Plot: What’s it about?
It seems like very little ever goes right for Mathias (Olaf Ittenbach), who has the worst luck most of the time and of late, has been having some horrific visions. These visions are bathed in blood and supernatural darkness, as Mathias is transported through time to all sorts of locales, all of which are steeped in terror. Mathias is taken to war ravaged Germany, the darkest period of The Dark Ages, and even to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with each encounter painting some kind of vision of a dark future ahead of Mathias. But he tries to ignore them, going through his usual motions and getting his groin injured on a regular basis. When his father unearths some odd items while digging in the backyard however, it seems as if the visions might not be just a figment of Mathias’ imagination after all. Mathias browses a book found in the ground, unaware that it is an ancient text of pure evil, which will soon cause the dead to rise from their graves. As the living dead prowl the area and kill whatever gets in their path, the time of return for Premutos, God of Darkness draws closer and unless someone can end this chaos, the world is doomed…
A splatter film with one hell of an odd chain of events, Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead has arrived in America, in an uncut & uncensored version, no less. While it can’t surpass the immortal Dead Alive in terms of entertainment or sheer gore content, Premutos makes a valiant effort on the blood side and has ample red stuff splashing about. You’ll see one man suffer an endless string of groin injuries, plus some scenes of zombie mayhem and of course, a witch being burned at the stake, a solid assortment of horror elements. As for the gore, the methods of splatter are wide and include a pickax, guns of all kinds, a massive chainsaw, various bladed tools, and believe or not, even a tank is used to spread brain matter here. The blood flows throughout, but never reaches a frenetic level until about the last half hour or so, when all hell breaks loose. The acting is bad, but the cast is just normal folks, so you can’t complain too much, while Olaf Ittenbach’s direction is solid, given the circumstances. This is highly recommended to fans of splatter cinema, but keep in mind, the storyline and acting do leave a lot to be desired. Even so, Premutos is a fun movie with some excellent carnage, especially in this uncut & uncensored edition.
Video: How does it look?
Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead is presented in a full frame transfer. I’m not sure of the intended aspect ratio of this movie, but since I saw no pan & scan and the visuals seem well composed, I assume this is an acceptable format. I’ve also owned a Spanish import and it was also full frame, so perhaps this is how Ittenbach intended Premutos to be shown. As this was a low budget production, the transfer shows some of the limitations, mostly stuff like poor lighting and other technical issues. The contrast is solid, though some darker scenes lose detail, but as I mentioned, this is a production issue, not a flaw with this treatment. The print is in good condition and while not a pristine transfer, given the nature of the production and its budget limitations, I think this is about as good as we could have expected.
Audio: How does it sound?
This is where my disappointment with the disc lies, as while the original German language is included, no subtitles have been created. So you can listen to the audio as intended, but as with previous overseas releases, the lack of English subtitles means unless you speak German, you’re out of luck here. Shock-O-Rama has included an English language track, but it seems corny to be kind, with most of the voices provided by Seduction Cinema regulars. The dialogue in the English track seems thin and doesn’t match up well, perhaps due to the methods used to record the vocals, plus some sound effects are absent from this version. I am pleased to have the German track on deck, but the English dub track is so laughable, I recommend fans simply go with the German option, even without subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
A solid behind the scenes featurette is included, which has been given an English dub by John Bacchus, frequent Seduction Cinema director. This is the same piece as seen on the Spanish import of Premutos, though with the English dub, you can now tell what the hell is going on, even if you don’t speak German. I would have rather had the featurette subtitled, but I won’t nitpick in this case.
