Rohtenburg (original German title)Synopsis: In Germany, as graduate student Katie Armstrong (Kerri Russell) researches cannibal killer Oliver Hagen for her thesis, she becomes obsessed with her subject and ultimately plunges into a lifestyle similar to Hagen's and the thousands of people like him.
Inspired by the unbelievably inhuman yet real-life horror case of Armin "The Rohtenburg Cannibal" Meiwes, a lonely and introvert homosexual who placed an internet add looking for volunteers to get slaughtered and consumed by him. No, really. And he got a response by a guy who wanted to be eaten. A perfect match!
So yeah this is pretty shocking and obviously sick as the story is re-enacted via the research and profiling of an American psychology student (Keri Russell) residing in Germany to work on her thesis. Her whole story is sort of wrapped around the real story and really only serves as a bit of a distraction.
It spends a large amount of time digging up the men's backgrounds and illustrating their personalities. It gets a bit tedious and frankly is still pretty vague on a lot of the facts. The cinematography is pretty dark and depressing while the slow pacing and grim set-pieces set-up a very creepy atmosphere. It's just that it's all so slow, dark and depressing it's just far from an enjoyable watch or even really that interesting once things are established and you see where it's going, especially if you already know the true story it's based on.
Decently acted, obviously gross and a bit dull overall, morbid curiosity is about the only reason to see this I guess, similar to the title character's reasons for her thesis. It's Brokeback Mountain with cannibals! Yay!
5/10
