Marienthal: State of Emergency (2002) User Reviews

totally not worth it!

[morpheus1976 · 1/10 · 2 September 2007]

I bought the DVD for this on Amazon, because I was so interested in the story and inside pictures of this former bunker. Luckily there is a making of describing most of the inside of the bunker. The movie itself is probably the worst I have ever seen, and my eyes were tortured with a lot of unworthy crap of celluloid during my lifetime unfortunately. If this were a first semester student project, fine, but please.....

Lame amateur actors, lame dialogue, lame script, lame directing, I can't think of anything that was not horrible, except for the location! Believe me, don't spend money on this! Even the time you spend to watch it for free is not worth it! I don't say this because of hatred for any of the people involved. The simple truth is just, that the movie sucks big time!

Location, location, location

[scfc · 2/10 · 14 August 2017]

The movie's plot is your run-of-the-mill "And Then There Were None" (1945) story line: Put some strangers in a box and see who will survive; not particularly good, but not bad either. The dialogue and acting is amateurish, i. e. a valiant effort by non-professionals, but still a constant reminder that you are watching a movie. The worst part is the acoustic and visual quality: The movie was filmed with video cameras with no external microphones and only "natural" lighting, and it looks and sounds as one would imagine that to be.

But for the purported budget of DEM 45,000 the product, a 90-minute feature film with a cast of half a dozen people filmed on location, is remarkable. I find it quite surprising that neither the director nor the producer seem to have to pursued this career much further.

However, my main motivation for watching the movie was the "Dienststelle Marienthal", the famous (and now decommissioned) "Ausweichsitz der Verfassungsorgane des Bundes im Krisen- und Verteidigungsfall zur Wahrung von deren Funktionstüchtigkeit". It is what gives the movie a very special flavour: Not filmed on some sound stage or in a warehouse, but in the actual place where in the case of a nuclear war 3000 people would have tried to govern the melted remains of Germany. In the movie it only plays a minor part and neither its size nor its mission are explored; but as "Marienthal: State of Emergency" is only one of three movies filmed there it is certainly worth to watch if one can ignore its quality issues.

A real thrill-ride

[Archie_Gates · 10/10 · 26 July 2002]

I had the pleasure to see this movie some weeks ago at an exclusive preview in one of Germany's biggest movie theaters, Cinemaxx Essen. And I must say it really is a blockbuster altho its not a big budget production. The story is enthralling, the suspense scenes thrilling and the sets great. Well, they're not real sets, the whole film was shot in Germany's largest nuclear air raid shelter "Marienthal", which gives the movie an unique atmosphere. If you like really scary movies like "What Lies Beneath", "Shining" or "Scream" you'll love this one. Go see it !!!