6. Der Todesking (1990)
You just knew before you even began to read this list that Teutonic Shock Meister Jorg Buttgereit would make an appearance: if it wasn't Nekromantik, it would be Schramm, and f it wasn't Schramm, it would have to be Der Todesking. This study of suicide and ultra-violence takes the biscuit for me in terms of Buttgereit induced celluloid mayhem: utterly bleak, without hope and entirely affecting, this gem is not for the faint-hearted but if you have a taste for the experimental and the morbid, I promise you, you will be at least, fascinated. The film revolves around seven set pieces - seven different days in which either a homocidal or suicidal act occurs (or both). Highlights (or maybe lowlights) include: a grim surveillance of a massive steel bridge where people have jumped to their deaths - their names, ages and occupations are flashed onto the screen like some sort of gruesome roll call (Thursday). A young man who is crying and wailing in agony and despair. He bangs his head against a wall in torment until he is brain damaged (Sunday). Does this sound depressing? To top the whole desolate affair off, the days of the week are interspersed with a real life human corpse rotting away in real time. This is extremely gross and confirms the reason why burying people in graves is a very good idea. If you can suspend your disgust at the thought of rotting bodies and depressing acts of violence, Der Todesking is an absorbing meditation on human misery, violent death and suicide.