Taxidermia.

Well, since watching Der Todesking and Nekromantik one and two a few weeks ago, I decided to carry on with the 'disturbing' film genre. The best and funniest part of me picking out this film to watch was that I actually found it in my Uni's library! Anyway, onto the Taxidermia review. 

I briefly remember hearing this film being mentioned on one of Horrible Review's 'most disturbing movies' countdown (I recommend these videos if you are bored, wanting to check out the genre or are just a bit stuck on what to watch) and decided to give it a watch. The film starts off with a man who is innocently washing himself in a freezing cold troth (well, it looks like a troth). Here we see that he is dominated by a hard faced middle aged man that asks him to explain the order of actions that happen in a day, which gives off the feeling that both men are at war. However, this thought is shattered when we see two ladies having a bath together (calm down fella's and you ladies!) which obviously wouldn't happen in an active war zone, and definitely not in front or near men!  The story goes on to follow the submissive male and his very radically varying and 'unique' sexual fantasies and ways in which to get himself off. Although those of you that have read my blog thus far know that I review and watch 'disturbing' movies, I will, just because I am a nice lady, warn you that this section of the film is definitely a struggle to watch, mainly because there are many parts with children in, although these scenes are carefully shot, the obvious reasons for them being used are not hidden, so be careful if you are really triggered by that kinda thing.

The shots used in this segment of the film is utterly beautiful, and very creative indeed, which is one of the reasons why you keep on watching through the more slow paced parts of the scene. The narrative is interesting, a little strange but more or less believable, and leads perfectly onto the next segment of the film. 

In the next segment we see the young child that was conceived and birthed in the previous section as an adult, and guess what he has grown up to be? A famous speed-eater! We see Balatony take on many other males from around europe to win not only the title of the best speed eater, but that of the plump woman that he loves. After passing out, I assume from possible heart problems, or just from being obnoxiously full, we see this plump miss, Aczél Gizi, at his bedside, which signals to us that they will become love birds (aww, how romantik). 

We see these two get married and a child is conceived (is there a pattern here?). The scenes where both Aczél and Balatony are enjoying a nice day out with each other at the beach, swimming in the sea and on a Ferris Wheel are truly love to see, and well, is something that is never really shown in many films. Usually it's how the two thin, handsome/pretty actors that get paid thousands of pounds (or dollars) act in a romantic comedy about two people meeting, hating each other and then falling in love.... So seeing a romantic scene, in a disturbing movie, between two overweight people is a pretty wonderful sight to see, for me anyway. None the less, this segment is the worse out of the three, its story isn't extremely believable, it sort of cuts and changes a little (although this may be used to create the illusion of memory...) from the previous scenes in the segment, and well, although it sets both the previous and the following parts up, it just didn't light my fire. 

Onto the third and final segment of the film. The past where we actually get to the taxidermy. We see a grown up Balatony (named after his father... so let's just call him Balatony JR) practising what he is best at, stuffing animals! When he is not performing his art, Balatony JR goes to the local super market to buy his Dad and his beloved cats some treats. After giving his Dad these essential food items, we see that their relationship isn't very strong, often because Balatony SR's love for his fat cats exceeds the love he shows for his bony son. After another scene of BJ[hehe]R's buying of food, being annoyed with his Father for bad mouthing him and feeding cats that are bad tempered he storms out and tells his Father that he is never coming back. 

These is one of the most bizarre segments of the film, mainly because the artistic shots really are a bit challenging to watch. Let's just say you might not want to cut any meat up after watching this... That together with the gross extreme polar opposites of bodily forms between Father and Son and the uncanny sense of seeing human taxidermy (spoiler) really makes you exclaim 'What the shit did I just watch?!' which is a good indicator for me that it was indeed a strange, slightly disturbing film. 

