'' Horror Vacui ''(german: Horror Vacui - Die Angst vor der Leere) is a 1984

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

film directed by

Rosa von Praunheim Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, painter and one of the most famous gay rights activists in the German-speaking world. In ov ...

. The film was shown at international film festivals and in 1985 at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Plot

Shot in a

neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early- postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called '' Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'N ...

style, the film is a satire on cults of any kind. The plot follows Frankie and Hannes, a young gay couple living in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. One is studying art and the other medicine. Their happy life is disrupted when Frankie attends a lecture and quickly becomes involved in a sinister cult operating as a self-help group called "Optimal Optimism". 'Madame C', a former

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

party member, is the leader of 'Optimal Optimism'. When the cult members find out that Frankie is gay, they rape him. Hannes has to find a way to save him.

Awards

* 1985: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award

Reception

"If you have a soft spot for fantastic and ironic films, you won't feel any inner emptiness orror vacuiwith Praunheim's wealth of fantasy." (Cinema Film Journal)Cinema, no. 10, Oktober 1984 (Journal 77), p. 60

Notes

References

*Murray, Raymond. ''Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video''. TLA Publications, 1994,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horror Vacui 1984 films 1984 LGBT-related films German LGBT-related films West German films Films directed by Rosa von Praunheim 1980s German films