(1990)
Dir - Djordje Kadijevic
Overall: GOOD
The second full-length adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's novella Viy was from Ygoslavian filmmaker Djordje Kadijevic who had previously made what is considered the first Serbian horror film Leptirica, (The She-Butterfly) in 1973. A Holy Place, (Sveto mesto), follows the same basic premise as the original story and the famed, superb 1967 Russian movie by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov, (which was likewise the first horror film released in its own country, being Soviet-era USSR). The humor and visually dazzling, supernatural set pieces are replaced here due to a more somber and disturbing plot element involving a nobleman and his daughter. The details concerning the family's secrets are wisely alluded to instead of explicitly stated, making them more curiously macabre. Kadijevic utilizes a retro, Gothic horror style here, void of any kind of frantic editing, gore, or over the top flare, though the momentum is still kept in check. By being less fairytale-based and leaning more on the erotic/slightly perverse side, it distinguishes itself enough from its deservedly lauded predecessor and is genuinely creepy in its own right
(1991)
Dir - Jörg Buttgereit
Overall: MEH
Round two of two for Jörg Buttgereit's NEKRomantik series is NEKRomantik 2: Die Rückkehr der Liebenden Toten, (The Return of the Loving Dead), another entry mostly concerned with appalling its audience while willingly breaking down the taboos of conventional cinema. This time, the approach is much more deliberately paced compared to its wildly disturbed subject matter. The tone set by the musical score, (bringing back the composers from the first film in addition to a small handful more), as well as how drawn-out many of the sequences are whether grotesque or not creates an odd mood that could not be farther from schlock. Coupled with the fact that the film still goes to outrageous lengths to disturb its audience with more necrophiliac-centered scenes makes for a memorable if not altogether "good" finished product. Viewed as something emerging post-German reunification and also as an allegory about modern German society preferring to ignore the broad monstrosities of its Nazi era, the themes that Buttgereit is most likely waving a stick at are certainly there. To be fair though, the movie is in desperate need of an editing trim. Witnessing a woman saw up a corpse practically in real time, as well as seeing other characters go on dates or just walk around a beach for minutes at a time could easily be minimized to get the whole ordeal gratefully over with.
(1993)
Dir - Philip Brophy
Overall: WOOF
This splatter trainwreck and, (thankfully), only feature length work from composer/sound designer Philip Brophy is rather pathetic in how completely uninteresting it is. Intentionally designed around putting as many squishy and repulsive death sequences into its eighty-one minute running time as possible, while also throwing every other creative detail to the wind, it is terribly structured to say the least. Body Melt seems like something that would be idiot-proof to make with its stock premise of a small town used as guinea pigs for a vitamin supplement that makes everyone who takes it turn into a gooey pile of puss. There is not a single moment that is even remotely funny though and the movie bounces between so many barely written characters that the embarrassing story becomes almost impressively difficult to follow. Treating the entire thing like a gross joke is fine as it gives the filmmakers liberty to ignore the asinine questions it raises, most profoundly what on earth is the logical endgame of the cartoon-character level villains who want everyone to take their wiener and face exploding drugs in the first place? The viewer is not likely to care anyway and that is because neither do the people making this lazy, humorless gore-fest.
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