scenes are mostly fine in theory (and do come off well in the bloodiest of instances); dialogue is laughably bad, and never more so than when there's any attempt at profundity (including the ending). Characters are a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas, as seemingly unfinished in concept as the story. No feature can survive poor writing. There are good ideas here, and the root premise of an ultra-violent journey through one's personal hell is a fantastic idea for a horror film. Yet the plot feels meagerly plastered together, barely attaining cohesiveness, and it's flimsy all the while. Again, it's clear the blood and gore were the top priority, but that's "no reason" for shortchanging the glue that holds a picture together. Olaf Ittenbach needed to spend more time developing his screenplay and less time imagining different ways to spill blood.

If all you want out of a horror film are a few scenes that arguably make it seem like the Cenobites exercise restraint, then you might get a kick out of 'No reason' as long as you fast-forward through about a collective half of the runtime otherwise. If you need more out of your genre flicks than simple, brutal violence, you've altogether come to the wrong place. I had high hopes, and they were dashed: it's a notion I'd like to see explored more earnestly, but this isn't the movie for any major degree of thoughtful storytelling or mindful film-making.

No Reason is a film that lives up to its title - not in a clever, ironic way, but in the sense that there seems to be no reason for most of what happens on screen. Directed by Olaf Ittenbach, this German horror film leans hard into gore, surrealism, and shock value, but forgets to bring along a coherent plot, engaging characters, or meaningful purpose.

Clocking in at 75 minutes, the film feels much longer, dragged down by endless sequences of over-the-top, stomach-churning body horror that lacks emotional weight or context. The protagonist, Jennifer, wanders through grotesque hellscapes, encountering increasingly bizarre and disturbing scenes, but without a narrative thread strong enough to justify the journey.

The visuals are clearly where the budget and effort went - practical effects fans might find moments of interest - but without a strong story or characters to invest in, the gore becomes numbing rather than effective. Dialogue is minimal and often stilted, performances are wooden, and the philosophical themes the film seems to hint at are buried under piles of meaningless carnage.

In the end, No Reason feels more like an art school horror experiment than a satisfying film. Disturbing for the sake of being disturbing, it lacks the substance, structure, or subtlety needed to make any of its horror land with impact.

This movie wastes no time getting into gear exposing full frontal female nudity and excessive gore. This movie reminded me of some great horror films of 2010 such as The Farmhouse, Blood River and Devil but unfortunately for this German export, it didn't live up to its potential. The problem with this film is that it is too confusing and convoluted for the average gore fan. The acting is tenuous at best and the ending seems a little rushed although i did like the conclusion. Other negatives to this film were the special effects and the audio. Some effects were so bad and obviously fake that it took a bit of the gore authenticity away from the proceedings. The audio sounded like it came from another film at times and was badly recorded into this picture. It's not all doom and gloom for this picture, the pacing is good and moves along at a very crisp pace and for the budget I think the heart of this film was in right place. It also had a grimy '70's grind house feel reminiscent of great 1970's exploitation sleaze such as Malabimba and one of my all time favourite's Alucarda. So for those of you that love grisly gore and nudity running amok...proceed, the rest of you stay far far away.....

Stay away from this movie,please. Everything is bad. GARBAGE

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to get ahold of this, so I was delighted to finally see the original movie (with eng subs) once I had procured it here in the states!

Olaf Ittenbach makes really cool and crazy over-the-top-not-necessary- but-now-that-you-mention-it-that's-kind-of-awesome type horror movies. He executes special effects with unquestionable brilliance - I dare any of you to create a CGI that has a comparable effect. - And the movies he directs often dispatch a rather generic plot that allows for such gore and action sequences to be thread together. Personally, I really enjoy his style and totally grasp where he's going with it.

This movie in particular shines for multiple reasons. The special effects and Gore in this film are abundant. In addition to that, it actually has a pretty good plot and interesting main character as well (who also happens to be completely nude for almost the entire film.)

It explores things like Drug Addiction, Mood & Mental Disorders, Heaven & Hell, Sensory Perception & Colors, while piecing together the heroine's memory and contrasting that with what ends up being the reality. It is somewhat self-important but it works for this film.

The musical score is EFFECTIVE, creepy, and surprisingly poignant considering the genre of film. While this movie did not reinvent the wheel, It certainly captures the elements necessary to make something resonate as creepy/scary/disturbing. This movie would STILL be very creepy without all the over-the-top violence and blood/gutspilling - However; The fact that it is there makes it even that much more delightful. Buy/Rent It ;)