Shot on grainy 8mm and set to a soft romantic piano melody, the film feels more like a hypnagogic elegy than an exploitation quickie. Yet itвЂ™s reputation as a gross-out sleaze-fest can betray a lot of the tenderness Buttgereit surprisingly lends the film.

However when Betty decides to leave Rob and run away with the corpse, Rob spirals into utter depravity.Д«anned in nearly every country aware of its existence, NEKROMANTIK has rightfully become a cult classic of underground horror cinema. When Rob brings home a mildly rotten cadaver from his job cleaning corpses off the street, the two fall rapidly in love with it вЂ“ eating dinner dinner with it, reading bedtime stories to it, and initiating it into their sex life. NEKROMANTIK follows Rob and Betty вЂ“ a lovely young couple fond of collecting body parts in jars and bathing in blood. Guaranteed to make you gag, ButtgereitвЂ™s feature debut was concieved with a purely punk spirit in mind вЂ“ how far can a film go before its maker would be arrested. Special thanks to Cult Epics and American Genre Film Archive. Perfect for spoiling even the most well thought out ValentineвЂ™s day date, Jorg ButtgereitвЂ™s NEKROMANTIK 1 and 2 will be playing all February followed by ButtgereitвЂ™s DER TODESKING and SCHRAMM to keep you feeling cold through March and Carl AndersenвЂ™s no-wave scored MONDO WEIRDO and VAMPYROS SEXOS (AKA I WAS A TEENAGE ZABBADOING) playing all April. Spectacle is unfortunately proud to present a three month long mini-retrospective of two filmmakers from this milieu вЂ“ Carl Andersen and Jorg Buttgereit.

Yet more than just isolated cinematic perversions, these films belong to a mini-movement of transgressive cinema pouring forth from Berlin during the late 80вЂ™s and early 90s. Upsetting many an innocent audienceвЂ™s stomach, NEKROMANTIK and NEKROMANTIK 2 have deservedly earned a cult reputation for their wanton necrophilia and general repulsiveness.