(Jörg Buttgereit, 1987) What happens when bored young Germans get their hands on film equipment? They create raw, existential shock movies about a man, a man’s girlfriend, and their three-month-dead fuckbuddy. Director Buttgereit puts the necking in necrophilia in this slight little piece that screams student film but boasts grown-up gore effects and a strong score. Rob and Betty are the pair that proves there’s someone for everybody. His job as a “cleaner” for a sinister post-accident mopping-up agency gives the couple access to the objects of their shared fetish: fresh body parts and then, one day, an entire corpse. Shock-hounds will be mesmerized by the famous ménage à trois scene and the riotous film “climax.” Those with an eye for mistaken talent will admire the well-photographed clean-up scene, in which Rob’s crew forms a brigade of angel-white custodians plucking the remains of accident victims from a grove of bushes. The film is flawed and hard to take, but it isn’t pointless exploitation; on the contrary, Nekromantik is one of the truest cinematic exercises of existentialism out there – Eraserhead’s litte bro. Those who collect oddball viewing experiences can’t miss this one. Those possessing my-virgin-eyes morals or weak stomachs should give it a pass. – Ranylt Richildis
