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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: August 29th, 2023.
Director: Martin Walz
Cast: Udo Samel, Peter Lohmeyer, Iris Berben, Leonard Lansink, Marc Richter, Evelyn Künneke
Year: 1996
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Killer Condom – Movie Review:
Set in the scummy Manhattan of yesteryear, 1996’s Killer Condom is set around the events that take place at the illustrious Hotel Quickie, a seedy ‘by the hour’ joint frequented by prostitutes and their johns. It seems that an increasing number of the horny men who populate the establishment’s clientele are getting their cocks bitten off at an alarming rate. Understandably, they are concerned about what would be causing all of this, the rumor being that a sentient, cock-eating condom has been let loose within the walls of the hotel.
There’s enough of a hubbub going on around all of this that the NYPD assigns an Italian-born cop named Luigi Mackeroni (Udo Samel) to work the case. Upon his arrival at the scene, he’s not buying this whole ‘killer condom’ theory that’s making the rounds, but when he himself suits up his dong for a tender moment with a rent-boy named Billy (Marc Richter), he learns the hard way that it’s all too true. One testicle down, Mackeroni nevertheless soon finds himself, with some help from Babette (Leonard Lansink), formerly Bob, the point man in what turns into a pending war between the good people of New York City and a literal swarm of dick-eating rubbers!
Every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, Killer Condom has the distinction of having had its special effects work handled by none other than Nekromantik/Schramm director, Jörg Buttgereit, as well as the involvement of H.R. Giger, who is credited as a creative consultant on the film. That doesn’t mean you should take this in the least bit seriously, however, as the movie is just as goofy as its premise would lead you to believe. That said, it’s also a lot of fun. The effects work is really solid and the sets/locations have an appropriately scuzzy vibe to them that very much works in the movie’s favor.
The performances are pretty fun, the actors each doing a very animated job of bringing their very non-PC characters to life in the movie, while the direction is slick and the pacing quick. The effects are pretty strong as well, this has way better production values than you’d probably have expected it to.
Note that Vinegar Syndrome presents the movie in two versions: the 118-minute director's cut is included on the 4K UHD and the first Blu-ray, while the second Blu-ray includes the 108-minute theatrical cut of the movie.
Killer Condom – UHD Review:
The HEVC encoded 2160p transfer, framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and featuring HDR10 looks great. Restored from its original camera negative, detail is really strong and colors look spot-on. Black levels are nice and inky deep and skin tones look lifelike and accurate. There are no problems to note with any compression, noise reduction or visible edge enhancement and while the natural grain inherent in the source material is rightly preserved, there’s very little actual print damage here to note.
German 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo options are provided in 24-bit DTS-HD format with optional subtitles available in English only. Audio quality is also very good, the levels are properly balanced and there’s some pretty decent depth and range in the mix. Hiss and distortion are never an issue and the score sounds good.
Extras on the UHD include a new commentary track with co-writer/director Martin Walz and special effects supervisor Jörg Buttgereit that is a lot of fun and quite informative as well. They cover how they got the New York City footage into the film, what was shot where, the German indie filmmaking scene of the period, the effects work, casting the movie, where some of the ideas for the story came from and loads more.
The first Blu-ray disc includes that same commentary as well as a host of new featurettes, the first of which is A Rough Ride, which interviews co-writer/director Martin Walz that runs thirty-five minutes and sees him speaking quite candidly about his experiences making the movie, the people that he worked with on it, H.R. Giger’s connection to the film and its longevity. This Is What We Built! is a brand new 'show and tell' with co-writer/director Martin Walz where he spends twenty minutes showing off production design art, promotional materials for the movie and merchandise that was made to cash in on its popularity. Severed Parts is a new interview with special effects supervisor Jörg Buttgereit that runs twenty-six minutes and sees him talk about how he first came to work on the movie, collaborating with Walz, what it was like on set and filmmaking in Germany. Lastly, Rubber And Rushes is a new interview with editor Simone Klier that sees her speak for twenty minutes about how she came to work on the movie, the low budget and quick schedule, and what she learned from working on the movie.
The second Blu-ray includes an archival commentary track with Martin Walz and Jörg Buttgereit over the theatrical cut of the movie. For those who haven’t heard it, it covers some of the same ground as the new track but as it is older and was recorded during a different period in the filmmakers’ lives, it has a different feel to it.
There are also a host of additional new featurettes on this disc, starting with Holy Mackeroni!, a new interview with co-writer/director Martin Walz and actor Udo Samel that spends nineteen minutes reminiscing about the movie and going over who did what on set, Samel’s character and acting and more. What Is This? is a new interview with actor Adriana Altaras that runs fourteen minutes and it covers her background, how she got into acting, landing the role in Killer Condom and her experiences on set. It's Just A Movie is a new interview with actor Peter Lohmeyer where he talks for twenty-three minutes about landing the part in the movie, the vibe on set, working with the cast and crew and his character in the film. Really Special Items is a new interview with prop collector Roman Güttinger running fourteen minutes where he shows off his fairly insane collection of genre film props, including some good ones from Killer Condom.
Ich hätt's ihm früher sagen sollen... is a 2003 short film directed by Martin Walz that runs seven minutes and details the exploits of a pair of women and their troubles with the opposite sex – it’s amusing and worth checking out.
Finishing up the extras on the third disc is an archival making-of featurette running ten minutes, ten minutes of fly on the wall style behind-the-scenes footage, nine minutes of archival on-set interviews, a two minute archival featurette titled Would You Use This Condom?, an original theatrical trailer, an original video trailer and, on each disc, menus and chapter selection options.
As to the packaging, this set comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase and slipcover combo designed by Robert Sammelin which is limited to 7,000 units as well as some reversible cover sleeve art.
Killer Condom - The Final Word:
Killer Condom remains a pretty fun watch, a schlocky horror-comedy with some inspired performances and solid effects work. The 3-disc UHD/Blu-ray special edition from Vinegar Syndrome presents two cuts of the movie in great shape and is absolutely stacked with more extras than anyone probably ever imagined we’d see for a movie like this!