German Horror Films
German Horror Films
Since they’ve helped bring us two world wars, there’s something inherently scary about Germans to begin with. I don’t mention this to point any fingers--especially considering that those days are long gone--but only to illustrate that horrifying Nazi imagery is still alive and well in the minds of people around the globe. And since they’ve supplied us with history’s all-time great villains, it’s logical to assume that German horror films have the capacity to scare audiences without even breaking a sweat. Luckily, the movies listed below aspire to much greater things.
- Creep (2004) - A co-production between the UK and Germany, Creep stars Franka Potente and is set exclusively in the London Underground after hours. Our German heroine is trying to get to a party that George Clooney is rumored to be at, but she falls asleep while waiting for a train and gets locked in. Then a deformed killer sets his sights on her, dispatching the homeless and subway employees in the process. Director Christopher Smith drew inspiration from the terrifying subway sequence in An American Werewolf in London, and, while it’s nowhere near as good as that film, Creep still manages to provide some decent scares.
- Deathwatch (2002) - Another joint venture between the UK and Germany, Deathwatch is set during World War I and follows a group of British soldiers as they stumble across a German trench and take refuge there. Their lone German captive warns them of an evil force present in the trench, but he’s predictably ignored. Big mistake. Filled with mud and blood, Deathwatch offers outstanding set design, loads of tension, and some fine performances from Jamie Bell, Hugo Speer, and Andy Serkis.
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Regarded as one of the greatest early horror films, this Robert Wiene silent movie is also credited with introducing the twist ending to cinema (here’s hoping that M. Night Shyamalan makes an annual pilgrimage to Wiene’s grave). Werner Krauss is Dr. Caligari, a madman who indulges in murder with the help of his sleepwalking assistant, Cesare (Conrad Veidt). An investigation is launched by our heroes, Cesare is enchanted by a damsel in distress, and we eventually learn that all is not as it appears to be. One of the great examples of German Expressionist filmmaking, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari still manages to be entertaining over 90 years after its release.
- M (1931) - The first sound film from director Fritz Lang, M would guarantee former comedic actor Peter Lorre a long career playing villains and creeps. Here, he stars as Hans Beckert, a serial killer who hears voices in his head encouraging him to murder children. He does as he’s told, and these grisly actions touch off a reaction from both cops and criminals. As Beckert goes about his ghoulish business, a desperate manhunt is launched. The scenes where Beckert is put on trial by a “court” made up of criminals is effective, and his habit of whistling “In the Hall of the Mountain King” established the cinematic device of associating characters with specific pieces of music. If you’re a fan of movie history--or good movies in general--this German horror film is a must-see.
- Antibodies (2005) - Playing out like a German version of The Silence of the Lambs, Antibodies begins with the capture of notorious child killer Gabriel Engel (Andre Hennicke), a man fond of painting religious murals with the blood of his victims. When a small-town policeman heads to Berlin to interview Engel about the unsolved murder of a 13-year-old girl, it sets off a cat-and-mouse game that drives the lawman to increasingly dark places within his mind. Co-starring Norman Reedus and Christian von Aster.
- Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) - When the studio couldn’t obtain the rights to adapt Bram Stoker’s novel, they simply changed up the names and shot the damned thing anyway (which led to bankruptcy after Stoker‘s estate won a lawsuit). Max Schreck stars as Count Orlok, a vampire intent on taking his blood-sucking show on the road. When he arrives in the fictitious German city of Wisborg, he begins planning how to best drink the blood of the pure Ellen (Greta Schroder). Meanwhile, her husband (Gustav von Wangenheim) engages in a desperate race to rid the world of the fanged menace. The idea of a vampire being destroyed by sunlight is first introduced, and director F. W. Murnau fills the screen with iconic horror images. No matter what your favorite vampire movie is, it wouldn’t have existed without Nosferatu.
- Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) - Director Werner Herzog and unpredictable actor Klaus Kinski once again team up, this time to pay tribute to F.W. Murnau’s classic vampire film. The names of the characters have been changed back to those from the Stoker novel, and Herzog manages to update the film and remain faithful to the original without being too derivative (including a wicked twist at the end). Isabelle Adjani stars as Lucy Harker, and her husband Jonathan is played by veteran German actor Bruno Ganz. If you’re interested in the Nosferatu films, I suggest you start with this one. Then, journey back to 1922 and enjoy the original.
- The Golem (1915) - The full-length version of this silent masterpiece no longer exists, but the remaining bits can be viewed on sites such as YouTube. Based on Jewish legend, the film revolves around a clay golem brought to life by an antique dealer. But when the golem falls for his wife and finds his advances spurned, he goes on a murderous rampage. Director Paul Wegener would make two more golem films, but only the last one, 1920’s The Golem: How He Came into the World, is available in its entirety.
- Anatomy (2000) - A major hit at the German box office, Anatomy spawned a 2003 sequel and even received a release in U.S. theatres. Franka Potente stars as a medical student who winds up conducting a dangerous personal investigation into the practices of the Anti-Hippocratic Society, a secretive group known to experiment on living subjects in their quest for a greater understanding of the human body. More intelligent than most horror films, Anatomy delivers plenty of stylish thrills. Since many of the leads also speak English, you can expect a well-dubbed DVD.
- NEKRomantik (1987) - If you’re looking for the truly deranged, give this controversial film from director Jorg Buttgereit a try. Rob works for a company that removes dead bodies, and it provides him with the perfect opportunity to take corpses back home to his lover, Betty. Plenty of necrophilia follows, as well as cats being gutted, people ejaculating during suicide, metal pipes being substituted for penises, and decomposing bodies dripping bodily fluids onto a series of plates. Not for the faint of heart, although it garnered enough attention to warrant an even more controversial sequel. Predictably, both films were banned in countries around the globe.
Many foreign viewers assume that every German is secretly crazy anyway, so German horror films are especially effective when it comes to creating an atmosphere of violence and madness. It should be noted, however, that all the Germans I’ve met in my lifetime seem decidedly normal and not the least bit interested in becoming vampires or serial killers. Then again, I never met Klaus Kinski.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 at 8:58 am and is filed under Horror Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.