The German Chainsaw Massacre - The First Hour of the Reunification (German: Das deutsche Kettensägenmassaker), also known as Blackest Heart in the United States, is a 1990 German horror film written and directed by Christoph Schlingensief and starring Karina Fallenstein, Alfred Edel, Udo Kier and Irm Hermann. It is the second film in Schlingensief's Deutschlandtrilogie (German Trilogy).
Contents
Plot
Set against the background of German reunification in 1990, the plot centers on a group of East Germans who cross the border to visit West Germany and get slaughtered by a psychopathic West German cannibal family with chainsaws who want to turn them into sausages.
Cast
Alfred Edel as Alfred
Karina Fallenstein as Clara
Artur Albrecht as Ihr Liebhaber
Susanne Bredehöft as Ihr Mann / Margit
Brigitte Kausch as Brigitte
Volker Spengler as Henk
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt as Dietrich
Reinald Schnell as Kurti
Udo Kier as Jonny
Eva-Maria Kurz as Zöllnerin
Irm Hermann as DDR-Grenzerin
Production
Schlingensief conceived the idea for the film after he had viewed bootleg copies of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (which were both banned in Germany) and found the second film to be "superb for its richness in imagery and double entendres". He wrote the script in a matter of days after the German reunification.
Reception
Time Out lauded the film as "abrasive, relentless, cruelly funny and enjoyably deranged." Sean Leonard of HorrorNews.net calling it "an artsy, gory horror movie in the vein of Tobe Hooper’s classic", with the director's pointed social commentary.