Der Bunker

Released by: Artsploitation Films
Released on: August 23rd, 2016.
Director: Nikias Chryssos
Cast: Pit Bukowski, Daniel Fripan, Oona von Maydell, David Scheller
Year: 2015
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The Movie:

The feature film debut of writer/director Nikias Chryssos, Der Bunker tells the decidedly bizarre story of a nameless student (Pit Bukowski) who winds up renting a room in a bunker that is home to a family made up of an eight year old boy named Klaus (Daniel Fripan, who is clearly an adult), his mother (Oona von Maydell) and his father (David Scheller). The room he rents has no windows, it's dark, it's quiet and he hopes that as it's located in the middle of a forest, it'll provide him with the peace and quiet he wants in order to further his studies.

Of course, the more time that he spends in the bunker, the more he is drawn into the strange antics of the family that owns it. Although Klaus is reported to have some sort of learning disability, the student finds out that his parents are in fact preparing him to become the President Of The United States (never mind the fact that he's German!). The kid is home schooled, first by his parents, though eventually the student takes over, at least partially. As time passes, their welcoming attitude starts to sour and things get tense between all involved - and then there's the strange wound that appears on the mother's leg.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this one even before Artsploitation Films put it out on Blu-ray as it had a pretty decent run at various film festivals and what not. Thankfully, the picture lives up to that hype - The Bunker is one of the most audaciously original and unforgettably weird films to cross this reviewers plate in sometime. It's not just weird for the sake of weird, however. That would be easy. Rather, Chryssos has crafted a story that pulls you in, that takes you in a few different directions at once but never seems off track. This isn't a movie that plays to any one particular genre. It fuses elements of horror and at times feels like it could be a psychological thriller, but then there are very heavy doses of pitch black humor here that are impossible to ignore, and it's all wrapped up in some remarkably stylish arthouse direction and glossed with a few strokes of inspired surrealism. There's a lot going on here, and it's an absolute blast to watch.

The performances completely sell this absurd concept. Daniel Fripan is perfectly cast as the man child, his strange, boyish looks suiting the character quite well. His body language and tendency to physically act the way that a child would actually physically act gives his take as Klaus a decidedly creepy tone. Oona von Maydell and his David Scheller are equally good as his parents. Von Maydell is quite attractive in an unorthodox way, a fact that isn't lost on the audience or on the student, and there's some appreciable subtlety to the way that her character in particular reacts to their new boarder. Scheller does the stern father role very well indeed, prone to dolling out punishment as he sees fit. Pit Bukowski (which, let's face it, is an awesome name) is the glue that winds up holding all of this together. All four performers really commit to their respective parts and the performances here are nothing if not bold.

On top of this, Chryssos has paid clearly paid close attention to the technical side of things. Although the film takes place almost entirely inside an old, dark bunker the movie makes great use of color. We get some nice contrast from the family's wardrobe and furnishings, they almost seem to push away from the grey interior walls as an act of revolt. Cinematographer Matthias Reisser went all out on this one, his work is impressive. The synth-heavy score from Leonard Petersen also adds a lot. It's an unorthodox selection of compositions, but it fits the story and the tone of the movie really well.

This won't be a movie for all tastes, that's for damn sure, but nothing that Artsploitation Films decide to release ever is. However, Der Bunker is pretty entrancing stuff - it's also very funny, at least it is until you realize what you're laughing at. Then it starts to get under your skin…

Video/Audio/Extras:

The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is quite good considering how dark and often flat out dreary the sets used for the movie really are. Detail is strong and colors are reproduced really nicely, especially the colors on the various pieces of clothing worn by certain characters in the movie. Black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation, there are no obvious problems with crush or shadow detail. The transfer offers both strong detail and texture. As this was shot digitally there are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind. All in all, the picture quality here is pretty great.

The only audio option on the disc is a German language track provided in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with removable subtitles available in English SDH only. The 5.1 track here is perfectly fine, even if it isn't lossless. There isn't all that much in the way of rear channel activity, it's a fairly front heavy mix, but there's some definite channel separation evident throughout the movie. As you'd expect for such a recent movie, there are no issues with any hiss or any distortion. A lossless track would have been ideal but what's here sounds just fine.

Extras start off with a commentary from Nikias Chryssos who, when he isn't simply telling us what we're watching on the screen, can be quite interesting. He's clearly put a lot of thought into the making of the picture and when he's engaged and explaining different character motivations and how he set out to explain a lot of this to the viewer, his talk is interesting. He also talks about the locations and sets, some of the cinematography, the performances featured in the film and a fair bit more.

Outside of that we get twenty-minutes of deleted scenes presented in German with forced English subtitles that are actually worth watching and quite interesting in their own right. Trailers for The Perfect Husband and Observance are included on the disc along with menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

Der Bunker is a pretty impressive debut feature from Nikias Chryssos, a twisted black comedy with elements of horror and drama mixed into it in proper doses sure to entertain and maybe even make you think at the same time. The Blu-ray release from Artsploitation Films can't score full marks with the lossy audio track, but it sure does look great and it's got some pretty decent extras too. All in all, this is a nice release of a genuinely off-the-wall movie and one that's well worth seeking out.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!