Horror Vacui
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRosa von Praunheim
Screenplay by
  • Cecil Brown
  • Marianne Enzensberger
  • Rosa von Praunheim
Produced byRosa von Praunheim
Starring
CinematographyElfi Mikesch
Edited by
  • Mike Shephard
  • Rosa von Praunheim
Music byMarran Gosov
Production
company
Rosa Von Praunheim Filmproduktion
Release date
1984
Running time
85 minutes
CountryWest Germany

Horror Vacui (German: Horror Vacui - Die Angst vor der Leere) is a 1984 German avant-garde film directed by Rosa von Praunheim.[1]

The film was shown at international film festivals and in 1985 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.[2]

Plot

Shot in a neo-expressionist style, the film is a satire on cults of any kind. The plot follows Frankie and Hannes, a young gay couple living in Berlin. One is studying art and the other medicine. Their happy life is disrupted when Frankie attends a lecture and quickly becomes involved in a sinister cult operating as a self-help group called "Optimal Optimism". 'Madame C', a former Nazi party member, is the leader of 'Optimal Optimism'. When the cult members find out that Frankie is gay, they rape him. Hannes has to find a way to save him.[3][1]

Awards

Reception

"If you have a soft spot for fantastic and ironic films, you won't feel any inner emptiness [horror vacui] with Praunheim's wealth of fantasy." (Cinema Film Journal)[5]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Murray, Images in the Dark, p. 109
  2. ↑ "Recent Films From West Germany" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  3. ↑ "Horror Vacui: The Fear of Emptiness (Horror Vacui: Die Angst ver der Leere)". Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  4. ↑ "Rosa von Praunheim - Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  5. ↑ Cinema, no. 10, Oktober 1984 (Journal 77), p. 60

References

  • Murray, Raymond. Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video. TLA Publications, 1994, ISBN 978-1-880707-01-2
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