Horror Vacui (film)

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

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

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. 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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