Das Weststadt Massaker (1991-1994)

Das Weststadt Massaker (1991-1994) - Germany

Directed by: Andreas Bethmann

BACKGROUND / ABOUT THE FILM:

Das Weststadt Massaker is the earliest available film from prolific German splatter/porn director Andreas Bethmann, who is better known for his works such as Dämonenbrut, Rossa Venezia and Help Me I Am Dead. Bethmann began making films at the age of 18 in 1988 with his debut film Begrabt in Tief (yet to be released), and he continued to make amateur films for 10 years until he could finally afford to make his visions come to life at a reasonable cost.

Das Weststadt Massaker was one of those amateur films. The film is combined of three separate shorts from 1991 and 1994, and the storyline is that of...a killer in a mask setting loose to wreak havoc upon any and all he finds in the woods.

REVIEW:

Of course, the entire thing is in German and there are no English subtitles available, but those really aren't even needed as you can easily follow the plot. The cast, more than likely Bethmann's friends and family members, are all amateurs and the few who actually try to act see laughable results at best.

The camera work is often very shoddy, shaky and poorly done. The poor editing can be forgiven when you consider this film was edited together with two VCR's, which is a very frustrating editing setup to begin with. Aside from scenes that seem to have been included for no reason, there are several slow-motion shots that will draw out scenes to unnecessarily long lengths, which reminded me a lot of an earlier shot-on-video movie called Sledgehammer.

Probably the only thing that makes this film truly worth it are the laughably bad gore effects. The gore, while not good, is available in abundance. There are plenty of scenes of decapitations, stabbings, castrations, eviscerations, dismembered limbs and people getting run over by cars. Each effect has a considerable amount of (watery) blood involved and plenty of meat and viscera.

Despite all of the bad things I've said about this movie, in some weird way it's still sort of entertaining; even funny at times. It just goes to show that no matter how bad films like this can be, there will always be at least a certain charm or element to them that makes them enjoyable! Even if it feels like your typical Violent Shit knockoff, Das Weststadt Massaker still stands as a moderately entertaining viewing experience and a collector's item for fans of German underground gore.

RELEASES:

-Das Weststadt Massaker 1 was originally released on VHS in January, 1991 by AB-Video Pro with an uncut runtime of 21 minutes.

-Das Weststadt Massaker 2 was originally released on VHS in September, 1991 by AB-Video Pro with an uncut runtime of 34 minutes.

    -Extras:

     Das Weststadt Massaker 1

-Das Weststadt Massaker 3 was originally released on VHS in 1994 by AB-Video Pro.