The German Chainsaw Massacre


The German Chainsaw Massacre - The First Hour of the Reunification, also known as Blackest Heart in the United States, is a 1990 German horror film written and directed by Christoph Schlingensief and starring Karina Fallenstein, Alfred Edel, Udo Kier and Irm Hermann. It is the second film in Schlingensief's Deutschlandtrilogie.

Plot

Set against the background of German reunification in 1990, the plot centers on a group of East Germans who cross the border to visit West Germany and get slaughtered by a psychopathic West German cannibal family with chainsaws who want to turn them into sausages.

Cast

  • as Alfred
  • as Clara
  • Artur Albrecht as Ihr Liebhaber
  • Susanne Bredehöft as Ihr Mann / Margit
  • Brigitte Kausch as Brigitte
  • Volker Spengler as Henk
  • Dietrich Kuhlbrodt as Dietrich
  • Reinald Schnell as Kurti
  • Udo Kier as Jonny
  • Eva-Maria Kurz as Zöllnerin
  • Irm Hermann as DDR-Grenzerin

Production

Schlingensief conceived the idea for the film after he had viewed bootleg copies of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its sequel The Texas [Chainsaw Massacre 2] and found the second film to be "superb for its richness in imagery and double entendres". He wrote the script in a matter of days after the German reunification.

Reception

Time Out lauded the film as "abrasive, relentless, cruelly funny and enjoyably deranged." Sean Leonard of HorrorNews.net calling it "an artsy, gory horror movie in the vein of Tobe Hooper’s classic", with the director's pointed social commentary.