Rammbock: Berlin Undead (limited)
| release date | June 28 2011 |
| studio | Bloody Disgusting Selects |
| director | Marvin Kren |
| writer | Benjamin Hessler |
| starring | Sebastian Achilles, Ingrid Beerbaum, Carsten Behrendt, Melanie Berke, Sabrina Caramanna, Emily Cox, Michael Fuith |
| rating | R |
| tagline | Hide And Seek... With Zombies |
| site | bloody-disgusting.com/selects |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
1 Comments
Saw Rammbock: Berlin Undead tonight at Grapevine Mills AMC in Grapevine TX. We were the only 2 people in the theater. I think there are ALOT of zombie movie fans that missed out on a fine zombie flick. Too bad for you! Needs a wider release!
Great flick. Lots of action, violence, tension, and story. Running just over an hour this movie starts right out of the gate and manages to to work one of the most commonly missed elements into its short time: Character Development. The characters felt real, and for that their fates mattered. By focussing the action in one small block of apartments Rammbock creates a microcosm of the plague at large in the same way that the farmhouse was used in Signs. Romero needs to watch this flick and take notes!
Despite an obvious low budget and a runtime of only 60 minutes, I absolutely enjoyed this wonderful and quite impressive Euro-zombie/infected-flick. It’s fast-paced, action-packed and thrilling from beginning to end, with a few really incredibly atmospheric and nerve-wracking scenes. The plot is superb (kinda “Shaun Of The Dead” without the wit), and the script is very well written and paced, including many clever ideas and cool plot twists. The make-up effects look splendid, the camera work is extremely powerful (f.e. all the [REC]-like staircase scenes) and the whole “Tenant”-like apartment building is a well-chosen and effective shooting location.
Kudos to all the actors who deliver great and believable performances (especially Michael Fuith), plus: the “Rammbock” (= battering ram) itself is one of the funniest and at the same time most clever gags I’ve ever seen in a zombie/infected-movie.
Bring up the sequel!
This film is very unique in its genre because when I first saw it I expected another “dawn of the dead” remake feel to it. But I was very surprised by the time the credits rolled. Those of you looking for tons of zombie violence and gore look the other way because you won’t find it here, of course there are a few violent scenes, but there really isn’t that many gory scenes. I thought it worked though given the situation the characters were in(and I’m a gorehound so thats hard for me to say). The only thing I thought was kinda dumb was the camera flash thing. Doesn’t hold a candle to most zombie flicks but its still a pretty entertaining hour long zombie film. I would recommend you give it a shot.
Rammbock: Berlin Undead
The recently released German-based zombie movie has made a positive impression in the reviewers world, and for good reason. This film is accomplished in its genre and will only lack fame because of it’s under the rader mystique. This zombie film, although short (60 mins), has succeeded; with a solid plot, swaying special effects, intense scenes and impressive, yet quick character development.
Granted, however, if you are looking for a fast pace, gory zombie flick this probably will not fill your appetite. Yet the lack of does not take away from the reverence this film deserves.
Director Marvin Kren was able to take bits and pieces from other horror films and make it work with this movie. Some scenes had that intensity and [Rec] like camera angles; which, in my opinion did wonders for the film.
The character development was astonishing considering the short run time. Nonetheless, the main characters: Michael (Michael Fuith), Harper (Theo Trebs) are excellent in their roles and the audience quickly realizes their intentions and personalities.
Although this film is no zombie classic, nor ever will reach the hype of such zombie flims as: Dawn of the Dead (1978), or The Return of the Living Dead (1985)it will (or should) be remembered as one of the better zombie films — more importantly, the zombie fanbase should have gained confidence knowing zombie films aren’t completely going downhill, and there are still great zombie films to be made.
This was ok, but I wasn’t fond of the lead role, I thought the overall scares missed their mark, and it really was pretty mediocre from start to finish. I really don’t see how everyone is giving this one good reviews, it’s a 3 skull movie at best, and not much more needs to be said.
Even when it feels like the zombie genre has outstayed its welcome, it’s great to have a chance to look abroad and find fresh perspective. What I like most about Rammbock is the sense of claustrophobia. It’s generally a quieter, slower film than your average U.S. braineater flick, but there are incredibly stressful sequences where the “safe” areas the characters can occupy are taken away rapidly. As they were trapped with the violent horde spilling in, room by room, into tighter spaces until only inches remained, it was tense enough to take my breath away.
