Product Description Otto is a handsome, sensitive, neo-Goth gay zombie with an identity crisis. He wanders the streets of the city, never sleeping, until one day he auditions for a zombie film. The director, an eccentric bohemain, begins making a film about Otto, while simultaneously shooting a film about a gay zombie revolt against consumerist society. As the final, orgiastic scene of the film is being shot, Otto struggles to access the human emotions buried beneath his zombie exterior. .com Bruce LaBruce’s feature Otto; Or, Up With Dead People will either thrill or repulse, as it is tailored to the rather specific sexual tastes that this art film director has spent his career elucidating. Otto does, however, vary from pornographic past LaBruce fetish films such as The Raspberry Reich and Skin Gang in that Otto will appeal to camp horror experts and those interested in conceptual links between abjection, fashion, and desire. As LaBruce fans may suspect, Otto; Or, Up With Dead People has a far-fetched plot that exists seemingly to provide framework for his visual explorations of homosexual identity. In it, a young, sexy zombie, Otto (Jey Crisfar), wanders Berlin streets until filmmaker Medea Yarn (Katharina Klewinghaus), whose name is Maya Deren with a twist, casts Otto in her upcoming zombie flick. Paired with actor Fritz Fritze (Marcel Schlutt), the viewer wonders throughout if Otto is a true zombie or another actor amongst the several he is filmed with. In this, there is the constant meta-film, an external narrative that asks the viewer to assess one’s own willingness to believe in monsters. With the help of her brother/DP, Adolf (Guido Sommer), and her girlfriend, Hella Bent (Susanne Sachse), who appears only in vintage looking, black and white footage as if she’s a ghost transmitting from the past, Medea directs Otto in various insalubrious settings, such as the Berlin dump. The effect is humorous and extremely odd. Not until Otto dials up ex-boyfriend, Rudolf, to meet on a park bench does one begin to understand the roots of Otto’s past, which has led to existential crisis. Structurally, the film is quite scenic and abstract, and its cool soundtrack, which includes CocoRosie and Antony and the Johnsons, reinforces the music video, Kenneth Anger aspect of this stylistic movie. Several times throughout, in fact, are mock mentions of the high fashion industry’s vampiric way of thieving style away from those who wear clothes as sincere expression. Zombie fashion, in Otto’s world, is totally in. While the plot falls in an out of focus, scenes lend a picturesque, dream-like setting to several recognizable Berlin hotspots, such as the abandoned amusement park, Spreewald, and the Badeschiff along the Spree River. This is to say that as much as Otto; Or, Up With Dead People is a horror film, it also captures and meditates on trends in current fashion and art communities. As mentioned before, there is less sex in this feature than in LaBruce’s previous, yet a warning should be issued that the erotic scenes in Otto are straight-up gruesome, porno-updates of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast and other gore fests. --Trinie Dalton
D**E
Very odd. But interesting.
I'm going to start off by saying that a gay zombie movie sounds amazing. But this is not really a gay zombie movie. Otto is a guy who thinks that he is a zombie in a world that hates zombies to the point of killing them in broad daylight. He has no memory of what happened before he bacame a "zombie" and auditions for a zombie film. While shooting the movie he has some sexual encounters with people but in his head he eats them. There's plenty of weird zombie sex going on and a story behind Otto.*spoiler*Otto got dumped by his boyfriend when he was sent to the psych ward for some psychological diseases. There's a list of them. Basically, Otto's crazy because his boyfriend left him after he was diagnosed.*end of spoiling*Otto is a story about finding love in a world of hate and discrimination. There is no hordes of undead trying to kill people, they just want sex.
N**S
The French import Blu-ray of Otto is AWESOME...
Unexpectedly fell in love with this movie, and with the main character; Otto. My comments are regarding the French region 2 blu-ray. The picture quality is outstanding, esp. when viewed on 4K upsampling TV. The up-grade over the standard DVD is worth the extra money if you are a fan of this film. Not mentioned in Amazon's description, Labruce's "LA Zombie" is added to this disk as a bonus. It has optional English subtitles which can be turned off. It's anamorphic, so the image fills your wide-screen TV without annoying black bars. I have not been able to find the extras in the main menu however. The DVD has the commentary by Bruce Labruce option, and this disk is said to have it also, but I dont see it, so can not personaly verify. If you have a multi-region blu-ray player, and love this film, you will not be dissapointed, at least in the image quality.
