Rohtenburg (2006)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Martin Weisz

Writer (WGA):

T.S. Faull (written by)

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Inspired By the True Story That Shocked A Nation

Plot:

In Germany, as graduate student Katie Armstrong researches cannibal killer Oliver Hagen for her thesis...

Plot Keywords:

Cannibal | Germany | Based On Fact | Knife | Psychopath

Awards:

9 wins

Cast

Keri Russell	...	Katie Armstrong
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Oliver Hartwin
Thomas Huber	...	Simon Grombeck
Rainier Meissner	...	Young Oliver
Angelika Bartsch	...	Viktoria
Alexander Martschewski	...	Rudy
Nils Dommning	...	Karl
Marcus Lucas	...	Felix
Pascal Andres	...	Young Simon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helga Bellinghausen	...	Simon's Mom
Sigrid Burkholder	...	Mourner 1
Tatjana Clasing	...	Hanna
Stefan Gebelhoff	...	Simon's Dad
Jonas Gruber	...	Rainer
Bojan Heyn	...	Bully
Nikolai Kinski	...	Otto Hauser
Renate Naujoks	...	House Wife
Valerie Niehaus	...	Margit
Jörg Reimers	...	Oliver's Dad
Dagmar Sachse	...	Mourner 2
Sybille J. Schedwill	...	Frau Schinder (as Sybille Schedwill)
Horst Scheel	...	Prof. Zech (as Horst D. Scheel)
Pierre Shrady	...	The principal
Anatole Taubman	...	Eager Man
Axel Wedekind	...	Domino

Also Known As:

Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (Germany) (working title)
Grimm Love (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

Germany:90 min | Argentina:86 min (DVD version)

Country:

Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Germany:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/18 | UK:18 | Argentina:18 | Canada:R (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Germany

Company:

Senator Entertainment Co

Trivia:

3rd March 2006: The state court in Kassel upheld a complaint from Meiwes, 44, against the film Rohtenburg, which was due for release in Germany on 9 March. The court ruled that Meiwes' rights as an individual outweighed artistic freedom and that he should not become the object of a horror film. On May 26 2009, Germany's highest civil court overturned the ban, ruling that freedom of the arts took precedence over Meiwes' personality rights. The court also ruled that because the film didn't distort the well-known facts of the case, Meiwes' rights were not violated. The film was finally released in German cinemas on June 18 2009.

Quotes:

Eager Man: [Eager Man meets cannibal through personal ad; strung up and about to be butchered, he changes his mind] I don't want to do this! Let me down! Let me down! Let me down!
Oliver Hartwin: I said serious only.

Movie Connections:

References Faces of Death (1978)

Soundtrack:

I Like Plastique

Disgusting result of a destroyed society

After the promising first minutes of the movie which look like they where trying to build a serious profile behind the killings, the movie drifts to a simple and disgusting presentation of violence.

A movie made for perverts...

The acting is decent, the storyline is not. The entire plot focused on the student trying to understand the psyche of the killer is only based loosely on the facts, all leading to build up more shots with violence. Even so it may have happened that way - why would you make a movie that features the most disgusting things a human has done? Looked to me like the director and writer failed to find a clear statement for the film and therefore went down the easy way by producing a flick that thrives on pain and the scandal behind it to get recognition at the box office.