Rammbok doesn’t really offer the audience anything new in the zombie genre but it is a charming film all the same. The cast and director deliver solid performances with realistic characters. The understated plot and action allow us to observe the characters and sympathize with their situation and demise. I feel this make is a pleasant departure from so much of the Hollywood flash spoon fed to the masses.
The story itself could use a bit more development to perhaps offer some background for zombies or humans and it leaves me wondering if Rammbock may benefit from an additional 30-45 minutes to tell that said of the story.
All-in-all it is an easy enough viewing that certainly isn’t a waste of your time (after all, it is only an hour and four minutes) but may fare better on the small screen.
Really fun movie. It gets the point across in only an hour.
Sorry but i found this movie to be lacking. The idea that you didn’t have to turn once bitten was good as was the sensitivity to light however that is about it for originality. This film has more in common with the 28 Days Later series and isn’t a proper zombie film despite the misleading title. My biggest complaint is the way to short running time. The movie has a couple of points where the plot obviously skips leading me to believe the film was unfinished. Although character development is important to any movie R: BU spends to much of the running time trying to get you to feel the plight of its cast but ultimately fails. The main characters rarely behave in a believable fashion and sometimes down right foolish. Not much for the gore fan to see so if that is important than skip this one.
Arriving to meet up with his ex-girlfriend Gabi, Michael arrives just in time for the end of everything he knows. Letting himself into her apartment, Michael and and a boy Harper are attacked by a crazed maintenance worker for no discernible reason. A look out the window shows a courtyard full of horrific people gone berserk, attacking everybody around them.
The zombie genre, to include the virus that creates zombie-type creatures, is one that has been explored nearly to exhaustion the past five years or so. A flood of movies and even the well-made the Walking Dead are now seen everywhere. As you can imagine, with so much content out there, it can end up diluted.
Rammbock was not this type of movie. While it does feature zombies, the fast moving kind, that spread their virus by bites, that is not really the point of this story. This story resonates around Michael and his heartbreak at losing his girlfriend Gabi. She moved to Berlin for work and ended up breaking up with him long distance. She wanted her key back and Michael took this as an opportunity to try and win her back. This heartache and sense of loss were really the key focus here.
There were some interesting plot twists that I will not spoil as they certainly added to the plot as well. These films tend to bring out the very best and the very worst for the characters who are experiencing these disasters and these tales personify how quickly we become monsters ourselves when things break down.
Rammbock is a seriously short film, clocking in at just over one hour. Still I was surprised at how much story they told in an hour and how much I became invested with Michael’s journey. The zombies were savage and fast, versus the slow and plodding zombie. While there was blood and carnage, it was always incidental to what was occurring on the screen.
As a tale of heartbreak and loss, Rammbock will seriously touch you. It manages to tell an intense and bloody story in a very short amount of time and entertain you with it’s solid performances, particularly the rather meek and non-heroic Michael. At the very least, this one is worth a rental, but for me it will go right next to 28 Days Later as a phenomenal zombie film.
I feel I should preface my review of Rammbock: Berlin Undead (Marvin Kren, 2010) with a confession: I have developed a very grumpy attitude toward zombie movies. When 28 Days Later came out, I loved it; When the Dawn of the Dead remake came out, I felt a little betrayed and angry, but I actually really enjoyed it; Diary of the Dead? Sure! But years later, after sitting through thousands of reels (can I even apply that word to movies any more?) of angry, stupid or angry and stupid people walking — or running — around with milky eyes and bloody mouths, well, I’ve become picky. In short, I need a catch. A zombie flick can’t just be funny, it can’t just have great gore — it has to have something at least a little different to earn my respect. And I think Rammbock has just that.
But I didn’t come to this conclusion until I had sat through all one hundred and one minutes of the film. Right to the end. Right to the final lyrics of the song that ran through the credits.
