Search - Schramm on DVD

The ghastly pleasures of DVD

Chasemouse | 06/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's truly amazing how the times have changed. Over 10 years ago I bought my first two bootleg films, Cannibal Holocaust and Nekromantik. They were poor looking copies at best. Cannibal Holocaust was censored and the subtitles on Nekromantik were to blurry to read. But I was thankful. I swear I was. There was no other way to see such films. Today, we have DVD. Ah, the pleasures of DVD. Everything is being released on DVD. How many of them I can buy for the price of one shoddy looking laserdisc. Young horror fans have it good today, I tells ya. I believe the fine folks at Barrel Entertainment must have come from a similar film-related background. They did a superb almost beyond the call of duty tranfer on their DVD release of Nekromantik and they have done the same with Schramm. Years ago, Film Threat released this and other Buttgereit films on video. The videos looked awful, Schramm being the worst. I am delighted to report that this DVD makes up where Film Threat failed. With the commentaries, interviews, trailers, and short films you the lucky viewer are looking at hours worth of footage for one amazing price. Incidentally those boots cost a lot. I was shocked that the film could look as good as it does. Schramm is a seriously depressing, morbid, and arty portraiture of a serial killer. Buttgereit points out in his commentary that he had never seen a film about serial killers. Just as soon as I thought of Silence of the Lambs he brings up the fact that though Silence... is very good it is more like a commercial for the FBI than a depiction of what life is like for a serial killer. For me, this movie nails the topic on the head (no pun intended). Schramm is not a Hollywood version of madness. The journey into this killers distorted mind is so visual and realistic that I am reminded of Henry (Ray Liotta) introducing the other mobsters in Scorsese's Goodfellas. The point of view camera glides through the bar as Henry introduces everyone. The camera moves so naturally and perfect that you feel like you are there. Buttgereit does the same througout Schramm's 65 minute running time. Not an easy task. I raise my glass to this vile film and to Buttgereit and Barrel Entertaiment."

Into the mind of a serial killer...

Jennifer C. | Houston, TX USA | 05/08/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What a brutal, gory movie - for intense gore fans ONLY. Do not get this DVD if you're the LEAST bit squeamish. Brought to you by Joerg Buttgereit, creator of "Nekromantik", this is a raw, bloody look at a pretty twisted guy named Lothar Schramm. Though the movie itself is relatively short (only a little over an hour), this DVD is packed with goodness - extras aplenty here, folks. I'm rather pleasantly surprised it's even here, as Nekromantik wasn't available here last I checked. In conclusion, if you think you can handle the rather disturbing subject matter of the film, by all means, grab this baby while you can... it'll be worth your money."

Must be seen to be believed

OverTheMoon | overthemoonreview@hotmail.com | 01/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"*Please note this low budget German art house film is just over an hour long.*
SCHRAAM is a quiet young man who lives alone in his apartment - his neighbour is a prostitute who accidentally helps fixates his fantasies (a pension for obscene sexual allure to inanimate objects) who decides to go on a violent killing spree. The film plays backwards in that in the opening sequence we learn that the `Lipstick Killer', Schraam, has been found dead in his home and everything plays backwards out from there.

SCHRAAM has to be probably one of the most upsetting experiences you will have watching an art house film. To be honest "Irreversible" made me cringe, "Last House on the Left" uncut was pretty heavy going, "Man Bites Dog" was a contemporary media play on snuff and even the awful "I Spit on Your Grave" had its shocking moments, but SCHRAAM manages to surpass them all by just delivering on your most hair raising nightmares at the worse possible time by cutting in minutes of slow tracking bliss suddenly followed up on by an unprecedented in your face sledgehammer of a horrific sequence, but never seems sleazy or gratuitous or goes outside of its art house appeal.

SCHRAAM is like "Begotten", the director's own "Nekromantik 1 + 2", Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" or Gaspar Noé "I Stand Alone" in that the concept of Hollywood horror is as far away as you can likely get and the budget so restricted that you could ultimately make a film like this if you had some fake blood and a nice 16mm camera. What makes SCHRAAM interesting is that there are a number of highly imaginative sequences done in this 1993 production that have been used in more modern productions, like Schraam's workout rotating camera sequence or the jump cuts that are now all too common in art house cinema.

SCHRAAM is actually banned in most places around the globe, although to be honest you have seen much more objectionable than this and it is arguable that films such as "Last House on the Left" and the awful "I Spit on Your Grave" are much more sinister in their presentation of the subject matter. SCHRAAM never deviates from trying to show this killer for what he is, sad, never glorifying what he does, murder, but filming it in such a way that it cuts you like a knife. The hammer and nails scene with a genital is certainly going to fling a lot of hands up to the eyes.

A very interesting art house serial killer movie than beats the pants off most offerings."

Compulsive and Repulsive!

Mr. Stuart Chandler | 08/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Buttgereit, infamous for 'Nekromantik', delivers us a poetic masterpiece and a hideous journey into the mind of Lothar Schramm, the Lipstick killer. It is a brutal and intriguing display and details many fascinating characters in abstract flashback. This is what real extreme cinema is all about.As usual, Buttgereit delivers images full of visceral insanity, so gory and vicious that unless you're familiar with either his works or those of his peers, this little piece might be a bit much. Barrel Entertainment have done an incredible job, the print is almost perfect and the extras tantilising (commentaries, trailers and a special 'making of'). Sad to see that this one is becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of - buy this one now, while you still can."