THIS FRESH BLOOD: Don’t Breathe (2016)

Original Post Date: 01.04.17

I watched the trailer for the movie when it came out and since it did not impress me, I decided to wait for the DVD instead of going to the movies for it. Fast-forward a couple of months to today. Today, after work, I went to Target (not a sponsor) and by the check-out they had a bunch of affordable DVD’s and, lo and behold, this little fella was looking at me screaming with her eyes “Take me, take me!”. So I did.

Don’t Breathe (2016) was a really entertaining movie and I am glad it is part of my collection now. (01.04.17, 8:33pm PT)

If you have seen at least the trailer, then you know the movie is about a group of low-life criminals who burglarize the house of a blind man. Things go sour and the owner of the house suddenly has the upper hand. Good? Well my weirdo, there’s more, and of course I am not going to ruin it for you but (but!) I will say this:

1.       The owner of the house was H-O-T. I repeat, /eɪtʃ/, /oʊ/, /ti/. If you fancy men, then you are going to be as mesmerized about his physique just as I was. 10 out 10 do recommend.

2.       I need to move to Detroit and invest in real state like right now. I would love to have my studio in the basement, in the dark, dark basement –so spacious and pitch-black!

3.       And, and… nope, I refuse to spoil it for you. This “thing” was done really well, and with taste. Evidence:

This fresh blood made me crave Thanksgiving food.

- Marath

THIS FRESH BLOOD: Nekromantik (1987)

Original Post Date: 12.31.16

This is it! This is what THIS FRESH BLOOD was meant to do. The exercise of watching relevant horror movies –for the first time– in order to discover that new piece of hidden treasure that would shake me to the core, has finally paid off. Last night I watched Nekromantik (1987) and I am still overwhelmed with awe and admiration. Continue reading if you would like to know why, and proceed with caution if you are easily offended (or underage).

A few notes before moving on:

-          THIS FRESH BLOOD is reviewed here at marathmarath.tumblr.com immediately after watching the movie in question, however, due to the fact that Nekromantik was too much for my brain to process last night (12/30/16, 8:27pm PT), I decided to wait until today to put my thoughts in writing. Plus, I devoured as much information as possible about the man behind it all, Director Jorg Buttgereit, so I was in reading mode all throughout the night.

-          THIS FRESH BLOOD is spoiler-free, however, due to the juicy (LOL, juicy) nature of the scenes, I simply could not avoid giving away specific details of the story which may or may not ruin the movie for Nekromantik virgins.

-          Nekromantik is not for everyone, so this is your last chance to click away if you get offended by sex and death (or if you are underage).

Oh Robert, you creepy Robert. You who had the perfect job picking up corpses off the road and keeping a body part here and there for your own private collection. Oh Robert, why did you get fired? All you had to do was remain out of trouble, show up in time, clean your locker, and look somewhat normal. Oh Robert. Oh Robert, didn’t you know your girlfriend Betty was there just for the good times and not for the bad? Losing your job, thus the ability to providing decomposing corpses for lovemaking, was bad. Oh Robert, didn’t you know Betty would leave you and take with her the last corpse you two ever shared? Oh Robert, poor Robert.

Dear weirdo (yes, you reading this post), what do you see in this next picture? Is it a naked woman putting a condom on the corpse’s penis which is made of a pipe tube? Do you also see the corpse resting on a dirty bed with chicken wire as a headboard? Do you see the grimy walls? Do you smell decay and feel the cold air touching your skin? Does it make you sick?

Nekromantik left me feeling exhausted and mildly nauseous, but not in a bad way (if there is such a thing). When the Director decided early on the film to insert shots of a real rabbit being killed, skinned, and gutted (by the way, in a couple of articles I read last night I learned that the footage was from a rabbit farm where the animals were unfortunately destined to suffer that faith regardless, and was not shot, as one would think, just for the sake of Nekromantik) to show you the reality of death, of real death, was when I found myself wanting to look away or pause the video but I continued watching, uncomfortably. Later on, at the end of the film, the Director played that same rabbit sequence but in reverse while also showing the culmination of the grand finale. This would fuck with your head; life to death + death to life, human/pretend + animal/real.

Talking about the grand finale, the suicide/ejaculation scene, it was a unique moment in cinema. It really was! Looking beyond the obvious, a fully erect penis ejaculating while its necrophiliac owner stabs himself to death is pure poetry. Poetry! That which gives you pleasure, will terminate you; that which heals you, kills you; that which drives you, ends you. Brilliant.

There were other great scenes in the movie: the hanging corpse slowly bleeding over the plates, Betty taking a blood bath with her sunglasses on (OMG I love the meme I made and posted above, as well as on my IG – you’re welcome, internet), the threesome sex scene, Robert’s jar collection showcasing the body parts, the cat’s insides being used as an exfoliant by Robert (fake cat, also, I am going to hell LOL exfoliant), when Robert goes to the movie theater and leaves in the middle of a scene when a girl is being brutally attacked (this one left me scratching my head…), when Robert pays a prostitute for a good time at the cemetery, the peaceful dream sequences from Robert, and when an unknown woman (Betty?) digs with a shovel at Robert’s grave at the very last scene before fading to black. (Yes, there is ‘Nekromantik 2’ which I still need to watch.)

Last night when I was doing research for both the movie and the Director, I came across a lot of hate and a lot of love towards them. This seems to be a recurrent stand for issues that shake the morals of society. Both extremes do share something in common –the passionate feeling for or against it. I am one-hundred percent for it. Art is art (is art!), and if you skillfully mix it with the biggest human taboos and present it in the form of an organic, grainy, I-can-almost-taste-it film, well, you have a winner right there.

I would like to end this post with a quote from Director Jorg Buttgereit, from a 2014 interview with Virginie Selavy from Electric Sheep Magazine:

“… to me the so-called artistic freedom is very important. And this freedom can’t be harmed by a fan wanting to have ‘Nekromantik 10’ and also by a guy who says, this tape should be burned. In the end it’s the same for me.” – Jorg Buttgereit

This fresh blood left me feeling overjoyed.

- Marath

The Worst Villain I Ever Saw - THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001)

Original Post Date: 12.26.16

SPOILERS AHEAD. Stop reading if you have not seen The Devil’s Backbone (2001).

Jacinto is heartless, methodical, and on a mission. A mission fueled by greed and loneliness. A strong and willing man, destined to fight alone, and die alone.

Jacinto is the main villain in The Devil’s Backbone and what a horrible man he is. Along the way of his plan of stealing the gold from Santa Lucia School for orphans, he makes several mistakes, one of them been the accidental murder of Santi, a young orphan who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jacinto, afraid of anything getting on his way, hides the body, or rather, drowns the dying body of innocent Santi.

Jacinto goes as far as burning down the school in a failed and desperate attempt of finally getting to the gold. The gold is more valuable than the kids’ lives, than his honor, than his lover, than himself.

Jacinto gets the gold, but his greed blinds him from danger and in the end is overpowered by the same kids he had tried to kill. Jacinto and Santi meet again in a terrifying way. And the gold? It ends up at the bottom of the water pit, with him.

The Devil’s Backbone was a frightening and poetic movie from mastermind Guillermo del Toro, and it closed with a beautiful monologue from Dr. Casares who answered the question, “What is a ghost?”

“Un fantasma. Ese soy yo.”

- Marath