Andreas Schnaas: der deutsche Geist

There are a number of directors that’s considered to be important directors. Alfred Hitchcock, Frederico Fellini, Fritz Lang, Luchino Visconti and so on, but since 1987, there has been one name that’s been neglected from this high esteemed trophy room: Andreas Schnaas. Never before has the world been witnessed to the terrorizing fear Schnaas forced the viewer upon his 1987 masterpiece; Violent Shit. The forests of Germany was never more terrifying than when Schnaas let his homemade camera loose on it.Violent Shit marks a special place in film history. It described a new and innovative way of filmmaking, as Andreas explored his creativity on levels never before seen on the screen. Although the film was never critically acclaimed, as was neither Schnaas, I’m am sure that destiny will serve the film right and it will get it’s long overdue recognition (which, in all due respects, only an Academy Award will justify).

So, even though Violent Shit was no success, it wasn’t a reason to just give up. Oh no, not long after, Andreas followed up with what would become his ultimate masterpiece: Violent Shit 2: Mother Hold My Hand. With flare of a Hitchcockian touch, Violent Shit 2 marks it’s own path in world history. Filled with blood, the screen ghastly turned red as the scenes of bloodshed continued in a high-octane speed. A more shocking experience it becomes, when hooks are penetrated through sexual organs, which might suggest a scream of sexual desired freedom from Schnaas himself!

Continuing with The Goblet of Gore and another sequel to Violent Shit, a spectacular revolution fell upon the world when Andreas Schnaas in 1999 made a deep and artistic tribute to the immortal souls of Italian cinema, with his film; Anthropophagous 2000. Tears fell from my eyes when the deeply harrowing character developments moved into psychological levels I had never dreamed of. It was a heartbreaking and poignant film, which has put its stain on cinematic visionary forever.

Yes, indeed, Schnaas has put his mark in all of us fans. Unfortunatley, the future destination for Schnaas towards the recognition he deserves seems far fetched. But fear not, the fanatics of the german master will always remain as a throne of eternal fire.

Bruno Mattei: Visionary

If you have seen a lot of Italian films – not only horror films, but other genre films as well, you’ll notice that the directors are split three ways: the good, the bad and the worst. Bruno Mattei is, unfortunately, one director that’s been placed in the latter category by many. I sat down and watched my first Bruno-film a year and a half ago, Hell of the Living Dead, and I could not understand what everybody was talking about. This man, this tiny little Italian, was a competent cinematic genius. An artist with perfectionism as his one and only limit. A man, who discovered new, unexplored areas of cinema itself.

Bruno went through his career visiting a lot of genres. Action, horror, exploitation, spaghetti western and so on, and he always handled the genres with top-notch solid direction with well thought through scripts. His scripts, exceptionally well written by Claudio Fragasso, featured some amazing dialogue. One example of this, is in the hi-tech jungle action film, Robowar; “Why do they have nicknames? You should know what the group is called; BAM. BAM? Big Ass Motherfuckers.” How on earth did this film not get a US-release?

While exploring his artistic genius, Bruno was throughout his career incorrectly blamed for copying other people’s work. Sure, he used stock footage in films like Hell of the Living Dead, Cruel Jaws and even a scene in Double Target, but that only adds to his originality by exploring the field of stock-footage. Sure, he picked up small pieces of inspiration here and there, but when the results were shown, it was the result of a unique pioneer.
Whether it was blood soaking terror or action spectacular, Bruno always kept his style of terror and suspense – easily compared to Hitchcock. His nerve-wracking stories of zombies, humanoid robots, naughty cowboys, realistic stock-footage, or sexual preferences were terrifyingly frightening. Bruno Mattei is a true maestro, and needs to be acknowledged for this.