NEKROMANTIK
dir. Jorg Buttgereit, 1987
Germany. 75 min.
In German with English Subtitles.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 2 – 10 PM
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 22 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 26 – 7:30 PM

Guaranteed to make you gag, Buttgereit’s feature debut was concieved with a purely punk spirit in mind – how far can a film go before its maker would be arrested. NEKROMANTIK follows Rob and Betty – a lovely young couple fond of collecting body parts in jars and bathing in blood. When Rob brings home a mildly rotten cadaver from his job cleaning corpses off the street, the two fall rapidly in love with it – eating dinner dinner with it, reading bedtime stories to it, and initiating it into their sex life. However when Betty decides to leave Rob and run away with the corpse, Rob spirals into utter depravity.

Banned in nearly every country aware of its existence, NEKROMANTIK has rightfully become a cult classic of underground horror cinema. Yet it’s reputation as a gross-out sleaze-fest can betray a lot of the tenderness Buttgereit surprisingly lends the film. Shot on grainy 8mm and set to a soft romantic piano melody, the film feels more like a hypnagogic elegy than an exploitation quickie.