There's no way back for me. Only forward. Through your teeth. (Grimm Love (DVD))

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	Grimm Love (DVD)
Date:	12/08/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A compelling if not utterly disturbing tale, excellent performances

Disadvantages: More questions than answers

A review of just the film, Grimm Love was originally produced and released under the title Rohtenburg in 2006 but was not released on region 2 DVD until 2008, when it was re-issued under the title you see here.

A warning that the film contains strong psycho-sexual violence and this review refers to incidents that some readers may find disturbing.

A nation is shocked by one of the most macabre crimes in its history. A loner named Oliver Hartwin is arrested for the murder of Simon Grombeck, a man he met on the Internet and invited to his home before savagely killing him and eating his body parts. But it's not just the act of cannibalism that gained such notoriety. You see the jury might have struggled to convict Hartwin on any count of murder, given only that Grombeck's demise was entirely voluntary and, whilst he still maintained some semblance of consciousness, he actually helped Hartwin consume his own flesh.

I think it's reasonably safe to say that I've watched a lot of horror films in my time and that few of them (very few of them in fact) have had any kind of emotional impact on me. But, if you'll pardon the pun, the grim reality of Martin Weisz's dramatic reconstruction of the real life murderer known as The Rotenburg Cannibal was almost more than this reviewer could bear.

When telling a tale based on true events, writers and directors must make some distinct creative decisions that will dictate the resonance with which their stories will hit an unsuspecting audience. In Grimm Love, it would be impossible to say that writer T S Faull gets it completely right, but for the most part, the eerie, creeping screenplay makes extremely effective use of the disturbing subject matter and combined with the sinister visuals of director Martin Weisz, it's powerful stuff. To help the story along a little, we learn the story of the killer and his victim through the eyes, ear and voice of an American student named Katie Armstrong, who finds herself compelled to learn more and more about the subject matter of her university thesis. In reality, she is an extremely expendable character, often disappearing for lengthy periods of time as if to demonstrate her superfluous value to the overall storyline. But it's still a sporadically effective narrative tool, no more so than towards the end of the piece when she is sent a secret recording of the whole incident, rumoured but never proven to exist. As the horror and emotion of the incident overwhelms the young student, it's extremely difficult for the audience not to follow suit.

Remarkably, with such gruesome subject matter, director Martin Weisz shows enormous restraint in what he will/not show the audience. There are, undoubtedly, some extremely disturbing scenes in the film, but this is more about psychological terror than anything else. As Hartwin drops to his knees and devours an intimate part of Grombeck's body, we don't really need to see what's happening, the look on Grombeck's face and the screams that echo around the silent farmhouse are more than enough.

Faull stays reasonably faithful to the subject matter and the larger part of the film's running time tells us how these two men came to be together. Certain details are changed for reasons that aren't immediately apparent. The men's real life names have been changed in the film, for example, for reasons that are unclear, but there are other, more thoughtful changes too. Here, Grombeck is portrayed as a gay man, whereas in real life he was in a relationship with a woman. This is a very purposeful decision. There is an inherent, inescapable relationship between the two men that seems to have more impact on the basis that there's something psycho-sexual going on than there would be if it were simply the discovery of two very disturbed psyches. In many ways, the reasons for the two men's actions are difficult to comprehend and Faull is only partly successful in bringing this to life. We learn of both the men's childhoods, both of which yield clues and in this, it's quite easy to see how Hartwin turned into the disturbed monster we eventually see. What's less easy to understand, however, is how Grombeck became infatuated with the concept of being eaten and right up until the last minute it's difficult to accept. We know, from actual filmed evidence, that Grombeck was indeed a willing victim, but having been fixated on having his penis bitten off from a very young age, most (all?) viewers will find very little here with which to engage.

But, ironically, the resounding impression from Grimm Love is, as the title suggests, one based more on love than violence. The two men, brought together by tragedy and abuse, somehow seem to find solace and comfort with one another and there's a curious, bizarre mixture of cruelty and sensitivity that seems to take domination to a new level. Grombeck is, by far, the more distressing of the two, as the audience is never quite convinced that he knew what he was doing and Hartwin's detachment is incomprehensible. As the younger man lay dying, bleeding to death, Hartwin was busying himself in the kitchen, cooking off the body part that he had just ripped off, hoping that the two of them could share one last meal, desperate for everything to be perfect. It's the most bizarre, and ultimately disturbing, mixture of emotions you're ever likely to see on screen.

Not surprisingly, these are incredibly demanding roles. Thomas Kretschmann's Oliver Hartwin is astounding. The German actor somehow combines sensitivity with savagery without every really straying in to the caricature of your classic 'serial killer'. From nervous little habits to an astoundingly respectful nature towards his victim, Kretschmann is just compelling to watch. Thomas Huber's Grombeck is just as strong a performance and in many ways, stronger again. Huber's character is the more sympathetic, demonstrating a very disturbed young man who is destined to come to a bad end and Huber perfectly captures the conflict faced by the young man. He simply dreamt of this moment for his entire life - but how did he have the nerve to see it through? I also liked Keri Russell's role as the student fixated with the whole story. Russell's limited screen time keeps it brief, but the way in which Russell becomes completely absorbed simply mirrors the emotional journey that the audience is following with her.

Whatever Grimm Love's faults might be (the decision to produce the film in English, for example, is questionable) it's hard not to marvel at the finished product here. Weisz somehow manages to turn the entire serial killer concept on its head, throwing a willing victim into the arms of an equally damaged soul and showing what happens next. It's a tale stuffed full of mystery and urban myth. Do these 'cannibal chat rooms' really exist? Do people really crave to be eaten? And does somebody, somewhere have a copy of the Rotenburg tapes?

The horror of the entire incident is felt on an intensely human level. Whilst Weisz manages to make the entire thing incredibly sinister and creepy, this does not really follow any kind of horror convention. The true horror of Grimm Love is what the world can be about and how two men can form a relationship where, ultimately they become one in a way we could never possibly begin to understand.

Don't say I didn't warn you.....

Summary: Oliver Hartwin wanted to eat someone. Simon Grombeck wanted to be eaten. They were a perfect match.