Review - Kuhle Luft/Cool Air (2003) (R) - Christian Matzke

This 20 minute German adaptation of Cool Air, by Mike Neun, takes an interesting approach by turning Doctor Munoz into a serial killer. We know he is a doctor because he's always wearing his scrubs, which, while not entirely logical, at least makes him easy to identify. The movie uses the basic plot of the story, adding a drunken mexican character and either one or two additional characters (it gets a little confusing) whose only purpose is to be slaughtered a few seconds after walking into their respective scenes. One striking directorial flourish is the use of jump cuts to add extra gore to a shot. A character will get knocked over the head and then suddenly be blood spattered and bleeding. The movie also cribs some footage from The Twilight Zone and The Evil Dead for a dream sequence towards the beginning of the film.
 
At this point I should admit that my understanding of German is pretty limited, and the copy I saw of the film was not subtitled. So perhaps the film explains in dialogue how Doctor Munoz is able to move freely throughout the apartment building, why the main character sometimes turns and addresses the audience directly, and, well pretty much all of the final act. And if not, it still has a catchy theme song and a blooper reel at the end.

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- Christian Matzke

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http://www.reanimator.8m.com/

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http://www.www.reanimator.8m.com/ccp.html

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http://www.miskatonic.net/pickman/mythos