2-Disc Extended Director’s Cut
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 116 Minutes
Audio: German 5.1 DTS-HD, 2.0 PCM with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: Andre Stryi, Christopher Stacey, Ella Wellmann
The director's cut of Olaf Ittenbach's splatteriffic epic Premutos: The Fallen Angel (1997) opens with an animated opening title credits sequence and a bloody, gore-drenched prologue that tells the story of the first fallen angel Premutos, who predated Lucifer, as he attempts to conjure armies of the dead in to destroy mankind. In montage we see this occur in the past during biblical times, in the era of Genghis Khan, the the later midlevel period. We're then thrown into the 1940's where a Warlock attempts to unleash the fallen angel, only to be vanquished by angry villagers who are upset at him for desecrating the graves of their loved ones.
The director's cut of Olaf Ittenbach's splatteriffic epic Premutos: The Fallen Angel (1997) opens with an animated opening title credits sequence and a bloody, gore-drenched prologue that tells the story of the first fallen angel Premutos, who predated Lucifer, as he attempts to conjure armies of the dead in to destroy mankind. In montage we see this occur in the past during biblical times, in the era of Genghis Khan, the the later midlevel period. We're then thrown into the 1940's where a Warlock attempts to unleash the fallen angel, only to be vanquished by angry villagers who are upset at him for desecrating the graves of their loved ones.
Moving ahead to contemporary times a young man named Mathias (Ittenbach) begins to have visions and flashbacks of his past lives, as the son of the first fallen angel, Premutos. One day his father uncovers an old wooden box containing the ancient book of Premutos and bottles of a strange yellow fluid that were buried in their backyard, when Mathias accidentally splashes his junk with the acidic yellow fluid he begins to mutate into a monster set on awakening an army of the undead, heralding the return of the fallen angel Premutos!
The gruesome dark-humored splatter film is relentless in its non-stop spilling of blood and splashy gore with some terrific lo-fi gruesomeness by way of severed-limbs, eye-gouges, geysers of bodily fluids, decapitation, exploding heads, and some nifty Hellraiser-esque body horror. Its also quite funny, splatstick juvenile humor abounds with no shortage of nut-punches and groin-centric injury, as well as awkward family melodrama and situational comedy, with a gun-nut father, a BDSM curious sister, and an overbearing auntie.
The gory flick has quite an epic scope about it as well with flashbacks going back to biblical times, WWII, and medieval times. The no-budget production certainly shows its seams as its stretched well-beyond the breaking point, but he rough-hewn gore and geysers of blood are gorehound catnip with plenty of Ittenbach's ingenuity and low-fi spark on display throughout, more than enough time outweigh any of it's shortcomings in my opinion. More than the lo-fi aspect of it I think it's the nearly two hour duration that is most detrimental, its too long with an overstuffed middle section, which contributes to some potential threat of gore-fatigue, but the brutal final sprint to the end still packs a solid punch.
Audio/Video: The director's cut of Olaf Ittenbach's Premutos: The Fallen Angel (1997) arrives on 2-disc BD/CD from Unearthed Films as release no. 6 of their Unearthed Classics line-up. Originally shot o 16mm the film looks fantastic with nary a blemish to detract from it, grain is thick and natural looking, colors are terrific and there's plenty of fine detail throughout. Audio on the director's cut includes both uncompressed German DTS-HD MA 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The original versions are also presented as extras in both the lossy original German and English dub.
Onto the extras we start of with the shorter original cut of the film, as mentioned previously, in both the original German and English dub, this runs about 10-minutes shorter and does not feature the newly created animated title credits. This is fullframe and features more information on the top and bottom, the director's cut is cropped to 1.78:1, and is presented in standard definition with lossy audio, looking quite a bit dingier and murky compared to the DC. We also get a 50-min making-of featurette, and a 63-min Olaf Ittenbach - The Early Years.
Extras are finished off with 11-min of Unearthed Trailers, a 4-min Photo Gallery, and a 20-track Original Movie Soundtrack CD featuring the score from composer Albert G. Stiedl that runs about 62-minutes. The 2-disc release arrives in a clear dual-hubbed Viva keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork, the release also comes with a slipcover with alternate artwork.
Special Features:
- Premutos - Original Version with English Dub and Original German Language (106 min) SD
- Making of Premutos (50 min)
- Olaf Ittenbach - The Early Years (63 min)
- Photo Gallery (5 min)
- Trailers: A Serbian Film (2 min), Evil Dead Trap (1 min), Premutos (2 min), Torched (1 min), The Untold Story (3 min), Night Wish (2 min),
- Premutos - Original Movie Soundtrack CD by Albert G. Stiedl (2- Tracks, 62 min)
Premutos: The Fallen Angel is a bit on the long side but for us gorehounds craving wet gore and a demented humor it delivers the groovy red goods. Unearthed Films 2-disc CD/BD release is a terrific set that looks and sounds great, and it highly recommended to not only fans of Ittenbach's filmography but anyone who enjoys stuff like Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Dead Alive.
Screenshot from the Unearthed Films Blu-ray:
