Editorials
‘Anatomy’: German Horror Duology Delivers Unique Health Scares [Horrors Elsewhere]
When director Stefan Ruzowitzky sat in on audience screenings of German horror movie Anatomy, he saw a variety of reactions, but the ones that stood out to him were from medical professionals and scientists. The more experienced doctors found the whole premise silly, whereas scientists were less entertained. Meanwhile, the young and idealistic med students in attendance picked up on what makes Anatomy scary. They were disturbed by the story’s underlying concept; not a secret organization of rogue doctors slicing and dicing up patients, but the notion that people should not trust their physicians.
Anatomy (Anatomie) was the first production of Columbia TriStar’s German branch. The 2000 film was the beginning of the American studio’s aim to make stories for local audiences. And considering Germany’s renowned healthcare system, producing a horror film about doctors had potential. Ruzowitzky and co-writer Peter Engelmann’s script shadows Franka Potente’s character as she enrolls at a distinguished university with a dark secret. Her chance of a lifetime soon turns into a mission to expose the school’s role in a rash of recent disappearances.
The film’s cheerful and TV-like disposition at first, intentional subterfuge on the director’s part, is quickly stripped away once Paula Henning (Potente) has to make a choice about her future. Life before accepting a coveted spot at the University of Heidelberg for Paula has been straightforward. She comes from a line of doctors, and it was always presumed she would be one too. Her father did not exactly follow in his prestigious father’s footsteps, much to Paula’s grandfather’s chagrin, and is happiest as a family physician. He wanted his daughter to join him at their small practice, but Paula wants something more for herself. It is the classic scenario of a child defying their parents and pursuing their dreams. Of course in this case, Paula’s decision has more extreme consequences.
Once Paula goes away to college, she finds herself almost alienated for taking medicine so sincerely. Paula chastises her male peers for defiling a cadaver for their own amusement, and she is irritated by roommate Gretchen’s (Anna Loos) incessant hunt for boyfriends. Paula’s resolve is eventually rattled when she recognizes her class cadaver; David (Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey) is a stranger she saved on the train to Heidelberg. His death, however, does not line up with his malady. So Paula now insists something shady is going on beneath everyone’s noses.
As it turns out, not everyone is as oblivious to the school’s seamy underbelly as Paula was. The creepy dissector rouses suspicions early on, but there is a larger and less obvious force at play. Ruzowitzky cooks up a fictional yet plausible society called the Anti-Hippocratics. This sect of doctors opposed rules in the name of research; they survived by killing. The Anti-Hippocratic Society was born in the sixteenth century and continues to reemerge throughout history. Paula has good reason to believe these crooked doctors have returned and are carrying out illegal experiments in the school, but her claim is dismissed.
While Anatomy is remembered as a Deutsche stab at the Scream formula, Ruzowitzky’s film is far less straightforward than a basic teen-slasher. The worst parts of history returning to take a foothold in the modern era is a timeless fear. Ruzowitzky’s story of past evils staging a systematic comeback is sharp without being too didactic or sacrificing entertainment. There is still a good deal of fun to be had here in spite of the weighty parable at hand. The story is somehow never undone by its own absurdities all thanks to a determined sense of intrigue and a stack of immediate pleasures and thrills.
Stefan Ruzowitzky returned for the 2003 sequel, which bears a minor connection to the first film. Anatomy 2 follows small fish and young neurosurgeon Joachim “Jo” Hauser (Barnaby Metschurat) as he starts his rotations at a prestigious hospital in Berlin. Jo’s main goal is to find a way to help his brother’s muscular dystrophy, but he instead gets caught up in a new chapter of the Anti-Hippocratic Society after the one in Heidelberg was shut down. This time the members keep a lower profile by conducting their bizarre experiments on each other; they implant one another with synthetic muscles.
The “playing God” factor is dialed all the way up as Jo’s colleagues, including the story’s chief adversary Dr. Müller-LaRousse (Herbert Knaup), bend not only society’s laws but also the laws of nature. No random victims are plucked off the streets and cut open in the name of medicine, and there is certainly no whodunit mystery to solve. In fact, Dr. Müller-LaRousse and his underlings are identified as the villains toward the beginning. The majority of the film then details their twisted actions, which rarely involve anyone outside their clique other than Nurse Lee (Rosie Alvarez) and Jo’s brother (Hanno Koffler), who serve as the protagonist’s lifelines.
The first Anatomy film sees a family’s legacy marred by a hidden connection to the Anti-Hippocratics, whereas the second delivers Faustian stakes. Anatomy 2 indeed trades suspense for overlong infighting and half-baked addiction parallels; this new direction neglects the original’s groundwork about the surreptitious rise of neo-Nazism. However, the sequel scores extra credit for simply being so over the top. As divergent as these German horror movies are in both plot and execution, together they rouse and twist preexisting anxieties about doctors and medical conspiracies.
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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