First of all I have to admit that I´m a fan of the Olaf Ittenbach controversial no holds barred gore feasts and have several of his flicks on dvd so perhaps I´m a little biased in writing this review..
The plot in No Reason: Jennifer (Irene Holzfurtner) is suddenly torn from her comfortable and non-assuming (inconspicuous) life. While planning to move, the young mother and her husband will experience anything but an ordinary day! It all begins with a strange visit from her soon to be ex-neighbour, the postman who mentions an urgent need.
Later, when coming home from grocery shopping, Jennifer discovers an elderly neighbour, who is her son Niko s babysitter has disappeared. She also receives a terrifying and disturbing letter. The fateful delivery contains a macabre death poem by yet another occupant of her building, plus some compromising sex photos of her husband and the missing babysitter!
To get over the initial shock of this disturbing news, she decides to take a bath, and promptly falls asleep in the bathtub. When she awakes, she finds herself on the floor of her apartment covered in blood and body parts! Centre to this surreal and horrific scene is a mysterious masked man who promises to lead Jennifer on the right path toward the sacred white light. She has to go through different (color-) levels to reach the white light and thereby achieve salvation
I get the impression that Ittenbach probably used most of the budget on the special fx and they are certainly very well done as one might expected. In No Reason most of the violence happens on screen, it´s a gorefeast as we get one gruesome set piece after another. The man with Cthulhu mask and SM clothing is reminiscent of Jigsaw from the Saw movies and promises redemption through torture and pain, it´s a hit or miss but I find his appearance unsettling and menacing.
On the downside, the film is a bit confusing, the acting is mostly weak but even die-hard fans of Ittenbach will admit that storytelling is not his forte.
Beware that the german dvd/blu-ray is heavily edited, german censors have cut 20 minutes out of the flick, I highly recommend that you get the region 1 edition which is uncut and has english subtitles. There is a new german language only edition (DVD + Blu-Ray) due to be released on the 15th of november which is uncut.
Rating: 6½ out of 7. No Reason is dark, very violent and gory. Olaf Ittenbach has once again delivered a film that is sure to find it´s supporters while others will look after the stop button.
/JL
No comments:
Post a Comment