User reviews

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.

I have given this 9 out of 10 for purely the gore effects alone. The rest of the film is weak but for all the gore hounds out (myself included) it is a serious assault on the senses so don't watch this with your female partner as you will be single by the end of the film as most of the serious stuff is at the end.

Believe me the effects are very very good, so good in fact that a rumour existed that this was not special effects ! but if you can find it (almost impossible here in the UK) then make up your own mind but be warned its hard viewing.

I have only seen it in the original German language and I am not sure if it has even got a DVD release but I may be wrong (I am searching now).

Germany, it still will be a weird country. Most of the movies coming from there are the real gory splatter ones. Weird, because the German authorities doesn't allow those kind of movies. Bethmann and Ittenbach are the best know directors of the genre with Bethmann having his own label, X Rated Kult. Do I need to say more. This movie belongs to Ittenbach's first attempts in the genre. Still unavailable on DVD it conquered the earth on VHS, but still some versions were only 88 minutes long. My copy was uncut, so 99 minutes long. The flick is about a guy who has to babysit his little sister. Fed up with his parents and the situation, he's in his puberty, he tells his sister some horror stories. The stories itself those are the one we see in the movie. Two stories it is, the first one not that original, and not that gory too, some stupid effects, watch out for the collision with a car and a person! But the second story is the best, and there you will find the gore. like Premutos it's full of entrails and torture. This is for the geeks out there, one of Ittenbach better ones.

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.

Right, if you're not a complete gore-hound, you might well stop reading now and click that little "x" on the top-right-side of your screen.

If you compare Horror-flicks like "The Exorcist" or "Halloween" to fine French cuisine, you might liken the gore- and splatter-fests of Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi to plain working-class food. In that case you'll view the works of Olaf Ittenbach to the cheapest, greasiest burger you've ever put into your mouth. Or, in the case of you being German, "Curry-Wurst". Not the fresh variation, mind you, but rather yesterday's leftover sausage, re-heated.

"The Burning Moon" can be considered the grandfather of the bottom-of-the-barrel, Z-grade horror-flicks from Germany (in other words: trash that is produced by people like Andreas Bethmann, Oliver Krekel or Marc Vorlander). In other words: expect nothing. Acting that resemble anything in the classical sense? Forget it. A story with a twist, or more depth than a 3rd graders high school-play? Not even close. Any technical talent or finesse? Zilch. But all those lacks are compensated for with gore, gore and more gore. It seems that the few measly bucks that went into the production went solely into the special effects, which consist of a few lackluster murder and torture scenes and the film's highlight, a torture scene in hell which lasts an estimate 20 minutes.

If you're familiar with the genre, you know what to expect: red food-colour mixed with hot-chocolate powder and egg-yolk (for consistencies sake), buckets full of them and generously dumped over the "actors".

The reason for giving this piece any points at all is the fact that back in 1997 "The Burning Moon" was more or less a "first"; a curiosity rather than a real film. Nowadays these kinds of products have become rampant, especially in Germany. That is no longer the case and Orson Wells prophecy that "everybody wants to make movies and my stupid brother too" has fulfilled itself; an army of "stupid brothers", incompetent and unable to the last one (see above mentioned names). Makes you long for the days when producing films meant that you needed a budget, sponsors, producers and an able team technicians and artists.

So, if you want to make a movie, hey, why waste your time with film-school or talent? Assemble a crew of friends and neighbours, invest 100 bucks in a digital camera, find yourself a back-lot or piece of forest where filming is free, and raid the kitchen for special-effects items. Then write yourself a couple of glowing reviews on IMDb and applaud yourself for being "a real film-maker". Again, for above mentioned "film-makers", including director Olaf Ittenbach, this hasn't only become employment but a sport and a virtual way of life.

4/10 points – one for being a first, one for the ambition, one for the "hell"-scene and one for the general nihilistic, morbid and misanthropic aura that surrounds the stories.

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.

