Plot: A troubled young man, who is devastated by the breakup he has had with his girlfriend, finds a female corpse in a nearby forest, which he instantly takes home with him and molests sexually. This is, however, only the beginning of his suffering, for he dives deeper and deeper into a seer of self-destruction, psychotic soliloquies laden with guilt and hatred and visions of unspeakable atrocities. Depressed and on the verge of losing his mind, he form a plan to rid him of his heartache and get even with his girlfriend once and for all.
"Necrophile Passion" by director Tom Heidenberg is surely one of the most eagerly awaited productions in the German speaking world of amateur splatter. This highly ambitious project, revolving around the Austrian splatter label "Black Lava Entertainment", can not only look back on a troubled process of production, but also on a history of polarization. Directly after the release of the first teaser trailer, many fans of underground nastiness rejoiced and expressed their sympathy for this film, whereas others were so offended that they weren't afraid to openly display their contempt and their willingness to distance themselves from it at all costs. However, it must have always been clear to director Tom Heidenberg and producer Thomas Binder that their film will never be easily accepted by a broad audience, since it deals with one of the last taboos in contemporary extreme cinema: necrophilia. Of course, this taboo has oftentimes been broken, but in this case it is not a matter of being the first to violate, but a matter of quality. But all in good time.
The film opens with the finding of the corpse in the woods and one can immediately notice the distinct visual style. The story is told in images which seem cold, even lifeless, and are dominated by tones of grey. This is accompanied by a reserved but effective score. Apart from the aforementioned stylistic devices, the film makes use of surrealism, estrangement and insight into the main characters' thoughts to tell the story of the lonesome, nameless, young protagonist in images which are reticent, yet self-explanatory. His flashbacks, which take up almost as much time as the "main plot", depict acts of humiliation, perverse tendencies and unspeakable wrath, creating an aura of unpredictability and providing insight into the emotional life of the main character. The latter is fully unfolded and confronts the viewer with fragments of the young man's psyche which provoke feelings of unease, sorrow, anger on the one hand, but also empathy and sympathy on the other. The identification with the film's protagonist is absolute: the creator does not merely show us an existence which is staring into an abyss, it also shows us the abyss itself and lets us experience it firsthand. In order to achieve this high level of emotional density and authenticity, many of the classic virtues of storytelling have been discarded, resulting in a film which has but one content: negativity. No warmth can be found in "Necrophile Passion", only sickness, despair and self-loathing. Even the aforementioned, failed relationship the nameless hero had with a dominant, mentally abusive and sadomasochistically inclined woman is not built on love, but on a sick linkage between lust, violence and death, just like the act of necrophilia. The film's openly life-defying, negative vein is not only convincing and well-conceived, it also reflects the story's guiding theme in a very clever way.
"Necrophile Passion" by director Tom Heidenberg is surely one of the most eagerly awaited productions in the German speaking world of amateur splatter. This highly ambitious project, revolving around the Austrian splatter label "Black Lava Entertainment", can not only look back on a troubled process of production, but also on a history of polarization. Directly after the release of the first teaser trailer, many fans of underground nastiness rejoiced and expressed their sympathy for this film, whereas others were so offended that they weren't afraid to openly display their contempt and their willingness to distance themselves from it at all costs. However, it must have always been clear to director Tom Heidenberg and producer Thomas Binder that their film will never be easily accepted by a broad audience, since it deals with one of the last taboos in contemporary extreme cinema: necrophilia. Of course, this taboo has oftentimes been broken, but in this case it is not a matter of being the first to violate, but a matter of quality. But all in good time.
The film opens with the finding of the corpse in the woods and one can immediately notice the distinct visual style. The story is told in images which seem cold, even lifeless, and are dominated by tones of grey. This is accompanied by a reserved but effective score. Apart from the aforementioned stylistic devices, the film makes use of surrealism, estrangement and insight into the main characters' thoughts to tell the story of the lonesome, nameless, young protagonist in images which are reticent, yet self-explanatory. His flashbacks, which take up almost as much time as the "main plot", depict acts of humiliation, perverse tendencies and unspeakable wrath, creating an aura of unpredictability and providing insight into the emotional life of the main character. The latter is fully unfolded and confronts the viewer with fragments of the young man's psyche which provoke feelings of unease, sorrow, anger on the one hand, but also empathy and sympathy on the other. The identification with the film's protagonist is absolute: the creator does not merely show us an existence which is staring into an abyss, it also shows us the abyss itself and lets us experience it firsthand. In order to achieve this high level of emotional density and authenticity, many of the classic virtues of storytelling have been discarded, resulting in a film which has but one content: negativity. No warmth can be found in "Necrophile Passion", only sickness, despair and self-loathing. Even the aforementioned, failed relationship the nameless hero had with a dominant, mentally abusive and sadomasochistically inclined woman is not built on love, but on a sick linkage between lust, violence and death, just like the act of necrophilia. The film's openly life-defying, negative vein is not only convincing and well-conceived, it also reflects the story's guiding theme in a very clever way.
