DVD review: Exitus Interruptus - Der Tod ist erst der Anfang (2006)

5 years ago Manuela (Renee Pornero). was kidnapped and ever since has been tormented by the experience . She claims to have killed the sexual predator although his body was never found. Since that time she has not been able to have sex with any man and finds solace in the arms of her best friend and lover Monique (Anja Gebel). After a series a nightmares which begin to progress deeper and deeper into her psychological condition she seeks the help of a psychiatrist (Andreas Bethmann). The night after her first session her and Monique go out to a club for a couple of drinks. While in the restroom Manuela watches 2 women fooling around in a stall. A man appears and murders one of the girls and ties up the other. He then captures Manuela and takes them both back to his house in the woods where he tortures the women. 3 days later Monique receives a letter supposedly from Manuela explaining to her the 3 day absence and in the letter she asks Monique to visit her for a surprise. Monique's destination is the killer's house and she walks directly into his bloody hands. The viewer should be prepared for degradation, humiliation, sadism, torture and necrophilia.
Exitus Interruptus - Der Tod ist erst der Anfang is written and directed by Andreas Bethmann, it is connected to Vegetarierinnen zur Fleischeslust gezwungen (2000) and Vegetarierinnen zur Fleischeslust gezwungen Part 2 (2002) as Renee Pornero plays the same character but in this film there is more plot and dialogue than the previous films. Actually I think they don´t even mention her characters name in any of the earlier films. As might be expected, this being a Andreas Bethmann film, there is plenty of nudity and explicit sex scenes but I think it enhances the exploitation and overall nastiness. Bethmann tries to develop a more complex plot than usual and he takes inspiration from films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho. He also offers his masked killer the opportunity to play with his victims in the manner of Jigsaw from the Saw saga. Bethmann tries and with very limited means, of course, to recreate the unhealthy atmosphere which made the success of the above works but fails but he still presents some interesting sequences. During those brief moments, Andreas Bethmann demonstrates that he has the capacity to aim higher, qualitatively. Exitus Interruptus - Der Tod ist erst der Anfang is strangely light in terms of bloodshed. The few corpses in the face of papier mache and rubber sex will not change this. Production wise, it´s clear that Bethmann has improved his skills, it´s better shot and edited then the previous films. The soundtrack is good and adds to creating a creepy atmosphere.
Readers should be aware that two versions of the film exist: the international hardcore cut (additional scenes and more extreme), running almost 2 hours, and the significantly shorter directors cut which has a runing time of 94 minutes.
This review is based on the international hardcore cut released by X Rated, it has english subtitles.
Rating: 3½ out of 7. Exitus Interruptus - Der Tod ist erst der Anfang is the best Andreas Bethmann film I´ve seen so far, there is less emphasis on lenghty pointless sex scenes and more focus on plot and characters which is a big plus.  I can't recommend Exitus Interruptus - Der Tod ist erst der Anfang  to everyone but those of you into exploitation films may find something of interest here.

/JL