"The Burning Moon" is a shot on video type home movie,but a bit more professional than other similar stuff.It has some really good special effects and is gorier than Andreas Schnaas' stuff,if a little less sadistic.The film is about a druged up teen(Olaf Ittenbach)who gets involved with gang fights and has problems at home.He reads his little sister two stories-which form a basis of the movie.First story "Julia's Love" is about a serial killer,who escapes from asylum and terrorises a girl.Second story "The Purity" is about a priest who likes sacrificing and raping women.He kills himself,but a local who think another bloke is the killer kills him,and he returns as a zombie and it climaxes in Hell.Ittenbach's vision of Hell is almost too horrible to watch-the gore is truly extreme!A really good film,my favourite gore scene:a man strapped to a table is operated on by two demons,who pluck out his eye,crave open his body,rip out his insides and then tear him in half with chains from crotch to throat.

I rented this because of the hell sequence. This infamous scene was filmed in a basement or an abandoned school! Why comments don't say this is bull. I did not know hell was made of white concrete walls and shower stalls, yes shower stalls! Ittenbach plays the lead role, and is dressed like he's in a Winger video. There is a gang fight with fake punching, and kicking. Dialog that make no sense, bad lighting.

It appears that Olaf even used a blank Wal-Mart VHS cassette to record on instead of spending the extra 2 dollars for a TDK VHS tape Good gore in last 10 minutes, that is it. Bad acting and shot on video.

Stick to good gore like Alexander Aja, Savini, or the Italian masters.

Burning moon should be burned.

This movie is a tough mama to find. I finally have it! I saw the trailer in the Traces Of Death III video. When I first saw the trailer I got so curious that I wanted to see this movie. I never found this movie online. The only place I found it was on ebay for more 80 bucks. And I said, 'no way I'm spending 80 dollars just to own this VHS movie rare to find.' Anyway. About a year ago I was in a flea market, somewhere in Mexico. So I saw this guy selling original DVDs for 5 dollars. For my surprise I found The Burning Moon on the section where they have all the 5 dollar movies. I was like, WOA!!!! Hellyeah! On DVD! ORIGINAL! No pirated DVD. 100% ORIGINAL! I was happy to find and I bought it. I'm curious. Where did this guy found or how in the hell was he able to sell a hard to find movie for only 5 bucks! The town that I visited was Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. On the border of El Paso, Texas. Thats where I found the movie. I'm from Laredo, Texas. This movie is to gory for my surprise. A mad priest raping a young girl and then kills her, a criminally insane killer on the loose murdering people, a torturer torturing a guy with drilling his teeth and taking out his guts and then rips him in half! Oh MAN!!! This movie is insane and I loved it! I don't know why is so underground and hard to find this film. Anyway, if you can get your hands on this film, don't sell this film. This is a cult and a collectors film. Nice work Olaf!

It is an amateur movie, with non-actors in the role. The main character is a junkie, forced to babysit his little sister and he terrorizes her by telling horrific stories. There are 2 stories and first is about a psychotic serial killer who terrorizes his blind date and her family. The second is about a serial killer priest who rapes and murders to cleanse their souls.

It is very gory and boring in many parts. The second story has a extremely gory scene which is not for the faint of heart. However most of this movie is not worth watching.

yes it has been a while since I have seen the movie but I do remember it for the most part. I am a horror movie junkie and have seen my fair share. This movie has bad acting yes, some cheesy gore effects yes, but I found it to be a decent flick. The scene at the end it worth the money alone. It was very very good even with todays computer effects and such. Not really much of a plot at all in the movie but sometimes I am just in a mood to se some good gore. Not the best review but I think I should at least add a better comment than the ones I have seen. This movie is not really that bad, go rent it for yourself and don't listen to what others have to say (even me).

campy low-budget splatter-flick that merits a rental fee only if your VCR has a good fast-forward button. highlights include: the incredibly cheesy dream segue between the serial killer and the girl he's stalking (German shepards running through grassy fields, etc.) and the utterly gratuitous and out-of-context 10-minute gore spectacular at the end of the movie. my friend and i hypothesize that the producers of this movie came up with all the gore footage and realized they couldn't release it without at least 80 more minutes of footage. hence the first 90% of the tape - utter tripe.

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.

The ham acting and over the top gore. The synopsis of the short stories. Absolute laugh riot. It is very gory but the gore is very dated. It is dark but the acting and way it is shot and it's low budget made it closer to a Troma film than anything horrific

This was my first Olaf Ittenbach movie and I loved it! OK, so it's budget gore, and if you cried to "Shakespeare In Love" or need to impress your girlfriend with your sensitivity, then this probably isn't your cauldron of festering sewage. But if you're hankering for a bit of bare-knuckles film-making and a few ladles of ultraviolence, then this vid's for you. It's gory throughout, and for the hell scene near the end of the movie the film crew really pulls out all stops of depravity.

