AFFF 2008: ON EVIL GROUNDS (aka AUF BÖSEM BODEN) Review
For a low-budget Austrian movie which STILL hasn't gotten a distribution deal in its home country, Peter Koller's "Auf Bösem Boden" (On Evil Grounds) has had a remarkable amount of success. So far it has been an audience favorite at every single festival it played at, and it even managed to win some awards for itself.
Not bad for a... for a...
...damn, this one is rather hard to describe. Is "cleverly wicked" a genre?
"Auf Bösem Boden" tells the story of a young couple who stumble into a seemingly vacated factory, only to get caught by a brutal psychopath who imprisons them, then plans to have a long leisurely session of torture, rape and murder. But before you can yell "Hostel rip-off!" it has become apparent that you wouldn't wish these victims on any psychopath, no matter how deranged...
Double-billing "Auf Bösem Boden" with "The Machine Girl", the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival had made sure that there weren't any faint-hearted people in the house during its one and only screening. Maybe this helped create the perfect mood for this picture, because the audience had an absolute blast with it!
Read on after the break.
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The Story:
Romeo and Juliet are not your average young couple. Romeo is an aggressive skinhead who solves even the tiniest problem with extreme violence, while Juliet is his strong-willed girlfriend who gets excited whenever he beats her up and/or rapes her (which, incidentally, is how they met).
These happy lovers want to buy a factory loft to rebuild into their dream apartment, but when Romeo gets annoyed by the creepy real-estate agent he accidentally stabs the man twenty times. Bullied by Juliet into getting rid of the body, Romeo starts to dig a grave in the factory grounds.
These are not entirely empty, though: Romeo is surprised to find human remains, and then there is the insane factory owner who knocks him unconscious...
When Romeo wakes up the next morning he is buried from the neck down in the soil, his exposed head a plaything for the deranged maniac who lives there.
And that's just the start...
The Movie:
"Auf Bösem Boden" starts with the sound of someone puking, followed by an over-energized series of shots strung together MTV-style. This made me fear that the fledgling director Peter Koller might be trying too hard to be hip or groundbreaking, especially since the images on display aren't that nice. But the movie quickly finds its own unique tempo and flows nicely to the set-up where Romeo gets buried. On the way there the viewers get introduced to the small number of main players (theoretically you could make a stage-play out of this) but, far more importantly, the wicked sense of humor starts creeping through. When Romeo digs a grave and finds a skull, the timing and his facial expression are priceless. When Juliet learns her lover has been taken prisoner she rushes to his aid, unarmed of course, but only after first changing into an outfit with a hell of a cleavage. It all leads to a very light-hearted tone even though the comedy never gets too self-aware or tongue in cheek.
This sense of humor and the characters carry the movie.
Romeo (played by a very intense Aleksandar Petrovic) is just a violent asshole, to the extent that his predicament doesn't even make him afraid. Instead, he is enraged with frustration because for once he cannot immediately retaliate with violence. Seeing him slowly retreat into a more contemplative mode is hilarious.
The psychotic factory owner (credited as: "Der Gestörte", meaning "The Insane") is a human buldozer, a strongman with plenty screws loose and is a sight to behold. Veteran Finnish actor Kari Rakkola just oozes deranged but powerful evil here. He is so over the top scary that he is funny and terrifying at the same time, and his performance is worth the price of admission all by itself.
In contrast, Juliet is just crazy. Smart, intelligent, resilient, tough, quick, agile, she comes closest to being the kind of hero you'd expect in a movie like this, until you try to make sense of what she's doing. For Juliet seems now and then to make wrong decisions on purpose, leaving everyone baffled. Impressively, the playful way in which Birgit Stauber brings life to this quirky character combined with the intelligent script make Juliet not seem stupid. This is quite an achievement considering some of her actions during the story!
But the same can be said about all the actors here. The characters they portray are definitely caricatures, but they seem believable in the universe shown here and "Auf Bösem Boden" kept me immersed for its entire running time. Again, quite an achievement in a movie which shows the victim of a rape growing bored with her assailant's lack of inventivity...
There are some weak spots though, and these can be found when the violence hits some of the innocent bystanders. Seeing the three central crazy people trying to slice and dice each other into bits is undeniably entertaining, but that tone clashes somewhat with the proceedings when more "ordinary" (using the term lightly here) people get pulled into the fracas.
But that never derails the movie, and what's left is a damn impressive debut which also manages to never show its low budget. The dirt and grit in it seem to be real, but so do the blood, semen, urine and vomit. It makes watching this movie an icky experience, but it's a strangely enjoyable one.
Present at the showing was second unit director / production coordinator / actor (he plays the sinister real-estate agent) Faris Rahoma.
He told that this movie was made because they wanted to create an Austrian genre movie, any genre, although the audience needed to be international. In his words: "The Austrian genre-scene is so underground, it's hidden somewhere beneath the normal underground. It is there but you cannot find it".
About distribution: "As of yet we don't have an Austrian distributor. We do have a French one though, and France is a lot bigger than Austria, so that went well...".
He was also kind enough to stay throughout its running time, giving away onesheets at the end and answering questions from viewers. Nice guy!
Conclusion:
Before I start to pride myself about my excellent choice of movies, I only saw this one because it was double-billed with "The Machine Girl". And being Dutch I'm genetically incapable of throwing away half a ticket.
But what a nice surprise I got from the AFFF programmers!
This is a very successful and funny genre-mix. "Auf Bösem Boden" (On Evil Grounds) is a filthy little slasher of a film, but the slapstick jokes and barmy characters keep you engrossed. You may not care who wins this battle of damaged spirits but watching them clash is as entrancing as a series of car wrecks and far more cleverly staged.
Definitely recommended!
