Right, I'm horror film fan of the purest sort. Occasionally they may well be of the harder, gorier type ala Peter Jacksons "Bad Taste" and I really don't care much if the movie had a big budget or not, as long as the spirit is right. I was the guy who giggled during "Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood" (because a lot of the effects were obvious). I sat through Olaf Ittenbachs "The Burning Moon" and was able to find something positive in it (although, if you ask me today, I couldn't tell you what it was). Yes, I confess! I watched "Men behind the Sun" while chowing on Ramen noodles! But there's a limit to everything and that limit starts during the opening credits of "Angel of Death"! To get the dire story over with: two sadistic, drug-selling thugs, Marc and Timo, drive around, killing and raping people seemingly at random. They assault the films "protagonist", stripper Manila (Manila May, in case you haven't figured), and viciously rape her. She's able to escape though and returns home to take a shower. Apart from turning her into a lesbian, the attack has triggered some psychopathic instincts inside Manila, who in turn goes around seducing and killing male and female victims. She than seeks her assailants – who in the meantime have spent good screen-time raping and killing more victims – inside an abandoned factory. Manila takes her revenge, butchering the killer duo (who, of course, manage to rape and kill Manila just at the moment of their own demise). Cast dead, film over.
I don't condemn the sadistic murder-death-kill in "Angel of Death" – the film is made for people who cannot wait to cross the next threshold of ultra-violence; for people who find sex and violence not offensive but for whom it is a way of life. What I condemn is that the film-makers didn't even bother to disguise that they've ripped off every murderous scene from other, way better movies. Manila May decapitating a man during coitus and using the head as a "massage stick"? Seen that in Joerg Buttgereits "Necromantik 2". Plugging eyeballs with spoons? Again, "Guinea Pig". Manila May being disposed off with a 'vaginal-head-shot' at the end? Now, where have I seen that? One can virtually smell the Styrofoam from which the pitiful props are cut, and then painted with watercolours from your younger brothers' art class equipment. The exploding heads are clearly visible as what they are: plastic bags filled with ketchup. Ed Wood would have been ashamed of so much shoddiness! Guns which aren't even prop guns but toy guns bought at the local supermarket. And all this is filmed with one cheap, shakily held video-camera and without the benefit of editing, lightning or extra microphones. Let's not loose too many words about the 'acting' and let's just say, it would demand real skill for any real actor – professional or amateur – to "act out" the sheer talent- and aimlessness of these performers. I've seen 3rd grader plays of "Alice in Wonderland", where the actors put more effort and dedication into their performances.
Now to the gratuitous nudity and porn, which the DVD-cover promises: the makers of "Caligula" would have laughed many a tear at such feeble attempts to produce pornography. True, Manila May is a veteran of her trade, who had soared to the Olympus of amateur porn with her masterpiece "Dr. C. Unt part 5" and has since descended into the sleazier end of the German fetish-porn-industry (let me say just so much: what in this industry is called "caviar"; that isn't fish-eggs). But the occasional detailed display of a female scrotum and fake semen doesn't yet make a porn film – especially in a time and age that is saturated with cyber-porn. (If the sub-genre of Horror-Porn sounds appealing to you, I recommend the French movie "Baise Moi" – it's all that "Angel of Death" wishes to be but isn't).
And the worst part: that maggot of a director had the good taste to stretch his epos to an epic 2 ½ hours, plus plenty bonus-material, 'behind-the-scenes' and interviews with cast and crew! I'm not so hard of heart that I would slam the labours of inspired amateurs – even James Cameron started off small. If you choose to upload and display your works on the internet, free for anybody to watch if they choose, well, I can always choose not to click it. But they're asking money for this film and that's were my tolerance ends. In addition, that's almost three hours of your life that you'll never get back (in case you think this review is too long, spending too much of your time – try sitting through "Angel of Death").
If, however, you ask me if there's something cheaper and sleazier on the market – something short of making a film with your kid's cell phone or Bethmanns other miserable products before and since – then I'll answer you truthfully: Andreas Papes "Hunting Creatures" - avoid like the plague! Still it gets nothing from me – only if I could give it a minus-rating for wasting my precio , well my time anyway!
I don't condemn the sadistic murder-death-kill in "Angel of Death" – the film is made for people who cannot wait to cross the next threshold of ultra-violence; for people who find sex and violence not offensive but for whom it is a way of life. What I condemn is that the film-makers didn't even bother to disguise that they've ripped off every murderous scene from other, way better movies. Manila May decapitating a man during coitus and using the head as a "massage stick"? Seen that in Joerg Buttgereits "Necromantik 2". Plugging eyeballs with spoons? Again, "Guinea Pig". Manila May being disposed off with a 'vaginal-head-shot' at the end? Now, where have I seen that? One can virtually smell the Styrofoam from which the pitiful props are cut, and then painted with watercolours from your younger brothers' art class equipment. The exploding heads are clearly visible as what they are: plastic bags filled with ketchup. Ed Wood would have been ashamed of so much shoddiness! Guns which aren't even prop guns but toy guns bought at the local supermarket. And all this is filmed with one cheap, shakily held video-camera and without the benefit of editing, lightning or extra microphones. Let's not loose too many words about the 'acting' and let's just say, it would demand real skill for any real actor – professional or amateur – to "act out" the sheer talent- and aimlessness of these performers. I've seen 3rd grader plays of "Alice in Wonderland", where the actors put more effort and dedication into their performances.
Now to the gratuitous nudity and porn, which the DVD-cover promises: the makers of "Caligula" would have laughed many a tear at such feeble attempts to produce pornography. True, Manila May is a veteran of her trade, who had soared to the Olympus of amateur porn with her masterpiece "Dr. C. Unt part 5" and has since descended into the sleazier end of the German fetish-porn-industry (let me say just so much: what in this industry is called "caviar"; that isn't fish-eggs). But the occasional detailed display of a female scrotum and fake semen doesn't yet make a porn film – especially in a time and age that is saturated with cyber-porn. (If the sub-genre of Horror-Porn sounds appealing to you, I recommend the French movie "Baise Moi" – it's all that "Angel of Death" wishes to be but isn't).
And the worst part: that maggot of a director had the good taste to stretch his epos to an epic 2 ½ hours, plus plenty bonus-material, 'behind-the-scenes' and interviews with cast and crew! I'm not so hard of heart that I would slam the labours of inspired amateurs – even James Cameron started off small. If you choose to upload and display your works on the internet, free for anybody to watch if they choose, well, I can always choose not to click it. But they're asking money for this film and that's were my tolerance ends. In addition, that's almost three hours of your life that you'll never get back (in case you think this review is too long, spending too much of your time – try sitting through "Angel of Death").
If, however, you ask me if there's something cheaper and sleazier on the market – something short of making a film with your kid's cell phone or Bethmanns other miserable products before and since – then I'll answer you truthfully: Andreas Papes "Hunting Creatures" - avoid like the plague! Still it gets nothing from me – only if I could give it a minus-rating for wasting my precio , well my time anyway!