Der Henker 1 & 2

Der Henker placed me a bit deeper within the German Underground! In German Der Henker means The Hangman; I suppose it is just an alternative to The Executioner which our killer is known as.

Martin Kro; my friend and owner of Cyberpunk Kaiju Experimentalworld, asked if I was interested.

Naturally I stated yes! Not everyday you get asked to be involved in something you love.

With names such as its writer director El Excremento, members of Anal Fistfuckers, and Cunt Grinder involved you know what to expect. Cheap and nasty splatter! Kadaverfucker for the soundtrack adds to the mayhem with their grind, pig squeal death and punk sonic discharge!

German Splatter Underground at its cheapest and nastiness! We have thanks to Andreas Schnaas and his Violent Shit franchise for Der Henker 1 & 2!

Der Henker (2003)

A woman has snapped and killed her husband. Verbally abusing her son as she drags the body away in a bag. After dumping the corpse down a gorge she herself dies in a car accident. Her son is placed into a mental institution.

Six years later he makes a bloody escape!

Death befalls the unwary as The Executioner wanders the countryside!

For Der Henker, we get a scene shot in black and white. Of the mother dragging a duffle bag with the body of her husband inside. She drags it down the stairs muttering about her son all the way. She then takes the body to an embankment where she dumps it.

Then the present time is shot in colour. Our killer, The Executioner, wonders the woods wearing a mask similar to that of Karl the Butcher Jr (Violent Shit 2/3/4).

The whole like and texture is similar to a few of the other earlier German Splatter films. For me this adds to the whole experience and I love it!

Der Henker 2 (2014)

The Executioner returns!

On a path of death, mayhem and destruction!

This time he is after someone. It turns out he has a brother and needs to kill him. On his trail are two doctors out to stop him and end this madness!
No one is safe; street bums, gang members, lovers and those around his brother all befall the wrath of The Executioner!

For the sequel there is a story of sorts!

The Executioner has a brother who has been following the story with his girlfriend. Part of his storyline is that he visits a psychologist. Which leads up to this strange scene of said psychologist Break Dancing while the scene is shot in hues of purple. No idea why he just does. Along with this we have two doctors who are after The Executioner.

Alas, again, Der Henker 2 is all about blood and gore soaked mayhem!

But then that is why I watched it in the first place!

GORE…SICKNESS…INSANITY…FILTH…DEPRAVITY

German Underground Splatter!

Very micro budget Splatter at that!

Gore!

Stabbings! Face ripped off! Disembowlments! Faces smashed in with rocks! Sledgehammer to head! Axe to faces! People beheaded!

A scythe attack on a gang!

The Executioner spins around and people have their limbs amputated and beheaded. All this while he spins around with the camera filming from the scythe facing him. We see limbs dropping onto the ground.

Sickness!

Blood, gore, torture and more!

Insanity!

The Executioner’s mother! Dragging a bag with the body of her husband. Muttering about him and her son.

What isn’t insane with a guy who must have watched Violent Shit 2 a million times as a kid and decided to re-enact his favorite film!

Near the end of Der Henker 2 we even get The Executioner arming himself with a chain flail. Which consists of the handle, chain, and three skulls! With this he ends up wandering into a metal concert. Here people die by decapitation and other bloody, gory, demises! What can I say; insanity unfolds before the viewer’s eyes!

Filth!

I suppose a guy pissing and getting his cock cut off can be counted here.

Depravity!

A baby gets cut out of its mother’s womb. Another has its head crushed barehanded then hung on a meat hook. The executioner does all sorts of nasty stuff to newborn babies in a nursery after killing the nurse. There is a pattern here! The Executioner doesn’t like babies!

Don’t come into this expecting Ittenbach. Hell, don’t entertain the notion you will even get early Schnaas gore. Paper mache heads with smiley faces, dummies, baby-dolls. Cheap as chips effects but to be honest I really liked it anyway. Quite simply because it is a statement of you too can create a gore film! May not be top notch but still it is something.

Der Henker 1 & 2 are not Timo Rose, Olaf Ittenbach or to the same level as Andreas Schnaas’ early efforts. They are though a fans films based on the love of Violent Shit and other similar films from the German Splatter scene of the late 80s and later. At no time was I bored or whatever. Der Henker 1 & 2 show that you can make a film that brings you on an insane ride without a real budget; just use what you have and go for it!

Shocking!

Thrilling!

Terrifying!