Thursday 22 February 2018

Der Todesking (1990)


"Not as Funny as NEKROMANTIK"

       I wonder if its director would agree? The movie Jorg Buttgereit made in between the repulsively gory NEKROMANTIK (1987 & reviewed on here) and the similarly-styled NEKROMANTIK 2 (1991 and also reviewed on here) gets a remarkably lavish and exhaustive presentation on a three-disc set from Arrow.


The title translates as The Death King and indeed, what we have here is a film about death or rather deaths - one for each day of the week. Thus we are plunged into seven vignettes in which someone is either killed, or kills themselves. None of the segments are uplifting. All of them are shot on grainy 16mm. Quite a few of them appear to have been shot in the same room (or at least the same house). 


       A short way in, there's a spoof on Don Edmonds' tatty old ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1975) which will probably elicit a variety of reactions from different viewers ranging from a bit of a chuckle to being utterly morally outraged. And to be honest, that's a bit like the film as a whole. Towards the end there's an allusion towards the possible cause of the deaths - a chain letter from the 'Brotherhood of the Seventh Day' that echoes Robert Chambers' classic 'The King in Yellow' in its stylistic intent of driving insane all who come into contact with it. 


For all that I've said above, I don't think the film is entirely about death and madness. It's bookended by a child doing a drawing of the title character (the body of whom, presumably, we see rotting throughout the film), which makes one wonder if this is perhaps the director's comment on the nature of storytelling itself. DER TODESKING is not an easy watch, but if you can get through it you'll probably find yourself thinking about if for quite a while afterwards.


And while you are, you can be getting stuck into Arrow's feast of extras which include a commentary track from the director and co-writer Franz Rodenkirchen, a conversation between the director and Graham Rae at Manchester's Festival of Fantastic Films in 2016, a vintage making of, footage from the 1990 Berlin premiere, Mr Buttgereit's 1992 documentary Corpse Fucking Art, and two short films by producer Manfred O Jelinski.


       All that stuff, plus trailers, stills and more are on Disc 1 (Blu-ray) and Disc 2 (DVD). Disc 3 is a CD of the complete DER TODESKING score. You also get a 60 page book with new writing on the film from Kat Ellinger and Graham Rae and finally, a replica of the Brotherhood of the Seventh Day chain letter if you feel you have the strength to read it. An amazing package for Buttgereit fans. 




Jorg Buttgereit's DER TODESKING is out in a limited 
edition three disc set from Arrow Films on 
Monday 26th February 2018

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