"Necrophile Passion" is, however, not only cruel in a metaphorcial and emotional way. Also the visual aspects are more than explicit. From the first second onward, it is clear that this film is out to push the envelope as far as it goes and is no stranger to transgression. The first few minutes show out nameless "hero" inserting his fingers into the female corpse's vagina and having intercourse with it lateron. His flashbacks and visions show endless scenes of his ex-girlfriend having sex with a rotting cadaver, as well as scenes of sadism and murder. It would not be fully correct to speak of pornographic scenes (in terms of "hardcore"), but the film pulls no punches and shows everything, including full frontal nudity, in an insistent and crude manner, especially when it comes to the necrophilia scenes involving his ex-girlfriend. "Necrophile Passion" goes much further than most "controversial" films dare to, especially the repetitive monotony of some passages create an oppressive athmosphere of total fetishistic degeneration, which completely captures you for the short running time of approximately an hour. As is always the case with most forms of sexual, i.e. violent sexual depictions, imagery and scenes, it is quite possible that some viewers may be absolutely revolted and shocked, whereas others may find a very dubious satisfaction in them. However, fans of splatter and gore are rewarded for their choice: apart from the frequent corpse molestation, we are treated to scenes that show flesh being ripped apart by electric drills, severe cuts and mutilation inflicted on bound women (this film definitely knows its audience) and close-ups of gaping wounds. All these scenes are executed very well, the gore is definitely worth the buck. Sure, there is no doubt that this is an independent, i.e. amateur production, but Mr. Heidenberg spares us from most of the embarassments commonly found in no-budget productions. Come to think of it, "Necrophile Passion" is actually highly professional. Kudos for the great corpse designs, these guys (or gals) look pretty disgusting and very real!
Due to it's very unique way of storytelling and the frequency of scenes showing sex, gore and perversion, this film is rather hard to classify, as it combines elements of extreme cinema, artistic film and bloodgushing underground splatter. If you are biased against (at least) one of these genres, you may have a hard time enjoying this, but if you are fond of all three, you should definitely look into it. Especially the aforementioned artistic merit is a huge plus and sets it apart from most other films of this kind. The first scene of the episode entitled "Hate" can be seen as a perfect example of this films' qualities: it depicts the end of the relationship between the protagonist and his girlfriend, maggots crawling inside a rotting body, closeups of dissections of human organs and blood gushing out of open wounds. These scenes are all beautifully edited together and form a kind of collage which not only sums up the plot and motifs brilliantly, but also incorporates everything this film wants to convey. Truly powerful! Scenes like this reminded me of masterpieces like "Subconscious Cruelty", although "Necrophile Passion"'s approach is, of course, far different from the one of said classic. Most of the artistic qualities stem from various visions, intercuts and hallucinations, which are neither used to rarely, nor too frequently. 
Last but not least, there is one issue which needs to be addressed: many fans referred to possible parallels between "Necrophile Passion" and Jörg Buttgereits gross-out classic "Nekromantik", some even speculated that Heidenberg's film was going to end up to be nothing more than a "Nekromantik" rip-off. After having seen both films, I can pass these rumours off as false. "Necrophile Passion" has its own message, relies other key aspects and is absolutely unique when it comes to dramaturgy. Despite "Necrophile Passion" not being a "Nekromantik" rip-off, fans of Buttgereit's classic should check this out.
Conclusion: Many fans probably won't know what to make of "Necrophile Passion". A first viewing should definitely clear the skies, since Heidenberg's film is a nasty, truly negative, perverted and downright brutal insight into the mind of a truly disturbed person. Combining many approaches and subgenres, "Necrophile Passion" ist far from one-dimensional and the complete opposite of the lifeless slasher and torture porn flicks, which are so popular nowadays. Keeping the theme in mind, it is absolutely clear that this was the right path to take. The end-product's viciousness comes to fruition: "Necrophile Passion" is intense, coherent, unforgiving and radical. This will not be everybody's cup of tea, but it is my sincere belief that there will be enough people who will be able to value and appreciate it for what it is. Even if someone should have issues with some of its facets, there are still plenty of other qualities to be found. I'll feel free to repeat myself and state once again that "Necrophile Passions" is, basically, a marriage between art, extremity and splatter and intrigues through its emotionality, its aesthetics of ugliness and the fact that it's willing to walk on paths far less trampled out than others. Heidenberg's experiment worked out perfectly and "Necrophile Passion" is a success.
10/10
Official Webpage
Official Teaser Trailer
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