German underground horror is a subgenre of the horror film, which has achieved cult popularity since first appearing in the mid-1980s. Horror films produced by the German underground scene are usually trademarked by their intensity, taking on topics that are culturally taboo such as rape, necrophilia, and extreme violence.
In an attempt to shed its violent image, horror films were very rarely made in Germany after the fall of the Third Reich. Movies such as Horrors of Spider Island , The Blood Demon , and The Head were filmed and released in the decades following World War II, but to very little success.
In 1987, filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit wrote and directed Nekromantik . Two years later, amateur filmmaker Andreas Schnaas made the movie Violent Shit for a reported $2000. Released as Germany's first direct-to-video film, it was a modest hit amongst fans of independent horror. Both films were banned by the German government, but their popularity influenced other filmmakers such as Olaf Ittenbach to bring Germany's underground horror film scene further into the media spotlight.
Since then, many other filmmakers have emerged from the German underground horror scene, including Uwe Boll and Timo Rose. Uwe Boll is notable as the only underground German director who has gone on to a career in big budget cinema.
Films that glorify violence are not technically illegal in Germany, but titles (meaning a specific medium) can be "confiscated" (beschlagnahmt ) by courts. However, the term is very misleading, because private possession is completely legal (excluding only child and youth pornography, although no film of the horror genre with this content is currently known).
But handing out or advertising such a medium to minors is a criminal offense. [1] Distribution and making available to the public is also punishable, although "distribution" is not to be understood in the conventional sense. Legal commentaries on this law explain that distribution (sale, gifting, etc.) for personal use within a small, controllable group of people does not fall under the term "distribution", provided no further distribution of the medium is intended. [2] Film exchange fairs with separate adult areas for booths selling restricted movies are therefore possible and are regularly organized in Germany.
Production, purchase, delivery, keeping in stock, offering, advertising, importing or exporting are only permitted as long as they do not serve the above-mentioned prohibited purposes. [1]
Popular examples of "confiscated" movies are Braindead , Halloween II , The Beyond , City of the Living Dead , Cannibal Holocaust , I Spit on Your Grave 2 , Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines , Day of the Dead and Hobo with a Shotgun .
Once a film has been rated by the German ratings board, that is its rating for both cinema and video releases. It is legal to have two versions of a film. Often, there is a cut "FSK 16" version (equivalent to the R-rating by the MPAA) released in cinemas and an uncut "FSK 18" version (equivalent to an NC-17 rating) on video. Films rated "FSK 18" are not stocked by all video shops, which affects rentals of violent German horror.
In Germany, there is also a category above "FSK 18" entitled "indiziert" or "on the index". "Indizierte" films are treated the same way as pornography. Distribution companies, cinemas, and video shops cannot advertise these films, nor can they be openly on display—unless a shop is open to "adults only". However, it is legal to sell and buy such material. Many video rental stores have back rooms or basements for such merchandise.
Examples of "indizierte" films include Cannibal Ferox , Cannibal Holocaust , Last House on the Left , From Dusk Till Dawn , and Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso (Deep Red). Several of these films were released uncut in Germany, but were subject to the limitations listed. Others were edited and then released as "indiziert".
A snuff film, snuff movie or snuff video is a type of film, often explicit, that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide, or the moment of death.
An X rating is a film rating that indicates that the film contains content that is considered to be suitable only for adults. Films with an X rating may have scenes of graphic violence or explicit sexual acts that may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers. The X rating is used in different ways by different countries, and it may have legal or commercial implications for the distribution and exhibition of such films. For example, some countries may ban or restrict the sale or rental of X-rated films, while others may allow them only in specific theaters or with special taxes. Some countries may also have different criteria or definitions for what constitutes an X-rated film, and some may consider the artistic merit of the film as a factor in classification. The X rating has been replaced or renamed by other ratings in some countries over time.
A motion picture content rating system classifies films based on their suitability for audiences due to their treatment of issues such as sex, violence, or substance abuse, their use of profanity, or other matters typically deemed unsuitable for children or adolescents. Most countries have some form of rating system that issues determinations variously known as certifications, classifications, certificates, or ratings. Age recommendations, of either an advisory or restrictive capacity, are often applied in lieu of censorship; in some jurisdictions movie theaters may have a legal obligation to enforce restrictive ratings.
Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that were criticised for their violent content by the press, social commentators, and various religious organisations in the early 1980s. These video releases were not brought before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to a loophole in film classification laws that allowed videos to bypass the review process. The resulting uncensored video releases led to public debate concerning the availability of these films to children due to the unregulated nature of the market.
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was prevalent before streaming platforms came to dominate the TV and movie distribution markets.
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, 18+ films, or also known as blue movie or blue film, are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse, fascinate, or satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity (softcore) and sexual intercourse (hardcore). A distinction is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality, and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective.
Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian cannibal film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers that have gone missing while filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes.
Alone in the Dark is a 2005 action horror film directed by Uwe Boll and written by Elan Mastai, Michael Roesch, and Peter Scheerer. Based on the video game series of the same name, it stars Christian Slater, Tara Reid, and Stephen Dorff as paranormal investigators who combat a supernatural threat. The film's story is a loose adaptation of the game Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (2001).
Baise-moi is a 2000 French erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi and starring Karen Lancaume and Raffaëla Anderson. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1993. The film received intense media coverage because of its graphic mix of violence and explicit sex scenes. Consequently, it is sometimes considered an example of the "New French Extremity".
R18 is a film or video classification given by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). It is intended to provide a classification for works that do not breach UK law, but exceed what the BBFC considers acceptable in the 18 category. In practice, this means hardcore pornography.
The 18 certificate is issued by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), to state that in its opinion, a film, video recording, or game is suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over. It recommends that no one below that age should be admitted to view a film with an 18 certificate in a cinema, and that 18-rated video recordings should not be sold or rented to anyone below that age.
Uwe Boll is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of popular video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his 2005 Alone in the Dark adaptation is considered by many critics to be one of the worst films ever made. Boll's films during the 2010s, comprising mostly original projects and independent movies, received home media releases to better reviews. After retiring in 2016 to become a restaurateur, Boll eventually returned to filmmaking in 2022. His films are financed through his production companies Boll KG and Event Film Productions.
BloodRayne is a 2005 action horror film directed by Uwe Boll, from a screenplay written by Guinevere Turner. It is based on the video game franchise of the same name, from Majesco Entertainment and game developer Terminal Reality, of which it acts as a loose prequel to the first game. It is also the third video game film adaptation made by Boll, who previously made House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark. The film stars Kristanna Loken, Michael Madsen, Matthew Davis, Will Sanderson, Billy Zane, Udo Kier, Michael Paré, Meat Loaf, Michelle Rodriguez, Ben Kingsley and Geraldine Chaplin.
The Federal Department for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Media (German: Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz or BzKJ), until 2021 "Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons", is an upper-level German federal censorship agency subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining and censoring media works suspected to be harmful to young people. These works are added to an official list – a process known as Indizierung (indexing) in German - as part of child protection efforts. The decision to index a work has a variety of legal implications; chiefly, restrictions on sale and advertisement.
The Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft is a German motion picture rating system organization run by the Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft based in Wiesbaden.
Ruggero Deodato was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Pornography has been dominated by a few pan-European producers and distributors, the most notable of which is the Private Media Group that successfully claimed the position previously held by Color Climax Corporation in the early 1990s. Most European countries also have local pornography producers, from Portugal to Serbia, who face varying levels of competition with international producers. The legal status of pornography varies widely in Europe; its production and distribution are illegal in countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria, while Hungary has liberal pornography laws.
Cannibal films, alternatively known as the cannibal genre or the cannibal boom, are a subgenre of horror films made predominantly by Italian filmmakers during the 1970s and 1980s. This subgenre is a collection of graphically violent movies that usually depict cannibalism by primitive, Stone Age natives deep within the Asian or South American rainforests. While cannibalism is the uniting feature of these films, the general emphasis focuses on various forms of shocking, realistic and graphic violence, typically including torture, rape and genuine cruelty to animals. This subject matter was often used as the main advertising draw of cannibal films in combination with exaggerated or sensational claims regarding the films' reputations.
British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify all video works released on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and, to a lesser extent, some video games under the Video Recordings Act 1984. The BBFC was also the designated regulator for the UK age-verification scheme, which was abandoned before being implemented.
Amoklauf is a 1994 German horror film written and directed by Uwe Boll. Boll's third feature, it established a number of directorial trademarks that would recur throughout the filmmakers's career, such as a scene involving a mass shooting, and a premise that revolves around "psychologically disturbed men and intersecting systems of oppression conspiring to unleash the violent potential within them."