''Violent Shit'' is a 1989 West German

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by

Andreas Schnaas Andreas Schnaas (born 1 April 1968) is a German director and actor working exclusively in the horror film, horror genre. Since he first appeared on the film scene in 1989, he has become a leader in Germany's ultra-violent German underground horr ...

Plot

A young boy named Karl Berger (a surname given in the sequel) murders his abusive mother with a meat cleaver after she beats him for returning home late. Twenty years later, in the mid-1970s, the imprisoned Karl is being transported to an unspecified location by the police, but manages to kill his captors and escape into the wilderness, somehow acquiring a cleaver in the process. Over the course of several days, Karl commits a series of murders across the countryside, mutilating and occasionally

cannibalizing Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

his victims. After one double homicide, Karl faints and flashes back to the day he murdered his mother, revealing he had been coerced into killing her by a demon (which a line of dialogue indicates might be his father) he had encountered in the cellar after being locked in it. At one point, Karl also encounters an apparition of Jesus crucified in the forest, which he hacks open, and crawls inside. After this encounter, Karl commits an additional dual murder outside a church then collapses in a field. His skin (which had been inexplicably decaying throughout the film) rots off, and he dies by ripping himself open, revealing a baby covered in blood.

Cast

* Karl Inger as Karl Berger (as K. The Butcher Shitter) * Gabi Bäzner * Wolfgang Hinz as Wolfgang * Volker Mechter * Christian Biallas * Uwe Boldt * Marco Hegele * Lars Warncke * Werner Knifke *

as Landscaper #2 * Steve Aquilina * Bettina X. * Maren Y. * Beate Z.

Reception

''Violent Shit'' received mostly negative reviews from critics upon its release. ''HorrorNews.net'' criticized the film's thin plot, amateurish sound and camerawork, but commended the film's gore sequences, and for its creativity on such a small budget; writing, "If you want your horror films to have some substance, then you might want to look elsewhere, but otherwise you will be well-served". Reviewing the DVD release for the ''Violent Shit Collection'', Nathaniel Thompson from ''Mondo Digital'' called the film "a nearly plotless VHS wonder", criticizing the film's technical ineptitude, and unconvincing gore effects. Brett Gallman from ''Oh, the Horror!'' praised the film's raw violence, stating, "However crude the rest of this amateur production may be, there’s no denying the power of this gore-soaked mayhem. Both Schnaas’s willingness to push boundaries and his attention to squeamish detail are noteworthy... forcing the audience to either confront it head on or look away in disgust." Gallman concluded his review by writing, "Underestimate and judge the surface of ''Violent Shit'' at your own risk because this is the stuff of pure, uncut nightmare fuel."

Legacy

Remake

A name-only remake entitled ''Violent Shit: The Movie'', was released in 2015. A German and Italian co-production, it was written and directed by Luigi Pastore, and co-written by Lucio Massa and Emanuele Barbera. The original's director, Andreas Schnaas, was not involved in any way.

References

External links

* {{Violent Shit, state=expanded 1989 films German slasher films Camcorder films Demons in film German splatter films 1989 horror films Body horror films West German films Films about orphans Films set in forests Films set in West Germany Films shot in Germany Films shot in Hamburg 1980s German-language films Films about cannibalism Mass murder in fiction Religious horror films Films about child abuse German independent films German nonlinear narrative films 1980s supernatural horror films 1989 direct-to-video films Direct-to-video horror films Films directed by Andreas Schnaas Films about dysfunctional families Films set in the 1970s German avant-garde and experimental films 1980s avant-garde and experimental films 1989 directorial debut films 1980s slasher films German serial killer films 1980s exploitation films 1980s German films