Kren & Hessler's BLOOD GLACIER: Oooh--wanna see some surprise side effects of climate change?

Really: How can any genuine genre aficionado resist a movie with a title like BLOOD GLACIER? I couldn't, anyway, because that title immediately brought expectations of everything from gore to global warming. When I checked into the resume of the film's director, Marvin Kren and discovered he'd also directed one of my favorite zombie movies of the new decade -- the swift, smart, subtle and stylish (if-no-budget) German film, Rammbock --
the deal was sealed.

Rammbock took a hugely overworked genre and raised it a notch or two. With Blood Glacier, Kren (shown at right) and his writer, Benjamin Hessler, are working in the mode of a genre we haven't seen so often of late: the "warning" film about the hugely destructive effect of mankind upon our world. (From the original Godzilla through Tarantula, Them, and onwards, a myriad of movies underscored this theme in the decade following our use of Atomic bombs on Japan.) In addition to being one of those "warning" films, Blood Glacier is, as were most of the rest, a monster movie. Or to be absolutely correct: a monsters movie, as there are quite a few species involved.

I wouldn't put a whole lot of faith in the "science" provided by the film as a basis on which to build the scenario, but so far as these scary tales go, this one is no more or less believable than many others. The scenario simply gives the moviemakers something on which to build their scares and suspense, and they do a pretty good job of it, overall.

The story: a group of scientists working in the Austrian Alps discover that a glacier seems to be oozing a red liquid, the effect of which does some rather nasty things to the local wildlife.  How the liquid is doing this is up for grabs but what it is doing appears to meld various species together.

Into this suddenly discovered mess arrives a government minister (nicely played with strength and sass by Brigitte Kren -- above, center: any relation to the director, I wonder?) and her entourage, which includes the former girlfriend (Edita Malovcic, below right) of the guy who comes closest to being to "hero" of the film (Gerhard Liebmann, below, left), just as the shit hits full-blast. Soon it is every man and woman for him/herself, with a number of those quickly lost to the "newcomers."

The special effects department must have had a field day creating some of these odd, derivative species, and the filmmaker uses them for maximum thrills and suspense. And if the suspense sometimes nearly topples into camp, that's OK, too, because that's part of the fun of films like this one.

Among the main characters, your favorite might be the sweet mascot dog at the campsite, whose role in the proceedings just keeps growing. The plotting may look by rote, but pay attention, seeds planted along the way bloom later, and the finale is a lollapalooza -- simultaneously heart-warming and horrific.

Performances are adequate to the matter at hand -- scaring the pants off you/making you giggle. Overall, there is enough fright, laughs, surprises and irony here to please a lot of genre fans. As to the climate change/global warming warning, what we see here should only happen to Republicans. And if the movie doesn't turn them into raging environmentalists, it will at least get them on board with abortion.

Blood Glacier -- distributed by IFC Films' Midnight division, running 98 minutes, and dubbed into English pretty well -- opens in theaters this Friday, May 2, simultaneously with its appearance on VOD. In New York City it'll open at the IFC Center. Elsewhere? Who knows -- but its VOD appearance ensures that genre fans across the country can take a look.

AMC, BloodyDisgusting & The Collective inaugurate late-night summer fright flicks: Kren & Hessler's zombie tale RAMMBOCK

If the new horror-film series that debuts this Wednesday (at AMC theaters in around 25 cities cross-country) proves as good in toto as its first film RAMMBOCK, then we genre freaks are in for multiple treats. A presen-tation of AMC, together with the well-known horror website Bloody
Disgusting.com and The Collective (which, after a half-hour web search, I still could not find), the series hopes to offer us "the best horror and thriller titles from the festival and international markets." Ladies and gentlemen: With this new and notable member of the ever-present-but-rarely-interesting zombie franchise, it is off to an awfully good start.

Filmmakers Benjamin Hessler (writer: shown at left) and Marvin Kren (director: shown below, right) initially seem to have repeated what a number of movies from a number of different countries have already given us: zombies taking over buildings, com-munities, and perhaps whole countries. We've see this from England (28 Days Later), France (La Horde), Spain [REC] and of course the good 'ol USA (too numerous to mention,

but a shout-out is directed to George Romero). Even little Norway last year offered up Dead Snow, and I hear Israel has just given us something of the sort, and now comes Germany's turn. If, initially, our film-making duo seems to be following the zombie playbook in its all too tried-and-true fashion, hold on. Almost immediately, little yet welcome differences emerge. All the characters here avoid being mere cliché and would, in fact, be of interest in any non-zombie movie.

Starting with the film's lovesick co-hero (a sad and dear performance from Michael Fuith, above left) who by his own bumbling and dumb luck ends up trapped in one of the building's apartments with a young worker (Theo Trebs, above, right, of The White Ribbon) whose boss has suddenly zombie-fied and is now, along with a number of others (see below), on the rampage.

These two make an unusual and charming pair, and despite having little in common, they seem to bring out the best in each other, right through to the fraught, suspenseful, sad and possible hopeful finale. You will see and feel things in and from this little movie that I believe no other zombie film has managed. Deep, zombie love, perhaps, and a climax that approaches the religious (and I am not talking about the kind of religion that wards off a vampire with a crucifix).

Yes, there is some quasi-gore here but compared to many others movies in the genre, it's mild. I doubt aficionados will mind, for blood and guts have been replaced with intelligence and surprise, and a sense, even, of adventure that's rare to the genre. Instead of constant gnawing and nibbling, the filmmakers offer us spatial wonder: confinement in very small areas, escape into realms that seem new and wondrous (there's an attic scene that's quite something, followed by a rooftop moment that suddenly allows us and our hero to rest -- and breathe).

Every time, in fact, that the movie reminds you of another such film, almost immediately it also seems better than that film. Economical to the max (it runs but 64 minutes, including credits), Rammbock makes the most of its time -- offering a virus with a twist of two of it own, dual love stories that actually work (as much for their brevity as for their necessity and/or feelings) and finally betrayal/sacrifice.

It might seem somewhat appalling that theaters will rake in today's ticket prices for a movie that lasts little more than one hour. Yet minute for minute, the entertainment value here is very high -- much more so than in many longer, big-budget movies -- so I doubt there will be complaints from intelligent lovers of the horror genre. Each movie in this series -- click here to see the three so far scheduled -- plays late night, once or twice weekly, with each theater evidently playing it at its own preferred times. So be sure to check the schedule carefully at your theater of choice so as not to be disappointed.

One more thing: Remember that if you've bought a ticket for the Friday midnight show, this does not mean that you're seeing it late on Friday night. Get there late on Thursday night.) Once the movie is finished with its theatrical play, I am told that it is also slated for VOD, so there should be many opportunities to see the terrific little Rammbock in the weeks, maybe months, to come.