NEKROMANTIK (1987)

A Masterpiece of the Underground: Jörg Buttgereit's Nekromantik (1987)

In the late 1980s, the horror genre was largely dominated by glossy American slashers and high-budget special effects. Operating entirely outside of this commercial ecosystem, a young West German director named Jörg Buttgereit unleashed a piece of cinema so profoundly disturbing and subversive that it immediately became the holy grail of the underground tape-trading circuit. Nekromantik is not just an exploitation film; it is a transgressive, pitch-black romantic tragedy exploring themes that mainstream cinema actively refuses to touch.

The film follows Rob (played by co-composer Daktari Lorenz) and his girlfriend Betty (Beatrice Manowski), a socially isolated couple bound together by a shared, consuming necrophilia. Rob exploits his grim job—cleaning up catastrophic accidents—to supply their morbid fetish. When he brings home an entire rotting corpse, Buttgereit subverts the traditional romantic triangle. The corpse becomes the object of Betty's true affection, displacing Rob entirely. It is a grotesque parody of domestic decay and romantic jealousy, played out in the shadows of West Berlin.

The Anatomy of Transgression and Censorship

It is impossible to discuss Nekromantik without acknowledging its legendary battles with international censorship. Upon its release, the film was universally condemned by moral watchdogs. It faced outright bans in numerous countries, and copies were frequently confiscated by authorities who classified the work as legally obscene. Buttgereit did not create the film to appease classification boards; he created it to provoke.

Yet, to label the film purely as a vehicle for shock value is to miss Buttgereit's dark, satirical edge. The director juxtaposes the horrific acts on screen with an oddly melancholic, hauntingly beautiful piano score composed by Daktari Lorenz, Hermann Kopp, and John Boy Walton. This stark contrast between the repulsive visuals of decaying flesh and the romantic, sweeping soundtrack forces the audience into a state of deep cognitive dissonance. You are watching unspeakable acts, yet the film frames them with the tragic sentimentality of a classical romance.

Love, Death, and the Ultimate Isolation

Beneath the extreme gore and the taboo subject matter lies a deeply cynical commentary on human isolation. Rob and Betty are completely disconnected from the societal norms of West Germany. Their inability to connect with the living forces them to seek intimacy with the dead—entities that cannot judge, reject, or leave them. When the corpse inevitably drives a wedge between the couple, Rob's resulting descent into fatalistic depression leads to one of the most infamously graphic, self-destructive climaxes in the history of extreme cinema.

Why We Curate This Underground Broadcast

The digitization of media was supposed to democratize art, but algorithmic censorship has practically erased films like Nekromantik from modern platforms. Mainstream streaming services refuse to acknowledge the existence of cinema that operates outside of safe, sanitized boundaries. Sharing The Sickness was built specifically to combat this cultural erasure.

We do not alter, censor, or dilute the intense reality of these transgressive works. Our archive is dedicated to locating and providing access to the rawest versions of these films. By curating this embedded broadcast, we ensure that you can watch the completely uncut edition of Nekromantik, preserving Jörg Buttgereit's notorious vision in its entirety. This is cinema that exists on the absolute fringes of human morality—and it demands to be seen without compromise.

Enter the macabre world of Rob and Betty. Watch the decay, and witness the birth of an underground legend.

Frequently Asked Questions About Nekromantik (1987)