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Premutos - Lord of The Living Dead
POPcinema // Unrated // July 30, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
As someone with little-to-no manual dexterity, I've always admired those who can build things. To this end, as a horror film fanatic, I've always been in awe of special effects make-up, especially when one considers the amount of work that goes into those creations. And while most FX artists are very creative people, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are qualified to write and direct movies. A case in point is "Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead", a German import proving that all German filmmakers aren't aspiring to be the next Wim Wenders.
The Movie
(The English dubbing on this DVD presentation of "Premutos" is highly suspect, so the following plot synopsis can only be considered a "best guess".)
The on-screen title of this film is "Premutos: Der Gefallene Angel", which translates as "The Fallen Angel". During the film's prologue, a voiceover tells us that Premutos was the first fallen angel, and was cast out of Heaven before Lucifer. Since that time, Premutos has roamed the Earth, appearing during times of warfare, hoping to be reborn. The film opens during a battle in India in the year 1023, where Premutos is creating havoc, but his rebirth is stopped.
The action then leaps ahead to 1942, where a strange man is hunted down by an angry mob. It seems that this man has been stealing bodies from the local cemetery and performing strange experiments on the corpses, with results in the dead coming back to life. Also, he has been compiling a book which tells the story of Premutos. The man is able to bury the book before the mob kills him.
We then jump to modern-day Germany, where we meet the hapless Mathias (which is pronounced math-e-us in the dubbing), who is played by writer/director/FX artist Olaf Ittenbach. Mathias is a loser, who is constantly suffering from groin injuries (?!). When these injuries occur, he has odd visions of himself during World War II or observing a woman being burned at the stake. Mathias' step-father (Christopher Stacey) digs us a strange book in the backyard and gives it to Mathias. That night, while his parents are having a dinner party, Mathias examines the book and is suddenly transformed into Premutos. He then creates an army of zombies that attack the party, killing everyone in their path.
Well, that's about it as far as the plot of this film is concerned. The first hour of the film sets up Mathias' odd visions and the worst dinner party ever, and the last thirty minutes is a bloodbath of non-stop violence. The elaborate idea of the fallen angel is simply an excuse to unleash an army of zombies and to let the blood flow.
It's very clear that "Premutos" is a very low-budget film, and taken that into consideration, the movie is very ambitious. The special effects are very impressive, and Ittenbach shows that he certainly knows what he's doing. The beheadings, disembowelments, and exploding heads all look very good. Also, the film includes some huge set-pieces, such as the battle scenes, which involved many extras. This is an unusual move for a movie of this cailber.
However, aside from the gore, "Premutos" has very little to offer. The story is confusing and convoluted, the characters are incredibly unlikable, and the acting is horrible. (Although, I'm sure that the dubbing doesn't help. More on this later.) The film comes across as an amalgam of "Night of the Living Dead", "Evil Dead", and "Tetsuo", but doesn't come close to any of those films. Those looking for a true horror film will be disappointed and gorehounds will find themselves fast-forwarding to the next exploding head. (By the way, one exploding head is cool. Twenty is boring.) Relying simply on gore to carry this film was a mistake, as it doesn't have the humor or charm of Peter Jackson's "Dead/Alive", nor does it have the style of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead".
"Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead" is a bloody mess.
Picture
"Premutos" is presented in a full-frame format on this DVD, and the transfer was taken from a heavily used German print (there are burnt in German subtitles during certain scenes). The image is dark and hazy at times, and the image shows many defects from the source print. The colors are fair and there is a noticable amount of grain. Also, the image is unstable and jumpy at times. On the whole, this transfer is little better than VHS.
Sound
This DVD offers two audio tracks. There is the original German track and the newly created English dub. There are no subtitle options on this DVD. The English track is a digital stereo mix, but it's apparent that most of the original elements were done away with. We're left with an odd sounding track in which the dialogue is alternately muffled or very loud. The music sounds canned and is weak. The dialogue on the English track is strange and laughable at times, making one wonder just how much of it is faithful to the original German script.
Extras
This DVD offers a 50-minute making-of documentary which offers a behind-the-scene look at the production of "Premutos". (As with the film, it's dubbed.) This segment offers interviews with Ittenbach and the cast, and includes a great deal of behind-the-scenes footage. It's interesting, but the length of the piece, combined with the dubbing, makes it hard to watch in one sitting. There are also bonus trailers for other E.I. products.
