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Reviews
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Excellent!
A superb movie. The ending is so absolutely fantastic and wonderful and surprising that it takes this movie up to the level of Star Wars, 2001, Close Encounters and other outstanding SF masterpieces.
If you don't like this movie, see it again and again and say to yourself that It is your preferences that are incorrect. This is a milestone movie and it could only have been made by THE director Steven Spielberg.
It makes me truly glad that artists and visionaries of his caliber exists. Maybe there are some hope for the mankind after all. Thank, you, Steven! Keep up the good work!!!
Emanuelle in America (1977)
Finally a real sleaze movie
I was over the top positively surprised as I finally got to see the uncut release of this movie (as compared to my 10 yrs old censored vhs tape). It compares to other favorites like NY Ripper and Buio Omega. A masterpiece which shows it all, just the way it should be. Totally cool. Of course it lacks intelligence and so on, but who cares. This is hard no non-sense sleaze horror. The kind of movie that isn't made today. Some Tarantino gunfire or stupid martial arts galore cannot compare to real depraved italo-cinema peeping tom NIHILISM !!!! And I liked the hardcore; Nice ugly 70's people...
I definitely give it a 10 out of 10.
Der Todesking (1990)
A prism through which death splits inte many facets
I read a small ad in some horror magazine in the early nineties about Liebe des Totes (the love of the dead) or something similar. This of course awoke my curiosity so I ordered Nekromantik 1 & 2 and Der Todesking (The Death King). The Nekromantik movies are Ok, even kind of interesting and unique in their approach to the subject Necrophilia (even if they obviously are horror-opera entries rather than intended to invoke fear in the viewers mind, they are actually quite funny.)
TODESKING, on the other hand is, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made. It consist of a series of scenes depicting the many facets of death. Death as an enemy; Death as a reliever, Death as the very fysical decomposition of the body. The film is a metaphor over life. It shows how fragile life is and how short our lives are. It reduces its viewers to the childs they (we) actually are. The fact that we cannot really understand the nature of Death, and hence neither the process of dying, is the core message of the film. This is a most realistic film. Never does Buttgereit try to hide death behind white roses or whatever. No matter what moral standards you set up, death is unevitable, and will sooner or later be not a fiction but YOUR reality. This applies to YOU, Dear Reader, like it applies to the viewers of the film. Some juvenile reviewers seem not to grasp this, which is fully excused, since they of course will live forever...
This is no exploitation movie. Why? Because death does not exploit us humans. It harvests us. We grow for seven days, then we are brought back to the schopenhauerian state of pre-birth, that is Death. Buttgereit gives us his version of the oldest of tales. Whether you choose to regard it as "optimistic" or "pessimistic" is up to you. At first glance it may seem very dark. Consider though, that in order for something to live, something else must die. "Who wants to live forever?"
I believe that when Buttgereit shows a body, that are being consumed by maggots, he shows not only decomposition, but GENERATION of new life. Is it not better to die and give life to maggots and then birds and eventually become soil, than to remain the living dead zombie that is one of the the favorite pets of the genre?
When you realize this, you see Der Todesking it its right context.
Sieben Tage hat die Woche, siebenmal letzte Stunden. Seven are the days of week (weak, mortal !), seven times the last hour.
Dont fear the Reaper, Buttgereit tells us, because the Reaper takes only what is ripe. And apples that are not plucked for food will rot!
Have a good life, fellow IMDB'ers !
(And watch this film, that compares only to Ingemar Bergmans "The Seventh Seal" in terms of depth and universality)
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975)
Best of Pasolini
I strongly recommend this film to anyone over age 15. The main storyline is taken from De Sade and gives the story its elements of nihilism and sexual extravagance.
The setting in a rural villa outside the plagued Florence with prostitutes as storytelling muses is taken from Boccacio's Decameron, the first book written in Italian and not in Latin, thus beeing one of the indicators of the italian renaissance. The renaissance allowed the focus to somewhat move from God towards Man.
The film is furthermore divided into sections, called circles, which is a direct parallell to Dante's Divine Comedy. This may be the second most important book after the Bible and describes a journey from the Purgatory, through the deepest caves of the Inferno, that finally ends in Heaven.
This is the literary fond of the story: De Sades lust, Boccacios splendid, isolated, depraved bourgeoise and Dantes symbolic re-birth and claims for his loved one Beatrice. I would also add a biblical-galenical flirt with the four "apocalyptic" body fluids, even if Pasolini uses s*** instead of gall.
The Boccacio villa is moved to the late WW2 Salo republic in Italy, where Mussolini had his last stronghold. The orchestrators of the ritual orgys that are to take place is party of middle aged men (a metaphor for the society?), deeply devoted to their mission to set up a blasphemic drama. The actors are kidnapped youths that are brought to the stage partly as decoration (objects) and partly to be actors in the play (subjects). However, as the individuals seek the transition from object to subject, they walk a thin line. The climax of the drama is the cleaning process (the punishment in the yard) where disobedience and breaking of rules must be paid for. Of course with lethal consequnces. In the play directed by the Libertins there are only black and white, and the only way to pay for your sins is with death. Of course the rules are totally inverted from the standards of society: Right is wrong.
Pasolini follows in his graphical expression the latin theater tradition, a direct communication with the audience. Pasolini wants to draw things to their ultimate end. Thats why he have to use the very strong ingredients that he does. Well, pehaps he could have made it less extreme but I believe that he did'nt want to compromise the least. Therefore this film deserves the uttermost respect.
See it, be disgusted if you must, but then ask yourself why you react like you do. If the sheer thought of the film fills you with repugnancy, then behold that your body contains both blood and s***, and realize that what is considered as insanities and atrocities today may be the norm of society tomorrow. Then ask yourself again why this is an important film and a milestone in the art of filmmaking.
Zombi 2 (1979)
One of the big films
Zombi 2 by Fulci is in my opinion the best zombie movie made. I have never liked the humourous undertones in Romeros Dawn of the Living Dead, which is normally held as the best zombie film. A good horror movie should be serious; It's supposed to depict something that reflects the fears of man, and to warn those who don't take wisdom and challenges the powers of the unknown. It's not supposed to amuse. Very few films succeed in this task. Zombi 2 does not..but..it tries, and that is the point! The characters don't behave like idiots, as is the case in most horror films. The settings are appropriate-if zombies are to occur/emerge somewhere, it's on a remote island to the accompaniment of voodoo drums, not in an american waste dump! The soundtrack is fitting and atmospheric. I would even dare to say that the film is fairly logical. A statement seldom connected to horrorfilms in general and even more seldom to italian 70's exploitation gore movies.
I see very few flaws in this movie. This film goes up there with The Shining in the Hall of Fame of horrormovies. I give it a ten out of ten.