Unfinished Business: Necromantik

I'm not a prude when it comes to extreme horror but I have to admit that a good old-fashioned monster movie is more my thing. Think John Carpenter, George A. Romero and Hammer Horror. Masked killers, vampires and zombies - I love them all! So you can imagine why this film wasn't my thing.

Necromantik has quite a history. It was co-written and directed by Jörg Buttgereit and released in either 1987 or 1988 (the internet cannot decide).

After being banned in various countries, it was passed by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) in 2014 and awarded an 18 certificate. It is still banned elsewhere due to its revolting, objectionable content (necrophilia, high impact violence, animal cruelty and abhorrent behavior) as cited by the New Zealand Office of Film and Literature Classification in 1999.

Necromantik portrays love, sex, and death graphically. Unhealthy relationships with the living and sordid relationships with the dead - it takes us to bad places. Not only was there Necromantik 1 but years later there was a sequel - so the sex, love and death triangle was a thing? Obviously.

So, why couldn’t I watch it until the end? Before we go any further I have to add that I appreciate its approach to such a subject – it is original and plays up to its exploitation label with great pride. Its gritty mix of realism, horror and sex is very unique and visually appealing to those that like it dark. Really dark.

The thing is, I am a monster girl at heart. Give me a maniac in a mask, a zombie, a vampire or a ghoul and I am happy as Larry but this film felt a little too close to the bone (pun intended).

It all feels very real without the hockey mask, the blood red silk lined cape, and the rotting flesh of the undead. I can deal with Dracula biting someone's neck, a zombie eating his victim's entrails or a werewolf running through the woods at night because to me, they don't exist. Unfortunately Nekromantik pushes it too far and I can't enjoy it.

Yet here comes the paradoxical part.

I love horror and I love true crime. When these fuse together and make a film such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre I lap it up. I even wrote my final degree dissertation on the influence of true crime within the horror genre. The subject matter in Necromantik could be taken right out of the case file of a Jeffrey Dahmer crime, that’s for sure! Even the story of Ed Gein, as awful as it is, is a fascinating case - the psychological factors that came together to form such a monster is interesting.

Maybe this doesn’t need too much dissection. Am i over-thinking it? Maybe this film just wasn’t to my taste.

I will just stick to my vampires and ghouls from now on.