The Loft

aka Die neue Saat der Gewalt

 The Loft (1985) directed by Eckhart Schmidt
As the credits fade up we hear the sounds of gunfire and through narration we learn that the apocalypse has taken place. Chaos and fear are the only thing left in society and all the cities are at war with one another. So, with all the craziness and fighting, who the hell would be having an art show? Lets just go with it and find out!

A couple enters an elevator, A rich pretty boy named Raoul tells his girlfriend Raphaela that he's only agreed to go to this art show on one condition. That she rides his German helmet. (Honesty is important in a relationship) One of the artists acting as elevator bellhop, overhears this conversation and watches them as they make out. He licks his lips while they continue to suck face and puts on an evil grin. This is a sure sign that the evening is not going to go as well as they thought.

"Got to get this relish off my lip."

The art on display consists of a live woman yelling "fuck off" and "there's no food here", also another live woman is chained up topless. We see a painting of a shadow creature with a giant penis(kinda looks like Gumby with a boner) and another one of a giant eyeball. I think I'll purchase the topless woman!
 While browsing the art Raphaela is groped by Raoul every chance he gets, embarrassing and annoying her.
She reluctantly agrees to finally have sex with him and they duck into a back room storage closet.

While doing the deed they don't even see a wounded man hiding out in the corner, but we'll talk about him later. A couple of artists, Furio and Kiddy have been monitoring the couple and don't like them being there. They exclaim, "He's oversexed and she's on a culture trip." Raoul and Raphaela have now become the target of these pissed off artist punks.

I put the "Moan" in the Mona Lisa!

Must be a Mapplethorpe

The punks begin to hatch their plan. When Raphaela goes in the restroom, Kiddy holds her at knife point. All the guests are asked to leave and while Raoul waits for his girl, they get locked in. The mystery man limps out of the storage room bleeding. His name is Stone, he has been wounded from battling in the chaos of the outside world, he's also Kiddy's father. He asked if any of the art was sold, the answer is nothing. Now extremely pissed and insulted by these two guests the real trouble begins. Humiliation, torture, and rape follow. After the phone rings two more thugs show up later. Things do turn around for our art house heroes, Raoul breaks a piece of  mirror off while locked in the bathroom as Raphaela is being violated just outside the door, he then slices one of the goon's throats. Later Raphaela gets Kiddy's knife away from her, giving them some leverage to escape. Still outnumbered and only having one way out, will this horned out pretty boy have what it takes to escape The Loft!

"Don't you ever trim?"

A panting thug and  Perry Ferrel join the fun.

"That's not a knife, this is a knife!"

"I'm taking a stand, with a mic stand!"

I give this movie a lot of credit. Other than some ambient noise there's only one real track of music that repeats throughout the whole film. It's like some one's ring tone keeps going off and they just won't answer the phone.Yet I never get sick of it because of the overall weirdness it adds to the film. One piece of music and one indoor location(the loft itself) makes this film tense and surreal and you'll always be guessing what might happen next.

Coffee's Ready

Bold of the day in the face, you're Star"fucked"

 I would compare this film to House on the Edge of the Park, even though they are completely different. They have similar elements that make them movie brothers. They both share a setup type plot, it all takes place in one location, there's a nasty but somewhat consensual rape scene, a small cast, and  the cheese factor.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

9/10 ON THE CULT-O-METER