German Angst (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1&2), Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed), Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali, Masks)
	Actors: Milton Welsh, Stephen Patrick Hanna, Annika Strauss
	Country: D
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 29.03.2015, CINEMA theater, MFFFN15
Synopsis: Three horror stories taking place in Berlin.
Review: An anthology movie in three sections supposed to start a revival of the German Expressionist style. I like this kind of idea and how it was applied by Phil Mucci for the video The Devil's Orchard of the band Opeth. The three not-so-young directors are Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1&2), Michal Kosakowski (the documentary Zero Killed that I am interested to see) and Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali, Masks). The trailer is a bit overdone, and in the end the movie has not much of Expressionism in it. Actually two of the directors present at the projection at the Munich Fantasy Filmfest Night 2015 explained that instead of doing a local Horror movie following American modern codes for the Genre, they wanted to tell a German-spirited story, and the title German Angst ironically means that. I think they succeeded, so that I can recommend the movie but not to anybody, only to fans of Horror and bizarre, as it contains very disturbing scenes. The first segment Final Girl is rather short and a torture-porn, mixed with educational (as called by the director) information about how to raise and love a Guinea Pig. Weird and disturbing. The second part Make a Wish shows some racism-related violence done to a couple, and what happens if roles are reversed. The conclusion is ambiguous. Finally the longest segment by Andreas Marshall Alraune reminds of a good old Italian Giallo (or the recent Tulpa) with the story of this artist that enters an Elite club in which some curious events happen and follow him. Intriguiging and good-looking.  German Angst does have defects, and some of the violence and graphical excesses are uncalled for, but I can only praise the directors' approach of going against censorship and the established conventions (Jörg Buttgereit produced Nekromantik 30 years ago just for that purpose).
Rating: 6 /10