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Released by: Another World Entertainment
Released on: August, 2011
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: Olaf Ittenbach, Fidelis Atuma, Heiko Bender, Anke Fabre, Ingrid Fischer
Year: 1999
The Movie:
Director Olaf Ittenbach's splatter classic begins in modern day Germany, where a man named Mathias starts having flashbacks that he is the son of the first fallen angel, Premutos. When, on his father's birthday, he discovers an ancient book and an unusual yellow potion, he mutates into a monster bent on resurrecting Premutos and his army of zombies, and literally, all hell breaks loose - conveniently enough at a dinner party that his parents are having!
The story in this film is basic, and that's all that it needs to be. Everything in this movie takes second stage to the gore, which is handed out by the bucketful. Premutos easily rivals Peter Jackson's Braindead in the gore department and the last half hour of the movie really kicks into overdrive with its relentless display of every kind of carnage imaginable. Heads are chopped off, limbs are severed with ridiculous frequency (and sometimes their owners are then beaten with those limbs, just for good measure), swords cleave zombies in half and rib cages are ripped open - all this and more awaits you during the film's hour and forty minute running time (the film is completely uncut on this disc).
Some of the flashback scenes in the film are particularly interesting; especially when we see Mathias in his past lives where he is crucified with Christ or when we see him fighting in the Second World War. These scenes sometimes show their low budget origins - well, not sometimes so much as all the time - but there's enough enthusiasm and attention to detail that you can look past these issues and accept them for what they are. The crucifixion scene in particular is surprisingly well done and actually shows some solid talent behind the camera for composition.
Director and effects man Olaf Ittenbach (who may or may not be responsible for the FX on the infamous Roswell Autopsy video - has he ever come clean on this?) doesn't let the micro budget that this film was shot on get in the way of bringing some of the most outrageous special effects to the screen and, like in all of his work, it's the splatter that matters most. There is a story here and some legitimate character development, particularly in the later half when one of the male characters stands up to his domineering wife after reuniting with a hot brunette he once fooled around with, but the film is quite obviously more concerned with zombies biting people and then later having their heads explode.
There's also a fairly wicked sense of humor at work here. It's hard not to laugh when a portly bald buy with a beard in a blue suit grabs a broadsword and proclaims himself 'the sword master' before carving his enemies into tiny bits and frequent groin injury gags are common throughout the movie for those who enjoy that type of thing. Like most of Ittenbach's movies the acting here is nothing to write home about, most of it is campy and sometimes a bit amateurish, but all involved show no fear for the content and gleefully indulge in all of the on screen insanity with more enthusiasm than most would probably expect. Ittenbach is very obviously borrowing from Raimi and Jackson here, but he does it fairly well considering what he had to work with.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Premutos was shot on 16mm stock and without the aid of a huge budget so it will surprise absolutely no one to learn that this fullframe transfer is gritty, grainy and occasionally a bit too dark - but with that said, the movie has always looked this way, anyone who has seen it before can confirm that. Clarity is generally fine, however, and while dark scenes tend to get buried in murk, the lighter scenes look decent enough and color reproduction is fine.
German language tracks are provided in Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with optional subtitles provided in Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch and English. Again, the limitations of the source material are apparent here but overall the audio is fairly clear. The levels are properly balanced and there aren't really any issues to note. The English dub that was included on the North American release is nowhere to be found, but that doesn't really hurt anything as it was pretty dire.
Extras include a seven minute collection of early clips from some of Ittenbach's early splatter videos. He provides an intro and outro for the reel, noting that he made them when he was seventeen and that they're not very good - but they're fun, and his fans will appreciate seeing them there. There are also two TV clips included that were made for German television and which detail some of his films and some of his work and include interviews not only with him but with some of the producers he has worked with. Rounding out the extras are trailers for a couple of other Olaf Ittenbach movies and trailers for a few other AWE DVD releases. Menus and chapter selection are also provided.
The Final Word:
In its uncut form, Premutos is an insanely gory affair. If it runs a bit too long, the movie nevertheless delivers some splatastic effects work and a few good laughs along the way. AWE's DVD recycles the extras from their other 2011 Ittenbach releases, but presents the film uncut and in as good a shape as we're likely to see any time soon.
