The Devil of Kreuzberg - a new film from Alexander Bakshev

2015, Germany. Director: Alexander Bakshev

The enamoured relationship between Linda (Sandra Bourdonnec) and Jakob (Ludwig Reuter) slowly begins unravelling when Jakob begins to be tormented by disturbing, reoccurring nightmares in which Linda appears as a beautiful but deadly succubus. Jakob, frightened by the realism of the nightmares, acts aloof and distant to Linda. Confused and hurt by Jakob’s behaviour, Linda soon finds herself engulfed in her own troubles when she discovers she has been plagued by a family curse which has blighted her family for hundreds of years. Jakob, becoming more and more unstable, begins to completely lose his grip on reality and asks his best friend Kurt, a small-time hitman, to murder Linda. However, Kurt is extremely reluctant to partake in this request. Under the looming threat of their once idyllic world being destroyed forever, will Jakob be able to break free from his personal hell and reclaim his sanity? As for Linda, every single family member who had fallen under the spell of the curse had perished. Will she be able to defy history and survive? The latter all depends on whether Kurt chooses between loyalty to his friend, or standing by his own conscience.

The Devil of Kreuzberg is the latest production from extraordinarily talented filmmaker Alexander Bakshaev (Naked Trip, Bittersweet and DEFINTELY one to watch in future). With the running time a short but sweet 50 minutes, Devil is a brilliantly realised journey of love, hate, life, death and friendship, set in the uber-cool Berlin district of Kreuzberg.The  cosmopolitan cast of hip young things are perfectly suited to their roles, in particular Sandra Bourdonnec and Ludwig Reuter as the haunted and ultimately doomed young lovers. Both give subtle, but at the same time intense and memorable performances. One of Bakshaevs’ specialties is combining human drama with supernatural or horror-based themes - it is hinted at that there is much more below the surface of the various relationships between Linda, Jakob and Kurt, which creates some intriguing speculation for the viewer. Devil is also filled to the brim with Bakshaev’s trademark stunning imagery – the rainwashed streets highlighted by the glow of neon and street lights gives a pleasing Argento-esque vibe at times (and indeed there are loving nods to Jean Rollin and Jess Franco throughout the film). Each and every scene has been painstakingly, carefully crafted, and it shows in the gorgeous composition, the stylish set design, the fluid camerawork. Finally, mention must go to the refreshingly unique use of soundtrack music – the distinctive, but never overly intrusive, combination of electronic and experimental jazz tracks makes for a hypnotic soundscape that fits in with the action perfectly. The Devil of Kreuzberg is a very entertaining and watchable merging of arthouse and poetic European Gothic, and hopefully in future will deservedly reach a wider audience.  

FAITH NO MORE live at Soundwave Melbourne 22/02/15 - my writeup

Well, after seeing Faith No More live at Soundwave Melbourne I’m happy to say that the ticket price was DEFINITELY more than worth it just going to see them (after 25 years of being a fan, I’d always missed out on seeing them). After a long hiatus THE BOYS ARE BACK and in their usual fine form, giving nothing less than 110% to the understandably hyper-enthusiastic audience for the entirety of their 18-track set. Kicking off with their catchy comeback anthem ‘Motherfucker’ (on their upcoming album to be released April 19), Mike Patton and Co played  note and vocally perfect renditions of their most loved tracks, including ‘Epic’ (the crowd went NUTS), ‘Easy’, ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and ‘From Out of Nowhere’. It has to be said that Patton, at age 47, is in obscenely good health, both physically and vocally. The crowd lapped up his incredible stage presence and vocal gymnastics, switching effortlessly from intense screams to soulful crooning to a myriad of other techniques. Demonstrating exactly why the man, with his 6 octave vocal range was last year declared “the greatest singer of all time” on a widely publicised music poll last year. Faith No More put on a fantastic show and hopefully will be back in Melbourne soon, where they’ll no doubt be always be deservedly welcomed by sell-out crowds.

 **An essay/article I wrote on Mike Patton will be published in the next issue of ART DECADES, a U.S. based music/movie/art focused journal which will be released in April.

Setlist:

Motherfucker
Caffeine
Ricochet
From Out of Nowhere
Evidence
Epic
Get Out
Midlife Crisis
Everything's Ruined
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Easy
Cuckoo for Caca
King for a Day
Ashes to Ashes
Superhero
(encore)
Matador
I Started a Joke
As the Worm Turns

The best of grotty, grimy, uggglllyyyyy VHS covers

Thought I'd have a bit of fun here and choose some of the best of repulsively ugly, stomach-churning, out-and-out grubby, VHS cover 'art'. The ones that would make you squirm as a kid, yet had a strange hold...as much as they repelled, the sheer grotesque quality of the images had a forbidden allure that would burn a mental note into your brain - "I MUST see that film one day" (well, I can live without seeing The Worm Eaters and Bad Taste Movie No 1). Here's a grab-bag of my personal favourites:

The Last Cannibal World Greek VHS. Well, it tells it how it is...

