The Burning Moon is a German horror anthology movie directed
by special effects artist Olaf Ittenbach.
It contains two predictable, uneven, but mostly enjoyable stories. However, it’s the wraparound segments that
really make it memorable.
In the Wraparound (***), a punk (Ittenbach) deliberately
pisses away a job opportunity so he can partake in a big gang fight. He comes home, where he is less than enthused
to have to babysit his sister while his parents are out of town. She makes him read her bedtime stories and he
cheerfully makes up some of the most grotesque shit imaginable to scare the
pants off her.
The first story is called Julia’s Love (***). A schizophrenic serial killer escapes from a
mental hospital. Meanwhile, a single
woman goes out on a blind date with a guy who turns out to be the very same
escapee. She’s able to get away, but he follows
her home to torment her further.
The Purity (** ½) is set in the ‘50s. A priest rapes and kills a woman in the woods
before sacrificing another woman and drinking her blood during a black mass
ritual. The locals blame a farmhand for
the murders and routinely beat him up. When
they eventually go too far and kill him, he rises from the grave to get
revenge.
The Wraparound is often very funny. The scenes of Ittenbach standing up to
authority are good for a few laughs, and the gang fight scene feels like Repo
Man Meets The Outsiders. These scenes
are great, but unfortunately the ending is a bit underwhelming.
Julia’s Love is pretty basic. Some of the effects are laughable (like the
obvious dummy), but no more so than your typical Troma movie. Still, the high body count and copious
amounts of gore means you should be pleasantly entertained. The shot of an eyeball being swallowed alone
is worth the price of admission. I also
loved the serial killer’s pick-up line:
“I want you to absorb all of my love juice!”
The Purity has a much slower pace and is more serious in
tone, which of course means it isn’t nearly as much fun. There’s more of an emphasis on atmosphere
here than in the previous story. Other
than that, it’s pretty slow going.
Things get quite gory by the end, but it’s not much of a payoff as much
of it makes little sense. While there’s
still some squirm-inducing moments here (like the tooth drilling scene), it’s
just not enough of them to put this story into the win column.
Qualms aside, The Burning Moon should please anthology
horror fans as well as die-hard gorehounds alike.
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