Rammbock contains many of the classic zombie flick tropes, and for the first half of the film, it is unclear whether these will lead to anything new. On top of this, the protagonist, Michael (aka “Michi”), a weasely-looking man who travels from Vienna to Berlin with the hopes on winning his ex girlfriend, Gabi, back by returning her apartment keys in person, is, well, to put it frankly, kind of a douche. Not only do we not care if Gabi takes him back, we can’t really blame her for leaving Michael in the first place. But with great lameness comes great possibility for character growth…
Rammbock — at just over one hour long — wastes no time getting to the good stuff. Shortly after Michael arrives at Gabi’s apartment, all zombie hell breaks loose. Similarly to 28 Days Later, the zombies are “infected” with a virus that makes them rage against anyone they come across. The nature of the virus, though, is slightly different: There is hope for the infected if they can remain calm. Stress activates the virus. If the infected can remain calm long enough, theoretically, the body can fight off the virus.
The nature of the virus, which feeds on emotion, is perhaps the first sign of what makes Rammbock different. The song that runs during the film’s final credits ends with the lines, “Your heart is the bird cage, so see that you care, or you’ll find no peace and no rest anywhere” — hinting, perhaps, that the UK title of the film, Siege of the Dead, is more fitting than Berlin Undead. It is not just the inhabitants of the apartment block in which the film takes place who are under siege, but humanity itself, held hostage by its own emotions, which — as we well know — can get a little spoiled-bratty-kid-in-a-toy-store at times.
Rammbock emerges from the rotting heap of carbon-copy zombie films as something new: a mediation on the nature of human emotion and the importance of being able to “keep calm and carry on” (as the popular saying, whose origins remain completely obscure to me, goes). Anger, jealousy and fear literally are the death of people in Rammbock. Good feelings, or even simply the lack of any feelings at all I suppose (I realize this sort of negates my reading of the film ), have the power to set people free.
Technically speaking, Rammbock is easy enough on the eyes. The hand-held cinematography style is reminiscent of a Lars von Trier film at times, as is the classical music score which is used sparingly — and to great effect — at key points in the film. The editing draws parallels between certain characters that add meaning to the plot. No cut feels frivolous. And the acting is good enough that I didn’t feel annoyed or embarrassed for the actors at any point in the film.
I guess I could go on and on about Rammbock, but I won’t, because really, who likes long (not to mention positive) reviews of films? So I’ll end it with this thought: Zombie movies generally reflect on humanity’s inhumanity. The disgusting, violent drones inhabiting most zombie flicks are — as Shaun of the Dead so aptly suggests — often indiscernible from “regular” folk. Rammbock hints at this as well, but provides its audience with a modicum of hope that is generally foreign to the zombie subgenre: We may already harbour the seed of our own destruction, but the situation is not completely hopeless. By taking responsibility for our emotions and impulses, the future might still be within our control.
I just picked this up for $10 and I was blown away. Excellent story telling, great special effects, and excellent acting. This is why I care for independent films much more than big-budget blockbusters. They focus on storytelling as so perfectly portrayed by Rammbock, apposed to big name actors, and big budget explosions and SFX. Buy or rent this as soon as you can. Don’t be afraid of subtitles, they don’t bite. The zombies do though.
Simply a great movie. It is only an hour long, but it has a great tone and keeps you at attention for the entire film.
this flick was a crapfest watch La Horde that movie delivers!
While Rammbock is competently made and technically proficient, it adds absolutely nothing new to the zombie genre. You’ve seen it all before.
Not the same ol’ zombie splatterfest, and admittidly is a decent alternative. Now, the slower and less violent story may be offputting to the zombie horror fan who wants severed limbs and oozing brains–this ain’t that movie, so be warned. Berlin Undead touches more on the dramatic and human side and the plight (what do we use for a toilet?) of basic needs than camera angles depicting blood splatters and chowed guts. Liked it–the shorter take (60 mins) and subtle approach worked.
average zombie movie
This was a new approach to a zombie movie. Its not the, to quote the reviewer below, “Average zombie movie.” This version i enjoyed.
The crisis starts better compared to other zombie flicks where this lovesick man wants to see his lady friend again and gets trapped with a younger plumber boy. I like how the community of survivors communicate via open windows and its cool to see whats happening to the others just by looking into their windows. Also as a different approach; instead of shooting zombies in the head to rid them, the boy accidentally discovers that they have sensitive retinas and uses camera flashes to escape.
