Violent Shit is a 1989 West German horror film written and directed by Andreas Schnaas.

Violent Shit
VHS released by Burning Moon Home Video
Directed byAndreas Schnaas
Written byAndreas Schnaas
Produced byThe Violent Shitters
StarringKarl Inger
Gabi Bäzner
Wolfgang Hinz
Volker Mechter
Christian Biallas
CinematographySteve Aquilina
Edited bySteve Aquilina
Music byMicky Engels
Production
company
Reel Gore Productions
Distributed byBlood Pictures
Release date
Running time
75 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman
BudgetDM 5,000

Plot

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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 the officers 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 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

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  • 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
  • Andreas Schnaas as Landscaper #2
  • Steve Aquilina
  • Bettina X.
  • Maren Y.
  • Beate Z.

Reception

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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 for its 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".[1] 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.[2] 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."[3]

Legacy

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Remake

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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.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Film Review: Violent Shit (1989)". horrornews.net. Horror News. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. ^ Thompson, Nathaniel. "The Violent Shit Collection". Mondo Digital.com. Nathaniel Thompson. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  3. ^ Gallman, Brett. "Horror Reviews - Violent Shit Collection". Oh the Horror.com. Brett Gallman. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  4. ^ Zimmerman, Samuel (12 November 2014). "Trailer Debut: The Return of Karl the Butcher in Italian Tinged Remake, Violent Shit — The Movie". fangoria.com. Fangoria. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
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