Ach du Scheisse!

Langreview Kurzkritik English Version Fakten + Credits

The short films PIZZA PANIK and 7 KÖPFE FÜR DEN HENKER already give an early indication that director Lukas Rinker is not sparing with chaotic and idiosyncratic ideas in his now upcoming feature film debut. With Gedeon Burkhard, who is extremely popular in the national film scene and can frequently inspire with smaller and larger roles, Rinker has found an antagonist who was even able to embody an outstanding cliché character under Quentin Tarantino in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. With a fairly small crew and sparse sets, it can be assumed that this is a low-budget production.

That’s what it’s about

What the hell happened? Everything is dim and confusing as Frank wakes up to find himself in a fallen construction site toilet. Only slowly does he realise what has happened and gradually the numbing pain in his arm returns, making him feel that he is literally impaled and imprisoned. In his hopeless and awkward situation, Frank desperately searches for a way to get help or to save himself on his own. To make matters worse, he learns over loudspeaker announcements that he is in even greater danger and has only a short time left to save his life. But how is he to free himself? A fight for survival begins that has far-reaching consequences and makes him cross all boundaries.

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Review

Finally, German genre cinema shows what it can do. Rarely has real horror been so painful and entertaining at the same time. ACH DU SCHEISSE! is a chamber play that takes up only one square metre and still manages to maintain a contrasting and entertaining atmosphere and to live up to the film’s title. With a twinkle in his eye, director Lukas Rinker tells a survival story that offers a lot of variety, nice ideas and a lot of black-humoured satire that not only turns society upside down but, similar to DER KÖNIG VON KÖLN, holds a mirror up to the face of German entrepreneurship and reveals the ugly grimace of the exercise of power. Fraud and corruption only secondarily shape the film’s theme, but they are omnipresent at all times and give the work a raison d’être beyond entertaining horror. In particular, lead actor Thomas Niehaus, who already appeared in the fantastic film NUR EIN AUGENBLICK, deserves praise.

The main criticisms are real estate speculation, political machinations, merciless and ruthless financial dealings, as well as the power and exercise of power by well-known personalities. Basically, these are the very issues that are still surrounding the Colosseum cinema in Berlin, for example, which gives ACH DU SCHEISSE! a frightening topicality. Tragically, such satires merely expose the ills of German society but do not inspire action. Instead, the audience is rather enthralled by following the breath-taking, intriguing events of the financial sharks and throwing their hands up in horror at all the idiocy, instead of standing up and opposing this dramatic development themselves. Basically, one could even claim that such flicks put the audience into a kind of indifferent trance of entertainment, through which they become downright incapable of action. But this is not a criticism of the film at all, because at the same time such issues must of course be addressed before any action can be taken against them.

Niehaus in the WC (Worst Case)

Tragically, this only happens quite superficially and casually, which makes the work far too innocuous with its social criticism. Instead, the essential focus is still on a rather dirty and smelly survival story, which not only makes the screen shine, but also makes the head cinema glow in the strangest colours. Disgust plays a central role in various forms. It should be noted that we are nevertheless on an acceptable level of disgust, because instead of the characters throwing up senselessly in the area or using faecal humour or savouring the many other, unfortunately now taken for granted, abstrusities of German comedy, here we are placed in a comparatively natural environment of this feeling, which also becomes comprehensible to the audience.

Not infrequently, the question remains unspoken: What would happen if I were in that very situation? And fortunately, this can often be answered with the following words: I would do exactly the same thing. It is almost refreshing – if this word can be used at all in connection with ACH DU SCHEISSE! – how sensibly some decisions are made, even if chance and luck are once again the best helpers. Mind you, the audience should accept the premise wordlessly, because as soon as the basic idea is questioned, the whole film no longer works. Because let’s be honest: if the massive loss of blood hadn’t actually already led to death, then at least blood poisoning should have passed this sentence on the protagonist. Anyone with weak nerves should avoid this film in any case, because some scenes offer a high pain factor.

You urined my life!

Apart from that, we see a surprisingly well produced film, which is a bit of a Bavarian cliché and looks almost as comic as the accompanying poster. It even reminds us a little of the cartoons by Manfred Deix, which also found their way onto the screen this year with the film WILLKOMMEN IN SIEGHEILKIRCHEN, even though we find ourselves in a real-life adaptation. With the support of the two best-known manufacturers of mobile toilets DIXI and TOI TOI, the film team received four such cabins, which could be, and eventually were, abused at whim for the realisation of the film. In fact, the film was shot in chronological order, which meant that one essential cubicle fell victim to the destruction process piece by piece.

It should not be forgotten, however, that even the actually short 90-minute running time is still a little too long and the story, due to the few opportunities for development, unfortunately turns far too much in circles. At times, especially towards the end, the ideas become so wacky and crazy that the impression arises that Rinker wants to make the craziest film possible at all costs, even if any deeper message is lost in the process (it would not have been difficult to let this madness and the criticism develop and speak for themselves at the same time). Moreover, the audience must be aware that this is not a standard entertainment film, which is already clear from the fact that ACH DU SCHEISSE! was the winner of this year’s Audience Award at the HARD:LINE Film Festival.

Conclusion

As unusual as a horror-survival-splatter-comedy chamber play rooted in a Bavarian background may be, the scenario ultimately appears to be weird and rousing. Only hard-core cinema lovers will not be able to keep a straight face in the face of the most macabre injuries and the most disgusting acts. The black-humoured portion brings the best fun and burns the film into the memory, although it repeatedly seems as if all the narrative material has now been used up, causing the story to turn unnecessary spirals that somewhat diminish the cinematic enjoyment. Even though the film is mercilessly overdrawn, all this is done with a charming wink from the director, which makes a viewing well worthwhile and, on top of that, deconstructs German entrepreneurship a little in its foundations.

How did you like the movie?
(5 Bewertungen, Durchschnitt: 7,80 von 10)