Movie Review: Premutos (1999)

Directed by Olaf Ittenbach

Starring Fidelis Atuma, Heiko Bender and Anke Fabre

Watching Olaf Ittenbach's Premutos was like taking a trip back to my childhood in many ways. Aside from the retro look and feel of it, I would compare it to walking down the aisles of a Toys R Us store as a 7 year old kid and getting sensory-overload from the sheer awesomeness of what I was immersed in. Only instead of shiny toys I was completely bombarded by shocking visual images and blood-soaked old school special effects. Premutos is a movie that reminds me exactly why I've had a love affair with horror movies for most of my life.


Premutos was the very first fallen angel (yes, he got the boot even before Lucifer) and down through the ages he has been summoned to wreak havoc upon the earth and mankind. He is a force capable of resurrecting the dead, summoning up armies of flesh-hungry zombies to do his bidding. The main focus of the movie lies in present day Germany where a man unwittingly digs up an old bag in his yard. Inside the bag is an old book and some vial's of strange yellow liquid. The mans son Mathias (Played by Olaf Ittenbach) is having horrific visions where he is transported back in time and is forced to relive nightmarish scenes of carnage, apparently caused by Premutos. While sitting in his room one day while his parents are getting drunk and celebrating dads birthday downstairs, Mathias accidentally spills some of the yellow liquid on himself and then decides to read some passages from the book. (Big Mistake). What ensues is a breath-taking carnival ride of carnage and blood-soaked fun that rises to a level rarely seen in movies.

Ittenbach's inspirations are apparent and he pays obvious homage to classics like Night of the Living Dead, Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead, and he manages to pack more gore in his movie then all three of these movies combined. This movie has got everything a horror fan could ask for, you want T&A? It's in there. You want sex scenes? Its got 'em. Monsters? Check. Zombies? Check. Gory scenes of cannibalistic lust? Oh yeah. Enough blood to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool? Pretty much. Not to mention literally dozens (no exaggeration) of dismemberment scenes using axes, swords, shotguns, chainsaws, army tanks and who knows what else. I think some guy got torn apart after having his arms and legs tied to horses as well. And dad scored what looked like 5 beheadings with one swing of a sword during one scene. I think the point I am trying to make here is that Premutos is a gore-hounds wet dream come true. The carnage is pretty evenly spaced throughout the movie but the last 20 minutes or so are nothing short of breathtaking in terms of sheer blood-letting.

I simply lost count of how many head explosions there were. All in all the total kill count in this one is a gloriously impressive 139. Along with all this goodness was a healthy dose of bad acting that merely added a cheesy and campy feel to this epic effort by Director Ittenbach. In many ways it reminded me of the movie Brain Dead, mainly in the sense that it was just a fun (and funny) movie that doesn't for one second take itself seriously. Its only goal is to gross you out and in terms of low-budget movies this one is a rare masterpiece that's not to be missed.

9 out of 10 Reviewed by KennyB