Bad Taste Movie No.1 Australian (???) VHS. Can somebody please tell what the fuck this is?????? No details anywhere, no stills, not a pip. And no-one whose actually seen the thing (or who'll admit to it).

Pieces Australian VHS. That bloodied hand on the back cover...a perfect grubby image for a perfect grubby film.

Xtro Australian VHS. Hypnotised me as a kid and I actually saw this film as a 7-year-old, leading me straight into the path of the Inferno...

Eaten Alive Australian VHS. Pure class, often found in the 'Adult' section of video shops.

Island of Perversion Australian VHS. Another regular occupant of the 'Adult' shelves.

Island of Death (aka Who Could Kill a Child?) Australian VHS.

Bloody Moon Australian VHS

Demons Australian VHS

This Violent World Australian VHS

The Mad Butcher Australian VHS. Can practically smell rancid carcasses and innards emanating from this. **Thanks to Joel Branagh for the scan**

The Last Cannibal World UK VHS. Though slightly more subtle than the Greek sleeve, this one still is high up in the grubby stakes - the stills featured on the cover appear to have been dunked in a bucket of scum beforehand, and the cover itself is a perfect shade of spew... **Thanks to Ben Buckingham for the scan, check out Ben's Instagram at  https://instagram.com/dissolvedpet/**

The Worm Eaters Australian VHS. And here is it.....dum-dum-de-dum....the granddaddy of all gross-out covers...and indeed the ONLY VHS cover that has literally put me off my food. I recall seeing this at the local video store as a kid and just could not get that burger and forkful of worms out of my mind...and having previously read the review...I knew that these were NOT 'pretend worms'. At home later, I absolutely could not stomach the corn chips and salsa dip being passed around as I could not get these bloody visions of close-ups of mouths chewing down on these wriggly, slimy things, then imagining them still alive in the persons' stomachs! Oh, the memories.... **Thanks for John Harrison for the scan**

A popular 'mystery' soundtrack cue unveiled (best known from the U.S. cut of TORSO)

Best known as the 'killer guitar riffs' during the opening scenes of the U.S. cut of TORSO, Alan Parker’s ‘Hippy’, a piece of music from the KPM library, is a music cue used a number of times in 1970’s horror/exploitation movies. A searing piece consisting of a series of sharp, abrasive (but addictive as hell) Hendrix-esque guitar riffs, ‘Hippy’ turned up in the opening credits of the U.S. releases of TORSO and THE STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES, as well as in DEADLY WEAPONS. A small snippet of it also appears in John Hillcoat’s brutal, realistic 1988 prison masterpiece GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD.

**The KPM music library was a popular source for the music scoring of numerous 1970's and 1980's porn films.

Legendary Australian genre zines #2 - Kami McInnes' SPRAK!

“Forget the glamour of Godfather or Sopranos though, this is a gritty, dirty world of shitty jobs, desperate people, beaten down and sleazy, there are no stylish ‘hits’. Instead it’s the fat, bitter woman who wants her neighbour’s dog killed, the mother who wants her autistic kid put down, revenge jobs and paybacks, nothing romantic or glamourous at all about these people”.

Kami telling it how it is in his review of Andy Warhol’s Bad

Next up in my ongoing look at classic and notable Australian genre zines is a look at one of the latest issues of Kami McInnes’ wonderful throwback to the more innocent days of basic old-school pre-WWW fanzines, Sprak! Sprak ! is just that - a digest-size mini-mag of essential toilet reading (‘Toilet reading’ being Kami’s description). With a neat, clear, no-frills layout, Sprak! is dedicated to all manner of cinematic flotsam and will enlighten you on all amount of horror, sexploitation, and B, C, D and Z movie titles. And it doesn’t just tentatively peer into the distance at the sewers, it dives in headfirst and plunges all the way to the deepest depths. Written in Kami’s inimitable, no-nonsense and at times hilarious style, Sprak! Volume 2, No #9 rips into the tantalisingly-monikered curios Evil Dead Inbred Rednecks, Sexsquatch – The Legend of Bloodstool Creek, Bath Salt Zombies, Night of the Tentacles and The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol, as well as some more ‘well-known’ shockers such as Mark of the Devil, Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Ilsa, The Wicked Warden and Andy Warhol’s Bad. And that’s not all!!! Always jam-packed with plenty of reviews, Sprak! is highly recommended to both the most seasoned trash aficionados and those who’ve only just skimmed to service and want to learn more. Well, Kami’s your perfect teacher...throw him a coupla bucks or a trashworthy trade for a copy of this issue at the official Sprak! Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sprak/222454427771321?sk=timeline

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!!! Issue #10 is out and gone full, dripping-red colour...grab it now!