This really isn’t a film for die hard zombie freaks. This has less gore, but its over shadowed by a little more story and a mental situation then brawns. Overall for this low budget film, its a good movie and not bad to watch or even own. I’m still sure your zombie friends will enjoy it and respect the different outlook on a zombie outbreak.
Official score 4 skulls are you fuckin on drugs. Or did you guys give it 4 skulls cus it’s part of your production company. Come on you gave up the amazing yellowbrickroad, cold fish, phase 7. Then this. This god awful film that’s only and hour. The movie is filled of cliches, the ending was such horse crap. terrible film. I’ll give it a 2 for the good looking girl that survives at the end.
Rammbock is not the typical gore zombie film, instead it brings a more analytical aspect to the genre.
When all hell breaks loose in Berlin, no one knows what is going on. Therefore this is a Germany that has never heard of a zombie apocalypse. This is why since the beginning of the outbreak, Michael insists that they (the zombies) are still people inside. That explains why at the end of the film, when Gabi comes outside as a Zombie, he embraces her and shows the love he has for her by letting himself go of his human side and becoming a zombie with her.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a zombie film.
I give any director credit if they can at least surpass George Romero’s more recently bland attempts at reviving the genre of the undead. Newcomer Marvin Kren has done just that with “Rammbock: Berlin Undead”, one of those new age zombie flicks that defines the very word “zombie” very differently from how the classics did. No longer do the dead come back to life and attack the living; they never seem to have died anymore in the first place. Now, zombies have become anyone with a radical virus that alters their perception and sanity. Here, the zombies are merely rabid human beings; and the outbreak is fatal and large in scale. It begins on a very typical day and goes for a few more after that. It could really just go on forever. But this isn’t about the eternal struggle; it’s about a singular struggle, then one shared within a team of people who still hold on tightly to their minds and flesh.
Michael (Michael Fuith) goes to Berlin so that he may visit an ex-girlfriend of his named Gabi. He misses her dearly, and can’t wait to see her again, but when he arrives at her apartment the only one in the room is a mechanic working on her furnace, and then the mechanic’s assistant who comes soon afterwards. The mechanic attacks his assistant, and the boy fights back. This is followed by chaos in the streets that can be seen from the apartment window(s). Rabid humans are flooding Berlin in large groups; fast, furious, and hungry. The assistant – Harper (Theo Trebs) – and Michael decide to work together in an effort to save their skin (for as long as they possibly can). Other people in the apartment complex remain untouched by the virus, and they communicate with each-other from across the building; up, down, left, and right.
But of course, the girl is always on Michael’s mind. Since he stays in Gabi’s apartment for most of the film and only reunites with her again within the second half of the narrative, every little thing reminds him of her. A bear suit that she wore in photographs found on her digital camera. Her forks that Harper wishes to use as ammunition for a home-made slingshot. This is where “Rammbock” makes a solid attempt at being something much more than just your standard zombie movie. It also tries very hard to be a tale of redemptive romance; although whether it succeeds in such fields is completely up to the viewer. As it is, I’m not entirely convinced by it all.
This has all the qualities of a genuinely good movie. The camerawork is really moody and the Berlin setting is utilized rather creatively. There’s plenty of bloodshed to please the type of people who enjoy these zombie movies, and the zombies themselves are pretty nice looking and never do they appear too over-the-top or underwhelming, like some tend to. The problem is that this film – which has so many good qualities – is only an hour long. Yes, you heard right: just 62 short, forgettable minutes. Add on another thirty and you might have had the necessary character development and compelling narrative. The themes probably would have come full circle. And the movie ends just when it’s about to get awesome. Maybe there will be a sequel someday. I hope it continues the story like it was meant to be, because this just left me unsatisfied.
But still, I like what Kren is getting at. This is not necessarily a good film but it is good filmmaking, I can acknowledge that much. In a manner of speaking, it’s very much style over substance; but the style almost is the substance. It’s gritty, brutal, and also quite “real”; which is what I like about it the most. But it’s way too short, and I can’t say that I ever really gave a shit about any of the characters. Stronger writing was needed in this department. But otherwise, you’ve got something that is at least entertaining and well worth a gander whether you’re a zombie lover or not. That’s more than I can say for whatever Romero’s making these days.