The Burning Moon

The Burning Moon (1992) * Bizarre and outrageously gory anthology of sorts from German director Olaf Ittenbach portrays violence just for the sake of violence with no redeeming values whatsoever. The first story, "Julia's Love," is about an escaped mental patient who turns out to be the nice, handsome young man Julia has started dating. It begins well, with a rather clever storyline, but later becomes nothing more than an excuse to have blood fly across the screen in every direction. The second tale, "The Purity," abandons any attempt at logic straight from the getgo and is too long and drawn out. By the end of the story, whatever plot exists is thrown out the window in a ridiculous fashion, and it's clear that Ittenbach's intentions were not to "intellectually stimulate" you, but rather to make you barf several times in a row.

All of that would be fine and dandy, however, if only one could find something to like about this film. The direction is shoddy and looks as if it were filmed on a cheap camcorder. The film is in German with subtitles, so it's hard to tell if the acting is bad (and trust me, a film such as this could benefit from some truly bad acting). The music is quite poor and, saddest of them all (because it is the key reason why this movie even exists), the special effects are mediocre.

Unless you like seeing gore on the screen for no reason, I doubt you will enjoy this film. However, even gorehounds will be disappointed, not by the quantity of blood but the quality. The wraparound story that ties both tales together is pitifully bad, poorly constructed, and very predictable. There is absolutely nothing to like about this film- it is so bad that it can't even be considered so bad it's good. --gasp!-- Yes, folks, it's that bad.

as a native speaker and someone who knows about olaf's film history over the past years, please allow me to add some things to your review.

Originally Posted by RyanPC

The Burning Moon (1992) * The direction is shoddy and looks as if it were filmed on a cheap camcorder. The film is in German with subtitles, so it's hard to tell if the acting is bad (and trust me, a film such as this could benefit from some truly bad acting). The music is quite poor and, saddest of them all (because it is the key reason why this movie even exists), the special effects are mediocre.

first of all, this movie is OLD... it was his second movie after "Black Past", and Burning Moon is indeed filmed on ye good ol' VHS, likewise all of his films before Riverplay and Legion of the dead. and all of his previous films have the word AMATEUR written over it. hell, there even't was some serious financing involved, he and some friends in the deepest of bavaria just wanted to have fun over the weekend, and this guy truly has some talent doing hand-made FX. overall I'd say, when you really wanna see a trash-gore-grenade, go for PREMUTOS!!!!! still his best, just completely hilarious acting and dialogues together with some of the hardest over-the-top FX I've ever seen

and don't forget to watch out for his last one, Beyond The Limits. this time, the actor performances are solid and it really has a story line!

aaah yes, what's to come: Olaf did a giallo-like mystery thriller, VERY hard effects, called "Garden Of Love" and his newest project, POISON, is more of a straight zombie-virus-movie, but it's in production.

http://www.zart-produktion.de/projekte_html/poison.htm
http://www.hafikellercrew.de/images/Poison/poison.mpeg

[dwatts]

Yeah, when reviewing such a thing, you have to take its maker and circumstances into account. If I didn't, I'd have to scrap half my Fulci's

So, lots of talk of gore and such, but no mention of what exactly makes it so distasteful. What we all missing?

Originally Posted by dwatts

Yeah, when reviewing such a thing, you have to take its maker and circumstances into account. If I didn't, I'd have to scrap half my Fulci's

So, lots of talk of gore and such, but no mention of what exactly makes it so distasteful. What we all missing?

Well, you might like it, but it just didn't work at all for me and I don't see how anyone could really and truly like this film. However, I realize that most people would say that about a lot of the films in my collection.

But I thought that overall the movie was very poorly and shoddily made and just very poor entertainment wise. It kept me somewhat interested, but only because the film was very in-your-face and bizarre. And no, I'm not just complaining because it was shot on video. I like some movies that were made that way, take Video Violence for example. However, that movie has redeeming qualities that make it enjoyable to me (a unique "town with a secret" story, somewhat over-the-top acting, and some hilariously bad gore). This had nothing at all to make me like it even remotely. I wouldn't go so far to say it's the worst film I've ever seen, but I felt it was very very very poor.

[dwatts]

Alright, let me be blatant. When you talk about the gore, what types of things are we talking about - beheadings, limb amputations? Is this (albeit far cheaper) a Guinea Pig type film?

Originally Posted by dwatts

Alright, let me be blatant. When you talk about the gore, what types of things are we talking about - beheadings, limb amputations? Is this (albeit far cheaper) a Guinea Pig type film?

This film has to have a little bit of everything- it is extremely gory. But the thing is, the gore is amateurish, so it's not too entertaining.

[dwatts]

I loev amateurish gore, you ever seen Fulci's Demonia?

Originally Posted by dwatts

I loev amateurish gore, you ever seen Fulci's Demonia?

Of course I have.

But of course, this is even worse. Much more crude because I'm sure Demonia had a bigger budget than this film, which looks as if it were a home movie. I will admit, some of the visions of hell in the second story were quite gruesome, disturbing and unsettling, but that's not enough to make me enjoy the film.

[rxfiend]

i have the Burning Moon on a bootleg vhs, and i love it! i thought the "hell scene" towards the end is pretty damn cool. i liked the first story better than the second, but both are entertaining.

I really like this kind of "cheap" splatter flicks, their amateurish origin adds a certain roughness and makes them more convincing than most genre films with a bigger budget.
The acting is bad, it looks like it's been shot with a camcorder - so what?
At least this stuff looks as if some insane neighbor would've committed these terrible acts himself while filming at the same time. You can't easily say that about an Argento flick right?
But then again, as always it's a matter of taste...

-gl

[BloodMan]

Nothing could be worse than that wretched movie Stacy... I hate Stacy.
Stacy!
Will give this Burning Moon a try.

Nick

[mcchrist]

Burning Moon is the shit! It is a seriously fucked up film will all the right mood and gore. The opening bullshit leading up to the stories is a bit tedious though, and I don't care for the serial killer sequence, but "The Purity" is one of the finest moments in underground cinema... Period.

[Nasty Nate]

This movie is spliced in with an old Skitzo live show on our new Vomitorium dvd. Fucking brutal shit.

I was just watching PREMUTOS last night, and already having THE BURNING MOON on an old VHS, I was wondering how you guys would rank the rest of his films? From the posts here, I think I'd like THE GARDEN OF LOVE.

Also, I think his special effects are some of the very best. One of my favorites scenes in any movie is in PREMUTOS. The part where the guy gets his package chomped off and instantly decides to put the barrel of a shotgun in his mouth, blowing his head apart...glorious!

[Mutilated Prey]

Is this really happening???

http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Moon-A...467871&sr=1-65

http://www.fearnet.com/news/b23057_o...r_classic.html