Beyond Remedy

There are basically 3 things most German-made horror films look for when they are made for an international release. First off, assemble a cast entirely of people who have distinct accents, but make absolutely sure not a single one has the same accent. Second, find yourself an American actor who is either a has-been or never-was (in this case, Rick Yune whose shining achievement to date was playing the bad guy in The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift). In this case, the lower the American's celebrity status is, the better. Lastly, contrive a mediocre plot and make sure it's full of cheap looking gore that has nothing to do with the story at all (unless you're name is Olaf Ittenbach in which case the gore will be awesome but still pointless). Congratulations, you've just made a really bad German horror movie. Danke!

Seriously, there's not much more to say about this movie. It's a plot that, while not beaten to death, certainly feels like it is. A bunch of med students apply for a study promising to help overcome their fears and hey, guess what, their fears are exploited as people are killed in horribly ironic ways. Then after about 30 seconds of thought you'll realize who the killer is and all of the plot building and...well...basically the rest of the movie will be a waste of time. There's really nothing redeemable going on here. Just another crappy horror movie to wade through on your way to finding the good ones.

I have always loved horror-movies from outside the US because they can surprise you in a positive way. This German product however does not. It is the typically 13-in-a-dozen horror movie (or slasher) in this case. To distinguish itself in the sea of horror-movies that is spilled out over the audience one has to come up with some new ideas but Beyond Remedy fails to surprise. Even if the purpose is to entertainer the viewer for 90 minutes I cannot say that the makers of this movie succeeded. A story which we have seen many times before. Poor acting achievements, mediocre directing and a very poor script. This story contains large plot holes leaving the viewer with a lot of (unanswered) questions. For those who adore the horror-genre and can stand just about everything that is released in this genre, I can recommend Beyond Remedy, for the others I can only advice to leave this one behind.

I believe in having low expectations when watching horror movies, since four out of five are usually quite bad. Even so, this movie was an utter disappointment. It's most likely a low budget movie, and if this was a school project I might give it a four. For good effort and nothing else. Don't get me wrong, I love horror movies.

The "acting" is terrible. Simply terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if someone held up cue cards for the "actors" to read from and everything was made in one shot without rehearsing. The cutting of scenes is so incredibly crude. If you can't afford to shoot scenes, don't just cut them out, OK? Some imagination, such as panning or using another camera angle would have done the trick.

The plot isn't much better, rather silly with a twist that barely works.

Unless you feel the need to watch every horror movie ever made I would not bother with this one.

BEYOND REMEDY is zero budget German horror flick with an international cast drawn together to make the film sellable to foreign audiences. Thus alongside the nondescript German supporting actors we get the likes of Rick Yune (THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT) playing the villain of the piece, although I have to say that the sheer worthlessness of the production makes this a stain on the careers of all involved.

The narrative involves one of those 'scientific experiment' type story lines in which a group of students come together to conquer their various phobias. What it boils down to is a bunch of whiny characters wandering around an abandoned hospital setting, occasionally finding themselves exposed to spooks and/or gore effects. It's all completely horrible, with bottom-of-the-barrel production values and no reason to watch whatsoever.