"Premutos" has garnered a reputation for being a gore masterpiece. And while it delivers on that front, it offers little else. Those looking for a good German horror film should seek out the far-superior "Anatomy" instead.
The Movie
(The English dubbing on this DVD presentation of "Premutos" is highly suspect, so the following plot synopsis can only be considered a "best guess".)
The on-screen title of this film is "Premutos: Der Gefallene Angel", which translates as "The Fallen Angel". During the film's prologue, a voiceover tells us that Premutos was the first fallen angel, and was cast out of Heaven before Lucifer. Since that time, Premutos has roamed the Earth, appearing during times of warfare, hoping to be reborn. The film opens during a battle in India in the year 1023, where Premutos is creating havoc, but his rebirth is stopped.
The action then leaps ahead to 1942, where a strange man is hunted down by an angry mob. It seems that this man has been stealing bodies from the local cemetery and performing strange experiments on the corpses, with results in the dead coming back to life. Also, he has been compiling a book which tells the story of Premutos. The man is able to bury the book before the mob kills him.
We then jump to modern-day Germany, where we meet the hapless Mathias (which is pronounced math-e-us in the dubbing), who is played by writer/director/FX artist Olaf Ittenbach. Mathias is a loser, who is constantly suffering from groin injuries (?!). When these injuries occur, he has odd visions of himself during World War II or observing a woman being burned at the stake. Mathias' step-father (Christopher Stacey) digs us a strange book in the backyard and gives it to Mathias. That night, while his parents are having a dinner party, Mathias examines the book and is suddenly transformed into Premutos. He then creates an army of zombies that attack the party, killing everyone in their path.
Well, that's about it as far as the plot of this film is concerned. The first hour of the film sets up Mathias' odd visions and the worst dinner party ever, and the last thirty minutes is a bloodbath of non-stop violence. The elaborate idea of the fallen angel is simply an excuse to unleash an army of zombies and to let the blood flow.
It's very clear that "Premutos" is a very low-budget film, and taken that into consideration, the movie is very ambitious. The special effects are very impressive, and Ittenbach shows that he certainly knows what he's doing. The beheadings, disembowelments, and exploding heads all look very good. Also, the film includes some huge set-pieces, such as the battle scenes, which involved many extras. This is an unusual move for a movie of this cailber.
However, aside from the gore, "Premutos" has very little to offer. The story is confusing and convoluted, the characters are incredibly unlikable, and the acting is horrible. (Although, I'm sure that the dubbing doesn't help. More on this later.) The film comes across as an amalgam of "Night of the Living Dead", "Evil Dead", and "Tetsuo", but doesn't come close to any of those films. Those looking for a true horror film will be disappointed and gorehounds will find themselves fast-forwarding to the next exploding head. (By the way, one exploding head is cool. Twenty is boring.) Relying simply on gore to carry this film was a mistake, as it doesn't have the humor or charm of Peter Jackson's "Dead/Alive", nor does it have the style of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead".
"Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead" is a bloody mess.
Picture
"Premutos" is presented in a full-frame format on this DVD, and the transfer was taken from a heavily used German print (there are burnt in German subtitles during certain scenes). The image is dark and hazy at times, and the image shows many defects from the source print. The colors are fair and there is a noticable amount of grain. Also, the image is unstable and jumpy at times. On the whole, this transfer is little better than VHS.
Sound
This DVD offers two audio tracks. There is the original German track and the newly created English dub. There are no subtitle options on this DVD. The English track is a digital stereo mix, but it's apparent that most of the original elements were done away with. We're left with an odd sounding track in which the dialogue is alternately muffled or very loud. The music sounds canned and is weak. The dialogue on the English track is strange and laughable at times, making one wonder just how much of it is faithful to the original German script.
Extras
This DVD offers a 50-minute making-of documentary which offers a behind-the-scene look at the production of "Premutos". (As with the film, it's dubbed.) This segment offers interviews with Ittenbach and the cast, and includes a great deal of behind-the-scenes footage. It's interesting, but the length of the piece, combined with the dubbing, makes it hard to watch in one sitting. There are also bonus trailers for other E.I. products.
"Premutos" has garnered a reputation for being a gore masterpiece. And while it delivers on that front, it offers little else. Those looking for a good German horror film should seek out the far-superior "Anatomy" instead.
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