“Necrophile Passion” DVD (director: Tom Heidenberg)

German sicko trashiness

Taking obvious cues (even the box art and font are rip-offs) from the German sicko "classic" “Nekromantik”, this rather foul and explicit descendent/copycat (also, oddly, from Germany, complete with English subtitles) does take itself quite shockingly far, with loads of nudity and rather dubious and vile sex scenes. 

The protagonist is a lonely, troubled, and unlikeable lout with a history of abuse (from an annoying and unloving girlfriend, which seems to be his main hangup). He graduates from simply cutting himself to even more nefarious deeds when he discovers a nude, freshly killed young woman in a woods. It needn't be told what he does to the corpse after a bit of rumination. The lout is played in a mostly wooden fashion by Gunther Brandl, who spends his spare time lazily sulking around his house considering more vile deeds or suicide. I say more power to him, as this guy is really unlikeable in just about every way. Anyway, he eventually decides to get revenge on his hateful girlfriend. Without giving away any spoilers, the ending is indeed a surprise. 

I give “Necrophile Passion” trash-film points for being pretty well disgusting, and with no short supply of breasts or explicit sex scenes. Otherwise, the acting is shallow and unconvincing, the effects adequate at best, and the script pretty unoriginal. Best to leave this one in the bins and invest in Jorg Buttgereit’s great (and still disgustingly shocking) “Nekromantik”.

Unearthed Films

Rum: Papa's Pilar

So, we here at Goatsden are always open to exploring new spirits, and credit our supporters with “training” us at tasting stuff like sake, whiskeys, wine, and of course plenty of beer. The opportunity to sample some rums that are new to Indiana didn’t go unheeded, so we gladly hopped the train to the islands to try these. Okay, we didn’t have to go that far, but these are really really nice!

Inspired by legendary writer and adventurer Ernest Hemingway (aka “Papa”, and named after his trusty boat, the Pilar), these rums are blended from sources close to Hemingway’s favored travels (the Caribbean, Florida, and Central America), aged at different times in American bourbon barrels, port wine casks, and finished in Spanish sherry casks for added nuance. Yes, if this sounds like a complex mix of rums, you are right.

PAPA’S PILAR BLONDE RUM
84 proof, $29.99/750mL

This pale, clean yellow rum pours with an instant aroma of vanilla and fruit, with floral notes. Initial tasting indicates a light, fruit-forward flavor, followed by a mellow spicy character. I also get tones of pear, vanilla, and a sweetness hiding beneath the warm finish.

A solid blonde rum here, certainly, and quite easy to drink.

PAPA’S PILAR DARK RUM
86 proof, retail $39.99/750mL

This dark amber rum (a blend that includes some 24-year-old rums) pours with an aroma of sweet candy, spice, vanilla, and an earthy, almost peaty, smoky character.

The taste here rums parallel, with an earthy, smoky character and an underlying sweetness under the palate. There’s a potent burn at the finish, but this one remains smooth all the way down.

In short, these are some premium rums, and ones I’d have no problems returning to in the future. These may well be worthy of Hemingway’s considerable legend.

Papa's Pilar site

“High Tech Soul - The Creation Of Techno Music” DVD (director: Gary Bredow)

Superb chronicle of Detroit techno

Director Bredow does a glorious job chronicling the often sadly-neglected history of Detroit techno music — a scene that has spearheaded entire genres of music and inspired thousands of DJs, composers, and artists for decades now. Interviewing nearly every scene luminary, we get to see the faces behind this often-anonymous genre of electronic music. Names like Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie Flashin’ Fowlkes, Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Kenny Larkin, Stacey Pullen, and tons more are featured here, inextricably linked by Detroit’s burnt-out industrial landscapes and a need to express themselves with often-primitive technology. 

It’s relatively brief (lasting just a wee bit over an hour in length), but “High Tech Soul” pinpoints just where this “alien electronica” originates from, as the genre’s forefathers were listening to old-school Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, and George Clinton records, as well as other oddities wrangled from used record bins and merging that with thumping robotic rhythms and hypnotically soulful flourishes.

Truly, this is an essential history lesson for fans of Detroit’s techno scene. Enlightening, entertaining, and fun, “High Tech Soul” is a must-see for any electronic music aficionado.

MVD Visual

“Wrestling With Satan: The Rise, Fall, And Resurrection of the Christian Wrestling Federation” DVD (directors: Paul Aldridge and Tom Borden)

Odd fringe subculture

From the title, you might be tempted to see this as some kind of B-grade comedy, as something so bizarre and unlikely as a marriage between the brute spectacle of pro wrestling and organized religion seems so…very silly. And, to be honest, it is. Seriously. But this union does often have a similarly devoted audience, so a crossover isn’t necessarily so outlandish.

This is a documentary film, make no mistake, and there are a fair amount of genuine fans of this stuff. It’s all obviously a fringe emulation of mainstream pro wrestling, and these guys are capable of pulling off the same kind of stunts, body slams, and smack talking as the “big boys”. But there’s a message in this here rasslin’ — it’s putting Jesus back in the ring and defeating “Satan”. Yes, for their audiences (often in gymnasiums and lawn chairs), these wrestlers are role models for rural American youth, and the message they preach is to be strong with Jesus. I still don’t see much correlation between big sweaty cartoon-men putting on theatrical shows of brute force and the spreading of the gospel, but, apparently some do.

Yes, this is a weird one. I say, kudos to the filmmakers for showing another side of America’s hidden underbelly. These characters seem to mean well, and are sincere in their love of the wrestling “sport”, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever want to meet any of them. Hah! Enough said.

Morning Lamb Entertainment