I definitely recommend Taxidermia for those of you who want a bit of a mind fuck with beautifully shot scenes, however, I must admit, it wasn't particularly disturbing, more bizarre and a bit uncannyish if anything, which doesn't take away from the film, I'm just trying to tell you how it is (for me anyway). A great find, especially in my Uni's library (where the only other horror related films are Day of the Dead and Alien...) and definitely worth a watch if you like the genre.

Until next time,

Jessiefer. 

PS, LOOK AT THIS SCREEN SHOT FROM THE FILM! 

 (What a wonderful World we live in!)

Nekromantik 2: Power to the Ladies.

This will be a brief review of Nekromantik 2, mostly because me and words are not going together that well at the moment, and because in all due respect, most of the gist of this film is expressed in Nekromatik 1's review too. 

I found that  the story line to N2 was pretty concise, and much better than the other Buttgereit films I have seen thus far. The plot follows a necrophile lady by the name of Monika (one of the most beautiful ladies I have seen in a B Movie in a long while) who digs up the previous film's protagonist Rob. 

After taking Rob's newly decaying corpse into her highly decorated flat, we see that she has chosen her prey based on an article in a Newspaper (I'm assuming this article expresses how Rob was a necrophile, but from what I can remember, it doesn't out rightly say that) and has decided to indulge in her dead body loving desires with somebody who understood them. 

This story is interjected by another person's story. We see Mark (a character that will become key in the middle scenes of the film) doing a voice over for his... shall we say awesomely bizarre job of being a porno voice over artist (where can I sign up to a job like that?!). We see him and his co-voice over female colleague having to do several takes of a scene, as they aren't making realistic noises. 

After a scene that shows Monika's love making to corpse Rob, we finally have the scene where both characters meet for the first time, and see another movie within a movie from Buttgereit. After this, we see the full of life romance between the two develop, until they are so involved that Monika needs to make a painful decision- does she devote herself to a live man, or to her corpse? She hesitantly chooses her alive and kicking man, and decides the right thing to do to Rob is to chop him up into smaller pieces. As she chops him up, she is devastated, and you can really see that even though he was dead, she really loved him. (aahhh trueeee loooveee) 

After a while, we hear that Mark isn't fond of the way that Monika makes love to him, she demands that he is deadly still, and takes 'weird photographs of him' (there is a lovely scene where we see Mark hanging from the ceiling, expecting him to be dead but unfortunately he isn't) he is unnerved by these demands, but continues to see Monika as his love for her is deepening (such a deadly romantic comedy <3) 

Mark calls unannounced at Monika's flat during an all girl film evening (featuring the key oddity of the night, Robs severed head), and after the ladies leave to give the couple some alone time, they continue to watch a video of a seal being cut up, which leaves Mark disgusted and angry. Mark expresses that Monika is perverse for watching such films, and leaves in a rage-filled mood. 

We then see Monika having a quiet and reflective walk along the beach, where we suspect that she is understanding the repercussions of her 'perverse' actions with Mark. We then see the couple kiss and make up in the most literal of terms, and are thrown into a full blown (haha) sex scene. During this, we see Monika reach for a cleaver knife and, you guessed it, cuts Marks head (not that one!) off. She then lovingly crowns Marks shaking body with Robs mummified head, and for the first time in the film, orgasms. 

The closing scenes are the best throw in clips I have seen in a film, and well, let's just say you'll be like 'HOW, WHAT, WHY, BUT THAT CANT BEEEEE!' when you see it. 

All in all, I am glad I saw this continuing part of the Nekromantik films, as even thought it wasn't as shocking as the first installment, it was still pretty good, and well, the scenes of dead body love making still really got to me! I later saw a 'Behind the making of' film (I shall link below) that expressed that Buttgereit saw this film as a woman positive film, as it was about a woman getting what she fully wanted sexually, which I do agree with, and it was refreshing to see, especially in this exploitation/b movie genre. It's definitely worth a watch, and it is a stunningly visually beautiful film, even the corpse is a work of genius!! 

Until next time, 

Jessiefer.