Nekromantik (1987)

A street sweeper who cleans up after grisly accidents brings home a full corpse for him and his wife to enjoy sexually, but is dismayed to see that his wife prefers the corpse over him.

Director:

Jörg Buttgereit

Writers:

Jörg Buttgereit, Franz Rodenkirchen

Stars:

Bernd Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice Manowski, Harald Lundt

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bernd Daktari Lorenz	...	Robert Schmadtke (as Daktari Lorenz)
Beatrice Manowski	...	Betty (as Beatrice M.)
Harald Lundt	...	Bruno
Collosseo	...	Joe
Henri Boeck	...	J.S.A.
Clemens Schwender	...	J.S.A. (as Clemens Schwenter)
Jörg Buttgereit	...	J.S.A.
Holger Suhr	...	J.S.A.
Volker Hauptvogel	...	Man with Gun
Harald Weis	...	Dead in Garden
Heike Surban	...	Prostitute (as Heike S.)
Patricia Leipold	...	Prostitute
Elke Fuchs	...	Prostitute
Margit Im Schlaa	...	Prostitute
Suza Kohlstedt	...	Vera (as Susa Kohlstedt)

Storyline

Sharing a mutual fascination for the dead and the macabre, the Berlin misfits, Betty and Robert, are in for a big surprise that will soon broaden their horizons, when Rob takes a job as a cleaner at an aftermath clean-up agency. Little by little, right under everyone's noses, the obsessed new employee amasses a rich and grotesque collection of severed limbs and human organs, and what is even more fascinating, their dreams will finally come true when Rob brings home a putrid cadaver to amaze his girlfriend. Nevertheless, can Robert handle this bizarre and gruesome ménage a trois?

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Plot Keywords:

sexual perversion | necrophiliac | ejaculating blood | psychotronic film | exploitation film | 

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Taglines:

A film about love for man and what remains of him.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Bernd Daktari Lorenz and his only performance on a feature film.

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Quotes

Narrator: What lives that does not live from the death of someone else? V.L. Compton

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Alternate Versions

The Japanese version where the first and the second movie was put together was released in Germany by Laser Paradise in 2003 with the necrophilia scenes intact.

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Connections

References Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

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Soundtracks

Ménage à trois
Written by John Boy Walton
Performed by John Boy Walton

User Reviews

Sick! Disturbing! Gory! ...but what a piece of garbage

I didn't stumble on this film by accident; in fact, I purposefully sought it out, and I'm glad I did - but only because now I'm not searching any more. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite for criticising this film for being sick, given that many of my favourite movies can be described with the same adjective; but Nekromantik crosses a line, and it doesn't even do it in a way that's interesting. The movie features quite a few brutal and sickening scenes, but most of them have no relevance to the plot; and even the ones that do don't serve the film in the way that they should. Nekromantik looks like a trashy piece of crap, and make no mistake; that's exactly what it is. As if the title doesn't give it away, the plot handles the theme of necrophilia. We follow a sewage worker who brings home body parts for his twisted girlfriend. One day, he manages to lay his hands on a full corpse; and unlike most women, she is delighted with this present. We then get 'treated' to seeing the three of them (...) in bed together, etc etc and it's all very difficult to enjoy.

The film obviously wants to examine love; but it just continually fails. No points are made, even the fact that the girlfriend ends up choosing the corpse over her man isn't explored at all. It would seem that the sick pervert who wrote it had a great idea about making a film that handles two of life's most important elements; namely, love and death, but had no idea of exactly how he would go about doing it. The result is this film. Necrophilia is, undoubtedly, a perverse subject; but it's also one that automatically generates intrigue, yet this film also fails even in that respect. The whole plot line is just too silly to take seriously; and even if you look at the movie as a black comedy, it still fails because it's not funny. The necrophilia element isn't even the most shocking thing about this movie; the most shocking things are the animal violence (pointless), and the fact that some people actually like this film! If I really had to come up with positive things about Nekromantik, I would say that I liked the score; and the fact that it's not on for long is a very good thing. On the whole, this movie is a piece of garbage - don't waste your time! Wayward cinema has produced far more satisfying gore-porn flicks than this.

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

1987 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Nekromantik

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jelinski & Buttgereit

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1