Haus-Kino: The German Chainsaw Massacre

Das deutsche Kettensägenmassaker
Germany, 1990, 60 min. 
Director: Christoph Schlingensief
With: Karina Fallenstein, Susanne Bredehöft, Artur Albrecht, Volker Spengler, Alfred Edel, Brigitte Kausch-Kuhlbrodt, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Reinald Schnell and Udo Kier

Christoph Schlingensief had shot his radical comment to German reunification within two weeks, shortly after 3rd October 1990. His grotesque breakthrough film propelled him into public consciousness as one of Germany’s most unconventional, daring and refreshing filmmakers. Shot in gloriously grainy 16mm in a stunning industrial area in Mülheim an der Ruhr, it mixes trash horror aesthetics–production design by Uli Hanisch–with Schlingensief’s experimental roots. A gory, shrieking and abrasively satirical horror movie full of political humor, exposing the free market as the meat market that it is, The German Chainsaw Massacre rightfully deserves its status as an enduring cult film.
- www.filmgalerie451.de

The German Chainsaw Massacre is the second part of Schlingensief’s German Trilogy, which also includes 100 Years Of Adolf Hitler (1989) and Terror 2000 (1992).

Content Note: This film contains explicit depictions of violence, gore, and splatter, including scenes of dismemberment and cannibalism. Its deliberately exaggerated style serves as a satirical commentary on German reunification.