Solvent (2024)
Uncovering Nazi Evil
An Austrian film shot entirely using a GoPro camera where a team investigating an abandoned farm uncover Nazi artifacts and an evil that seems to possess the lead character
Austrian Cinema
Rubikon (2022)
Space Station Crew Survive the End of the World
Austrian film where three people aboard a space station survive a toxic cloud that obliterates all life on Earth below
Little Joe (2019)
Body Snatching Plants
A modestly effective variant on the body snatchers theme with a scientist developing new plants coming to the realisation that the plants are taking over people’s minds
Party Hard, Die Young (2018)
Slasher Film
From the director of Attack of the Lederehosen Zombies, a slasher film set at a rave event
Berlin Syndrome (2017)
Imprisonment Thriller
A strong and worthwhile variant on the imprisonment thriller with Teresa Palmer as a tourist in Berlin who hooks up with a guy who proceeds to make her a prisoner in his apartment
Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies (2016)
Gonzo Zombie Comedy
One has seen just a few too many wacky titled zombie comedies and this Austrian film seems another wannabe until the climactic scenes where it redeems itself with a completely demented bloodbath
Goodnight Mommy (2014)
Boys Believe Their Mother Has Been Replaced
Effective and disturbing work about two boys who begin to think that someone else might have taken their mother’s place after she returns in bandages. The film reaches a particularly chill and nasty climax
Blood Glacier (2013)
Mutant Creatures on a Mountainside
Austrian-made film about people being attacked by mutant creatures on a mountainside. This has the cheesily absurd feel of a 1980s B movie and has some fun producing creature effects
Michael (2011)
Paedophile and His Child Prisoner
Chilling portrait of a paedophile and the young boy he keeps locked in his cellar. The entire film is an astonishing exercise in calm and mannered understatement
Time of the Wolf (2003)
Social Collapse
Michael Haneke has risen to great acclaim in recent years; this is one of his earlier works – a slow Tarkovsky-esque work that seems set in a future that is collapsing at the edges. Haneke is a fascinating talent but this is a bit too vague and well free of anything actually happening for me
Funny Games (1997)
Sadism and Torture
Brutal Michael Haneke film where a family’s weekend getaway becomes a nightmare when two boys enter the house and proceed to torture and kill them. Haneke adds a level of meta-fiction that taunts the viewer’s participation
Hanussen (1988)
Charismatic Clairvoyant/Hypnotist
Excellent film based on the real-life figure of Erik Jan Hanussen, a clairvoyant and hypnotist who found fame in Nazi Germany. Featuring a magnetic performance from Klaus Maria Brandauer