This is the movie that all teenage boys dream about making. I am all the more impressed as I know how complicated and cumbersome video editing was in the early Nineties -- a lot more difficult than editing ordinary silver-halide film (keeping image and sound in synch was an absolute bitch of a task), and no comparison to today where you can just do it on your PC.

Actually, for those of you unfamiliar with the trials and tribulations of linear video editing, let me provide you with a little 101 on the subject matter: while video made shooting a lot easier and cheaper, editing became hugely more complicated as on video the sound is about two seconds out of synch with the image, so after each cut the new scene would be silent for the first two seconds. Also, precise cutting is tricky, editing scenes in or out is nearly impossible, and the image quality degenerates quickly -- it's an absolute nightmare. This explains some of the strange technical features of this movie, they were necessary compromises which Ittenbach was forced to make, rather than cute idiosyncratic ideas of his: namely dubbed soundtrack, dictatorial scripting, and single-take scenes.

The love and dedication that went into making this movie seems strangely at odds with the destructiveness and hate it narrates. I look forward to seeing more of Ittenbach's stuff.

A tripped-out heroin addict relates two questionable bedtime stories to send his little sister to sleep. In the first, "Julia's Love," a woman finds that the young man she's dating is an escaped lunatic who butchers her family, and unsuccessfully tries to kill her. In "The Purity," a deranged priest rapes and murders women. Though an innocent handyman is suspected and lynched for the crimes, the priest ends up in Hell, literally, where he is strapped to a table by the handyman's ghost and dissected.

Both stories are revolting and nightmarish. Director Olaf Ittenbach (who plays the storyteller) makes a halfhearted attempt to contrast the two serial killers. The first revealed his dementia as a child and was locked away in a mental institution; the priest, on the other hand, conceals his madness behind a church institution and its facade of respectability. Ittenbach seems to endorse public displays of one's psychotic behavior, or else face the consequences in the afterlife.

"Julia's Lover" and the framing story advance woodenly toward predictable conclusions, but "The Purity" is constructed with more assurance. Ittenbach's surrealistic vision of Hell is almost too horrible to watch, as is one of the murder scenes, in which his nihilistic camera lingers on every nuance and facial expression of a victim whose throat has just been cut. The shot-on-video feature is in German with English subtitles.

This movie sucks. It's truly not a good movie at all. BUT - it's incredibly entertaining, if only for the gore and the music. The acting? Atrocious. Storyline? Present, but not important. In fact, the vast majority of this movie is not important, until you get to Hell. I saw this a couple months ago, and it's mostly forgettable with the exception of some cool kills sprinkled throughout. The framing story is pretty messed up. But the true brilliance in this movie is the 8 minute sequence where we get a glimpse of Olaf Ittenbach's low budget version of Hell. This is not your typical depiction of hell - no, this quite literally is an abandoned industrial warehouse with props out of a corny Halloween haunted attraction and dozens of expendable extras turning into piles of meat through random disgusting actions. Really, it's a montage of gore. There's people getting shot, eaten, and burned alive, there's eyeballs and heads and torsos, and all this happening in what could just as easily be the bathroom from the first Saw movie. Brick and concrete and metal and fire. This montage goes by with surprising excellent sound design for this kind of movie - everything happens over a background of sinister industrial/orchestral/choral explosions of sound a constant layer of screaming and moaning and crackling fire. This is all topped off by an extended torture sequence in which a guy is stretched out on a table by a metal mask wearing demon monster in a red cloak and then is drilled, sliced, dissected, and corkscrewed before being torn in half vertically by the legs. It is really that awesome. If you don't care about the whole movie, this sequence can be found on YouTube and if this is your speed but you don't want to spend the whole 90 or so minutes on it, this is the move.

I saw this movie in german minus subtitles so i cant tell the nuances of the plot(LOL)but i quite enjoyed this little gorefest,probably cause i dig German underground horror.There are three stories,they all contain extreme gore,its quite imaginative(esp the hell sequence)and well done for a homemade effort.Recommended for fans of Nekromantik and the like.

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.