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Premutos: The Fallen Angel - Premutos: The Fallen Angel ( Blu Ray & CD) [Unearthed Films - 2022]

Released in the late 1990’s Premutos: The Fallen Angel is an epic example of the German splatter form. It blends together limb ‘n’ head lopping historic flashbacks, horse toothed gore headed and glowing eye creature attacks, and extremely splattering zombie action- with sidesteps into crude-slap stick comedy, and bickering party drama. Here from the folks at Unearthed Films, is a double-disc release of the film- the first blu ray disc features two versions of the picture, and a few extras. And the second CD features the film's soundtrack.

Appearing in the year 1997 Premutos: The Fallen Angel( aka Premutos - Der gefallene Engel, Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead) was written and directed by Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria born Olaf Ittenbach. To date he’s had twenty-one directorial credits to his name, as well as forty-one special effects credits- his feature-length credits go from gory anthology SOV The Burning Moon( 1992), brutal comedy horror film Legion of the Dead(2001), and history shifting gorefest Legend Of Hell (2012).

The blu-ray features two versions of the film- we have the longer just shy of two hours directors cut(in German with English subs), and the original cut- which runs at the one hour and forty six-minute mark, this is available in both German and English. I watched the director’s cut in full, and skipped through the English cut of the film- and I’d say, unless you’re a huge fan of the film watch the original cut, as it removes the rather overlong( and boring) historic animated pre-credits.

The film initially, in both versions, flashes back to the 1940s- where we have a selection of torch-carrying villages tracking down the town's warlock, who is digging up graves and doing things with the bodies. This very much nods towards the start of Fulci’s The Beyond- though, of course, it's way gorier. In time we move to the then present-day Germany- as we meet the rather hapless and accident-prone Mathias- he’s having dreams that flashback through history looking at how fallen angel Premutos has influenced people to cause bloody slaughters- we see the Middle Ages, the time of Christ, and a few other periods.

At around the hour mark, Mathias's parents decide to hold a dinner party for a few friends- and this is full of quirky and annoying characters, who make it a very awkward affair. In the meantime Mathias has got hold of an ancient book( hello The Evil Dead), which is starting off the summoning of Premutos- as the dead start to rise…he gets kissed by a woman in white, and next thing you know he’s got metal bars coming out of the stomach, barbwire warped around his head & body- as he shifts into a gore fleshed head entity, with huge horse teeth, glowing white-eyes, and shoots electricity from his hands. The recently raised dead are making their way to Mathias fathers party, as we move towards the manic and deranged blood bath final twenty-five minutes.

The acting here is passable for budget filmmaking- but there’s no doubt Ittenbach has managed to get a large supporting cast and is impressive for this type of film historic recreates. As with any splatter film the gore is the key pull here- and we get buckets of it- going from limbs and heads looped off, nasty stabbings/ throat and gut ripping’s. The last quarter really kicks into gore high gear- we have face ripped off, broadsword hackings, chainsaw body grinds, etc- and for the most part, it’s executed in an impressive and arty manner.

On the less positive side, the pacing/ plot of the whole thing is rather off- it’s improved in the original cut, but there are still issues. And at points, some of the humour feels a little forced and awkward. But as an epic example of German splatter films, this is an epic example of the genre- and if you’re a fan of German gore films, it’s a must, and can be seen as a classic of the genre.

Moving onto this new two-disc set. And first, we’ll talk about the Blu Ray, it seems the director's cut has been given a remastering, and this is a good and clear full-screen print- with good colour definition. The original version of the film looks as it probably was on its original release- and that’s fine. On the extras side of things, we get two major things- first in the making of, this runs fifty minutes & can be watched in either the original German or English dubbed. There’s Olaf Ittenbach - The Early Years, which runs one hour and twenty minutes- it’s a mix of footage of the director's early work, as well as interviews with the director himself- and this is most worth, highlighting his growth/ development as both a filmmaker and gore effects maker. Lastly, we get an original trailer & Image gallery.

The second disc is of course the CD- this takes in twenty tracks from the soundtrack. And these go from bombastic and dramatic dark fantasy/ adventure like cues- which are all big bounding drums & synthetic horn flows. Onto more m sounding fare, which I guess sits between more epic dungeon synth and neo-classic grand soundtrack. Through to more blends of more sleek electro beats, and bombastic synthetic horn & choirs soundtracking. And the metal meets bombastic horn metal that play out the film, and a swirling string meets jingling indie rock track.

It's great to see Premutos: The Fallen Angel getting this ultimate double-disc edition on Unearthed- with two cuts of the film, neat and lengthy extras, and the soundtrack CD. If you’re a fan of either splatter or extreme euro-horror this is something you’ll be needing to pick up!

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
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