K**N
Defo a rental. Fun for 18+
Weird. Lol Zombies doing stuff lol STUFF! Yes...The ending aka last 20 minutes were the best. I just watched it because it was recommended by a friend lol He and I have some different tastes I guess. Lol
W**N
Gay Zombies; What's Not To Like.
Not for everyone; part agitprop,part gay porn,part coming of age, "Otto,Or Up With Dead People" is for those of us who love scratchy,confusing,and haunting cleverness. The plight of poor sweet Otto,erstwhile vegetarian,now hungry for flesh: erstwhile lonely teenager,now searching for love and acceptance after death,is surprisingly touching. The sub-plot of a propoganda film starring zombie Otto is ultimately the richest part of the plot,i.e. what you'll ponder later; but strange lovely Otto should touch anyone who has been confused and lonely. A special mention for the music soundtrack...(I love COCO ROSIE). If this is your cup of tea check out filmmaker Bruce LeBruce's other films. He's wildly unconventional.
T**Y
Bruce LaBruce
A typical LaBruce movie. Either you like him or you don't. I'm the latter.
K**N
I wasn't attracted to zombies until...
I mean... It's Zombie sex, gay zombie sex for that matter. There are some interesting elements to this movie’s production however the music is terrible but it's gay zombie sex. I guess for anyone who has a zombie fetish, like.. You can act out such a fetish unless you manage to come across a zombie... Many movies make it out like it's probable but hey, why not sleep with one, having gay zombie sex?
A**A
Amazing Film
I loved everything that this film did (except the English, subtitles may have been a better way to go just because of very thick accents). It was quirky, sexy, and much deeper than it would first seem. It was almost better that *maybe potential spoilers* nothing seemed to change at the end. It was just one part of a life that, unlike many on the screen, began before and continued past the film itself. It had an incredible soundtrack and very interesting cinematography. I will definitely watch it again!
D**D
Low budget but interesting criticism of gay culture
This is not a horror film about zombies. You realize pretty quickly that Otto is not really a zombie, and he is just interpreting the world and himself very darkly. The film equates zombies with gay culture, criticizing it for its materialism and conformism (the director's words in a recent interview). That's interesting, but it's not clear what happened to Otto to cause his break with humanity, so in that sense the film doesn't seem to go any deeper than social satire.
A**N
Not Into Zombies
I don't watch zombie films, you see one zombie, you've seen them all. But this one is a parody, about gay German zombies no less, with a bit of actual pornography thrown in. It appeals to me because it's different, and it could hold its own with the best weirdness that Japan has to offer.I toyed with the idea of purchasing the sequel - L.A. Zombie - which has a full-on pornographic version, until I watched the uncensored trailer and saw the zombies having sex wearing condoms. Dead people afraid of contracting a disease? That's a joke. But then maybe it's meant to be.
W**G
Otto Or Up With Dead People
Schockierend, nicht in einem Ablauf verträglich, weil recht grausam und teils widerlich. Insgesamt sehr provozierend und herausfordernd. Die Philosophie ist zwar interessant und durch Bilder verständlich dargestellt, stellt aber auch hohe Anfordrungen an den Konsumenten.
A**R
Ugh!
The plot, where it isn't just silly and/or pretentious, meanders; the acting is poor; and I wish I hadn't bought it.
E**N
furchtbar
das ist wirklich ein Film total ohne Sinn, völliger Schwachsinn und ganz schön eklig, wenn auch viel geschminktes Fleisch zu sehen ist
E**Y
umm, this is cut right?
I mean, cut to get an "18", like the UK releases of Skin Flick, No Skin Off My Ass, etc. Can anyone confirm this?Luckily it's very cheap (unlike the US Region 1). The Bruce Labruce aesthetic is: gossamer situation (let's not dignify it with the term storyline), quaint cod-Germanic solemnity, elaborate sendups of underground cinema, and lashings of straight and gay sex. The action is an important element in retaining the viewer's attention all the way through, with the interspersed scenes providing relief, as well as a novel view of the clothed performers. Am I alone in being annoyed that the UK 18 guidelines have seen this trimmed to a few longshot glimpses of obviously hardcore sequences? I mean, what's the difference between this and 9 Songs or Shortbus?If this is indeed the stump of a Labruce, alternative measures are suggested for those seeking to own it.
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