ZOMBIE 2024 review

 

Zombie 2024 is the highly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed 2010 web series Return of the Blooksucking Nazi Zombies (which can be found as one of the extra features on the Cameo Media DVD of Jess Franco’s Al Pereira vs. the Alligator Ladies). Howard Vernon, Dr Orloff and Dr Mabuse return in their struggle for world domination. Vernon is still in hot pursuit of Orloff, who is under strict orders from the mysterious Dr Mabuse not to fail in his mission yet again to have Vernon assassinated. Dr Orloff, who is notorious for his evil but shambolic experiments, has created an apparently new and improved android named Andros. Orloff requires a young woman to use in his latest experiment and commands Andros to find him one. But, to Orloff’s chagrin, Andros is ‘faulty’ – he has some human emotions. Will he able to complete his mission to find a beautiful Eastern European female disaster-free? Will Howard Vernon finally eliminate Dr Orloff, or vice versa? And there’s also the small problem of hoards of bloodthirsty zombies now running rampart across the continent to deal with...

Zombie 2024 was directed by ‘Mathis Vogel’ aka innovative and talented up-and-coming genre filmmaker Alex Bakshaev, and created and written by veteran scribe Robert Monell who has written for numerous books and publications including ‘European Trash Cinema’. This short film really is a polished, remarkable achievement, given the budget constraints (approx $300 USD) and limited resources. It both looks and sounds great, with an inventive use of attractive locations, vivid colours, visual effects and a wonderfully varied soundtrack, which flows from ambient to jazz to melodic guitar to menacing electronica nicely without ever sounding out of place or intrusive. Eurohorror aficionados will have fun spotting various homages to The Devil Hunter, Night of the Hunted, Burial Ground and more. Even the poster design is highly demonstrative of its creators’ reverence of the genre, combining both the vivid colours used in the film with that familiar, worn, ‘grindhouse’ look.  Zombie 2024 is a must-see short film, highly watchable and atmospheric and a perfect example of how so much can be achieved out of so little (and with much Hollywood fare now, it's the other way around).

Update - what's been happening?

It’s been quiet at the Inferno of late as I’ve been kept busy by quite a few other writing projects. Firstly, I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to Kate Flint of The Minted Beauty blog, who was kind enough to invite me to be a guest poster for her ‘Macabre Monday’ section of the blog (dedicated to all things horror, occult, true crime and macabre in general). She also did plenty of promotion for my articles, which I’m very grateful for. If anyone’s on the lookout for a top-class, entertaining and informative beauty blog, The Minted Beauty is it!!! And the Macabre Monday section gives it a wonderfully unique kick. Beauty, fashion AND horror – what more could I want??? I submitted two pieces – A combination review/article on the incredible Amityville 2: The Possession , and AN INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN HORROR CINEMA (with selections aimed towards a young female audience, the primary readers of Kate’s blog).

Here’s the link to my Amityville 2 piece:

http://www.themintedbeauty.com/guest-post-macabre-monday-16-amityville-horror-ii-possession/

To Part One of AN INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN HORROR:

http://www.themintedbeauty.com/macabre-monday-introduction-italian-horror-cinema/

Part Two of AN INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN HORROR:

http://www.themintedbeauty.com/macabre-monday-19/

I’ve also written a tonne of new movie reviews for my page at Keith Crocker’s Cinefear blog – Doctor Gore, Formula for a Murder, Journey Among Women, The Vampire of Dusseldorf, Hydra: Monster from the Deep and The Corruption of Chris Miller – you can find all of those and more here:

http://cinefear.blogspot.com.au/p/chelles-inferno.html

And last but certainly not least are two new reviews for my other good friend Robert Monell’s Cinemadrome forums – a look at the Severin blu-ray release of the Ozploitation vampire gem Thirst (Australia's first vampire film), and the masterpiece of devastation Combat Shock (reviewed under my forum username RivaMarsh).

Review for Thirst:

http://cinemadrome.yuku.com/topic/1540/THIRST-1979-Review-by-Riva-Marsh#.UzPuJbfNtdg

Review of Combat Shock:

http://cinemadrome.yuku.com/topic/1523/COMBAT-SHOCK-1984-Buddy-Giovinazzo#.UzPvc7fNtdg

Also, I'd like to thank all my readers and your support, I really do appreciate it and it means a lot to me. Hope to be back here with new material soon!