I've been a fan of Jörg Buttgereit ever since I saw Nekromantik for the first time, on Barrel Entertainment's special edition DVD. It is apparent from his style in dealing with his gruesome subject matter that the man is an artist, not just another exploitation auteur (though that wouldn't be so terrible, I suppose...), and it is this fact, along with my personal taste for a little artistry behind my sex and violence, that attracted me to Mr. Buttgereit in a way that I have been attracted to few other directors.

Having seen three of his four films (I'm waiting on Barrel's Der Todesking disc), I can say so far that I've never been disappointed. Personally, I would give the Nekromantik movies a slight edge, though picking favorites, with Buttgereit, is really an unpleasant affair. Schramm, his most recently finished film, is, like everything else he has produced, a quality production. It is an intelligent, powerful and well-made film, and I highly recommend it.

Schramm is generally described as a sort of "serial killer art film", and, while true, I'd caution people to take that description with a grain of salt. True, Schramm kills, and the movie is most certainly "artsy", but the killings are few (only 2 onscreen), and the "art" style is neither pretentious in execution nor impenetrable in its storytelling.

Employing the fractured narrative style, the film examines the life of lonely Lothar Schramm, known to the papers as the "Lipstick Killer." When we first see Schramm, he's lying dead in a pool of paint. As time flows backward, we see that he has fallen, and, as we watch him stumble from a stepladder while slathering white paint over the blood-splattered walls of his apartment, we are lead into a series of glimpses into the life he led before his demise.

Our first encounter with the living Schramm is in his apartment, where he is being visited by a couple of door-to-door missionaries whom he quickly kills.

After a dream in which he wakes to find his leg has been severed, we are introduced to his neighbor (Monika M., the luscious lead of Nekromantik 2, review here), a prostitute. Schramm, we see, is definitely attracted to her, though he's terribly tentative in expressing it. He has many conversations with her, though she seems oblivious to the fact that he likes her. Because of this, Schramm acts out in other ways, namely (pleasuring himself with an inflatable love doll while listening to her with a john through the ventilation system.

As the movie progresses, so does their relationship...slowly. By night, Schramm dreams of dancing eerie waltzes with her; by day, he drives her to appointments with other johns, including one with a foreboding group of men in a mysterious house.

As Schramm grows more depressed, he grows more desperate. At one point, frustrated, he drives a nail through his penis, and, at another, he drugs Monika and masturbates to her as she lies on his couch. Of course, soon after this, he falls to his death, as we have seen, and the two are left apart, hopeless and alone, in utter despair. The film ends on a definite depressing note, but it is powerful, with a final shot that hits with the force of a sledgehammer.

As it may be easy to surmise, the film does not really lend itself very easily to a plot summary. It's really the kind of movie that a person needs to experience for himself/herself, and that I suggest you do, via Barrel's wonderful special edition DVD, which, in addition to this wonderful film, contains a wealth of interesting extras.

Starting things off, Barrel has seen fit to give us not one but two commentaries, the first with writer / director Jörg Buttgereit and writer Franz Rodenkirchen, and the second with actors Monika M. and Florian Koerner von Gustorf. The Buttgereit / Rodenkirchen commentary tends toward the technical and philosophical, explaining a lot of messages that one might miss during a viewing, while the von Gustorf / M. track is more laid back, with ample anecdotes about the production and various humorous reactions to what is happening on screen. I found both tracks to be entertaining, and they're definitely recommended. After listening, you'll probably feel a little like you know these people, and that is a good feeling indeed.

Next up is a 35-minute video documentary, The Making of Schramm, which goes into a very good amount of detail about the shooting of the film. There are video interviews with the cast on set, along with a good deal of behind-the-scenes footage which shows how some of the special effects and inventive camerawork were accomplished. All in all, it's a very interesting companion piece to the film, and it makes for excellent viewing, especially after the movie's depressing conclusion.

Providing more looks behind the scenes is a mammoth photo gallery, which is set to music from Schramm. The photos range from set shots to video cover pictures from various releases, and even include shots of the commentary recording sessions. This, too, is a nice addition to the disk.

Two supplements that I didn't enjoy quite as much were Mutter Boxing and Die Neue Zeit, running seven and nine minutes, respectively. Mutter Boxing is simply seven minutes of camcorder footage, shot in a bar, of leading actor von Gustorf in a non-professional boxing match with another member of his band, Mutter. Die Neue Zeit consists of a 4-minute one-take, one-shot music video (shot by Buttgereit) for one of Mutter's songs, followed by 5 minutes of making of footage which basically plays through most of the music video over again with a few shots backwards, detailing how the camera was moved. I didn't find either of these supplements particularly interesting, but I guess it's better to have too much than too little, and since Barrel has definitely met all expectations with this DVD, there's no reason to complain.

More interesting are a couple of short films by Buttgereit, Mein Papi and Captain Berlin. The first short, the 7-minute Mein Papi, consists of footage Buttgereit had secretly taken of his father. It depicts his deteriorating health, which eventually leads to his death. I would have liked a commentary for this a lot (like on the first Nekromantik disc for the Horror Heaven short), as the film is obviously very personal and could use a little clarification. I was never quiet sure how Buttgereit felt about his father, and it would have been nice to have some of this background information explained. Much less serious is the 10-minute Captain Berlin, a short that is obviously the result of a bunch of friends goofing around. Pretty much the same as anyone else's home-movie-made-as-a-child, it's still an amusing little supplement and worth a watch.

Finally, like on all of the other Buttgereit releases from Barrel, trailers for all of Jörg's films are included as well, along with an exhaustive filmography. Also, for the careful DVD-watcher, there is an easter egg to be found on the disc, which is a 3-minute British television segment on Buttgereit that was banned by British authorities before it could be broadcast.

In the end, Schramm is really a no-brainer. Jörg Buttgereit is one of the foremost cult directors out there today, and Barrel Entertainment's near-flawless DVD is a fantastic way to experience one of his masterpieces. Schramm may shock, disgust, or depress you, but Barrel's DVD sure won't, and in the end, you'll definitely be glad that you got it.