Schramm

Schramm is the story of a serial killer that goes by the name of 'The Lipstick Killer'. The camera work and editing are completely amazing, and the story never gets old. Lothar Schramm is a man who is sexually deprived, and as far as I can tell, afraid of women. This isnt such a good thing for his next door neighbor, a prostitute. This movie is almost in the vein of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, but it is much more graphic and poetic then Henry could ever imagine. Now, I had read ALOT about this movie (as I am a big Jorg Buttgereit fan) so I knew what the movie was about, and how it was going to end, and blah blah blah. But when I actually bought a copy of it and sat down and watched it, I was completely blown away. It wasnt ANYTHING what I thought it was going to be, and I mean that in an extremely good way! If you want to see a beautifuly-Ugly film, with an amazing/twisted love story, Gorgeous camera-work, and an extremely dedicated director, Please rent this.

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.

I actually sought this movie based on the great reviews from the other members of IMDB only to be sorely disappointed. A little more than an hour long, this comes of nothing more than a cheaply shot art house thriller. How is the viewer supposed to assume the main character is a 'serial killer' (known as The Lipstick Killer) - when we only see him murder 2 people throughout the entire movie? Labeling a movie as a film about a serial killer should at least (not to sound morbid) have more than 2 murders throughout the movie. Necrophilia? Were these viewers confusing this yawn fest with Nekromantic? Shocking scenes of murder? Where? The only 2 murders were less shocking than anything a Friday the 13th movie has shown a thousand times. The violence/gore is (minus one scene)very minimal, if any at all. - The direction itself almost seems as if its out to confuse the viewer. Save your time and money - If you're seeking a violent movie about a serial killer that delivers, search for "The Untold Story" with Anthony Wong.

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