No Reason (2010) d. Olaf Ittenbach (Germany) (77 min)
With a loving husband, healthy child, and plans to move to a beautiful home in the country, Jennifer’s (Irene Holzfurtner) idyllic life is shattered when she receives an envelope filled with compromising photos featuring her spouse (Mathias Engel) and the trampy upstairs neighbor (Annika Strauss). To compound woes, her elderly neighbor Elisabeth (Hildegard Kocian), who was babysitting her young son Nico, has disappeared without a trace. Attempting to calm down and plan next moves, Jennifer falls asleep in the bathtub, awakening hours later on the floor surrounded by disembodied limbs and carnage. A voice commands her to watch video footage of various neighbors and friends being brutally murdered, after which she is instructed to follow a path through a mysterious building filled with scenes of torture, each brightly lit in primary colors (red, green, blue). At the end of the journey, she is told by her Cthulhu mask-wearing guide, Salvation awaits… but at what cost?
From the opening scenes (a nude woman marching her male captive into a warehouse at gunpoint) to its protracted denouement (played out over a corpse being graphically rent open in service of an autopsy), No Reason is a film packed with shock tactics brazenly demanding viewers’ attention.
In other words, Teutonic bad boy Olaf Ittenbach is back at the table, serving up another of his patented DIY German Gorefests, albeit one that takes itself more seriously than his early ’90s efforts (Black Past, Burning Moon) and displays massive growth as a filmmaker. While not nearly as energetically entertaining as those nascent exercises in excess, there are numerous sequences that will have horrorhounds shouting for joy, cringing in sympathetic pain, and/or reaching for the closest barf bag.
Much like blood brothers Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, Ittenbach’s debut features were proudly rough around the edges, showing what could be accomplished with oodles of enthusiasm, creativity, latex, a willing band of friends and allies, and a few gallons of Karo syrup. The narratives were undeniably juvenile (understandable, considering our lad was barely in his 20s), and focused primarily on conjuring scenarios wherein fake body parts could be messily – and impressively – severed, sliced, or smashed.
Unlike his elder role models, however, the young writer/director/fx artist never graduated to colossal Hollywood blockbusters that earned billions and collected Oscars; instead he has continued to labor in minor obscurity, his most recognizable credits being that of makeup man on other people’s projects (Timo Rose’s Barricade, Uwe Boll’s Bloodrayne). Until recently, his films rarely received legitimate international releases in the U.S., working their way through the bootleg market via word of mouth, and even in this age of instant access, no high-end distributor had stepped up to represent.
As such, major thanks are due to Unearthed Films for helping rectify this oversight, putting a much-needed spotlight on the artist with their recent Blu-ray release of Ittenbach’s 13th (!) feature film.
As noted above, No Reason represents a more mature and ambitious creative, not merely concerned with splatter for splatter’s sake. Jennifer’s journey through the multicolored abyss is not groundbreaking, but it also doesn’t feel like pandering or an appeal to be “taken seriously.” And when Ittenbach turns on the gore (which he does often), the needle immediately and literally goes into the red.
Over the course of the brief 77-minute runtime, there are scenes of mutilation and evisceration so visceral that it’s impossible to watch them impassively. (I’ve seen a few things in my time and now… I’ve seen a few more things. Wow.) However, it’s in service of a deeper narrative, an underlying message of pain and redemption that, even if it doesn’t entirely succeed, earns major points for effort.
Additionally, the central turn by Holzfurtner is deeply courageous and vanity-free, especially considering she spends almost the entirety of the feature MOC ("mit out clothes" or ohne Kleidung, in the native parlance) and in varying degrees of emotional duress. In a just and fair world, she would have been elevated to European Star Status by now – instead, her only subsequent credit is a supporting part in Ittenbach’s next effort, 2012’s Savage Love (presumably not based upon Dan Savage’s syndicated column).
Unearthed’s high-def release includes a making-of featurette, trailers, photo gallery, and a lively interview with Timothy Balme (star of Jackson’s Braindead) who curiously shows up in the final reel as a pathologist overseeing the aforementioned autopsy. Considering how obvious it is that German is not Balme’s first language (though he's definitely game for the task), one can’t help but suspect that he was cast so that Ittenbach could hang out with the actor for a few hours and ask, “So what was that lawnmower scene really like?”
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| "It was... uh... messy." |
No Reason is available now on Blu-ray from Unearthed Films and can be ordered through DiabolikDVD HERE:
https://www.diabolikdvd.com/
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