ANGST (1983)

 

Angst

Let me start this review off by letting you all know the film is in German and subtitled in English. So if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like to read you might as well pass this movie over right now. That being said the film while classified as Horror is much like Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. As you can probably tell by the movies I review for this page I am the obscure one. Death, Necrophilia, extreme gore and torture. The movie follows the protagonist, who is released from prison after a 10 year sentence.The film is loosely based on the real crimes of serial killer Werner Kniesek.

 

As the movie opens with The Psychopath being released from prison. He goes to a local café where he sees two women and immediately begins to fantasize about killing the women, but decides against it as there are too many witnesses. The film takes a downward spiral into madness from this point on.
 
First he tries to strangle a female taxi driver, but she manages to kick him out of the car before he is able to strangle her with his shoelace. The killer flees through the forest until he reaches a town, where the family that will become his victims lives. He breaks in by smashing out a side window. What follows is an absolute disregard for human life he goes on a violent and unrelenting rampage. He stumbles upon a disabled and mentally handicapped son in a wheelchair (who for some reason was left home alone) the mother and sister come home. He attacks the sister ties her up while the mother watches. After over powering the mother he tries to strangle her to death while telling us about the broken relationship he had with his own mother.

 

He eventually resorts to tying her up as well. At this point he takes a breather and then heads back upstairs. He stumbles upon the mentally challenged brother who he can’t strangle (the following scene maybe hard for some people to watch) he proceeds to drown the son in the tub. He returns to the mother and strangles in her bedroom. We he is finally alone with the daughter the real mutilation begins. He stabs her to death with a kitchen knife. He then viciously mutilates her corpse and rapes her dead body. All of this is shown in unflinching detail that was rather impressive for a film of the 80s. "Angst" is a hauntingly realistic portrayal of a disorganized serial killer on the loose. The films ends with him piling the bodies into the trunk of the family car, returning to the house to clean himself up and then driving back to the café where it started and being captured.

The narrator tells us the man suffered from mental illness. The film was truly disturbing because it shows how the mentally ill can be a serious threat to every human being crossing his or her path. Erwin Leder who portrays the killer is incredibly convincing as a mentally ill and deranged individual. The murder sequences are for a 80s film were extremely savage and shocking, at one point he even licks the blood off one of his victims. The camera work is simply shot a lot off angle and at some points even feels semi-documentary. "Angst" is easily one of the most gut-wrenching serial killer films I have ever seen. It defiantly stands up against Henry, Dahmer, Bundy, Gacy and Gien. If you are into Serial Killer dramas this is defiantly a film for you. There is very little communication in the film, but the narrative of the killer is very cold and climatic at parts.            

reviewed by Shawn