[6] In 1988, Nekromantik
crashed onto the scene, provoking acclaim, disgust and bewilderment
in equal amounts by its tender portrayal of necrophilia. Two years
on, Jorg's back - has he mellowed? Well... 'The King of Death' is a
collection of segments, one for each day of the week, each of which
depict a facet of death. Monday, for example, has a suicide by
overdoes and Thursday is about a bridge and the people that have
jumped from it. These segments are linked by time-lapse photography
of a corpse decaying - very Peter Greenaway! The soundtrack also
provokes comparison, sounding impressively like Michael Nyman on a
bad trip.
As with other 'compilation' films, the result is uneven.
On their own, the segments are mainly intriguing and shocking -
Tuesday was my personal favourite, being laced with poisonous irony
and a delightful parody of Ilsa, She-wolf of the S.S. (especially
remarkable given Buttgereit's nationality). This is the only time it
plumbs the depths of taste as explicitly as Nekromantik did, the
others concentrate more on generating atmosphere (with success) and
less on blatant shock tactics. The overall effect, isn't quite as
impressive. After a while, apathy starts to set in, and the episodes
become blurred - was that Friday or Saturday? The links between the
days (where they exist at all) are at best tenuous, and at worst
annoying. A couple of the later sequences are, let's be honest,
disappointing and smack of padding - "we've still got two days left
to fill, folks!". Overall, however, it's a relentlessly depressing
movie, perhaps a little too much so. Appreciate it best by watching
it one day per day - thet way it'll ruin your whole week...
3-9/10
