Hitler is Back from the Grave / Schrottmagnet

Hitler is Back from the Grave / Schrottmagnet (2016/2018) - Switzerland

Directed by: NoodelBrain Film-Crew

ABOUT THE MOVIES:

Special thanks to the filmmakers for providing me with a screener of Schrottmagnet!

To kick off the year 2020, I will be taking a look at a pair of short films from

Swiss splatter-team NoodelBrain Film-Crew.

Hitler is Back from the Grave is a 4-minute short following Hitler, as he and a few allies are resurrected and begin partying. However, what starts off as a humorous onslaught of sleaze and sexual depravity very quickly devolves into an unrestrained orgy of ultra gore!

On the other hand, the 13-minute short Schrottmagnet takes a much more serious direction, as we follow a man who wakes up only to endure another day of suffering and misery. He's fired from his job as he had missed three days of work, he finds himself annoyed by every little thing around him, and has to fight the urge to leave his overweight wife, who he can't bare to look at, even though she loves him unconditionally.

REVIEW:

Across the span of about 20 minutes, NoodelBrain Film-Crew has managed to make me laugh one minute and find myself feeling for an individual the next. Hitler is Back may not have much of a plot present, but at only 4-minutes it is a blast and a half, as we get some well-executed and insanely bloody death scenes! We get decapitations, axeings, disembowelments, impalements and so many more gory goodies, and the special effects are quite impressive for such a low-budget outing.

Whereas Hitler is Back delivers gore in spades and then some, Schrottmagnet is much more serious in its approach and its execution, with no laughs to be found. We are quickly introduced to our main character as he dumps exposition about why his life is so miserable, and we can find ourselves instantly drawn to his struggle to give up, with the smallest sliver of hope that we will see a bright ending. 

Both films have decent enough acting, and are also well-shot and lit. Each short has a blurred border and flickers, almost as if being projected. As a result, Hitler is Back feels like a lost Grindhouse classic that had just been rediscovered, and Schrottmagnet feels so much more gritty and dark, perfectly matching its already grim subject matter.

Overall, these two outings prove that NoodelBrain are a talented group of filmmakers, who are not only proficient in making awesome splatter effects, but are also capable of balancing comedy and horror very well, a technique which is often difficult to pull off or is overlooked altogether. I am looking forward to see not only what NoodelBrain will bring us in the future, but I'm psyched to see what the rest of 2020 has in store!

RELEASES:

-Hitler is Back from the Grave was released on DVD by NoodelBrain Film-Crew in 2016. The short is available to watch online officially and can be viewed here.

-Hitler is Back from the Grave was released as part of the 1st P.S.Y.C.H.O. Productions Film Festival Blu-Ray in 2018.

-Schrottmagnet was released as part of the 2nd P.S.Y.C.H.O. Productions Film

Festival Blu-Ray in 2019.

-Both short films were released as a double-feature DVD in Canada by D.I.Y. Productions in 2019.