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In Hollywood, vampires are still all the rage—especially the moody teen ones. So filmmakers are constantly searching for new ways to give the same old love story a supernatural twist. The German zombie flick Rammbock, on the other hand, isn’t meant to be alluring or sultry. You won’t see any sexy shirtless zombies here. Instead, director Marvin Kren keeps the focus exactly where it should be—on the horror—while giving the film the slightest touch of a clever (or perhaps I should say brainy) love story.
Lovesick Michi (Michael Fuith) travels to Berlin to see ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anna Graczyk) one more time, hoping to rekindle their relationship while returning her keys. But instead of receiving the loving reception that he’d hoped for, he arrives at Gabi’s apartment to find just a pair of overall-clad workers—one of whom attacks Michi in a violent outburst.
Michi and the man’s young assistant, Harper (Theo Trebs), manage to survive the attack, but when they look outside, they find that more wild-eyed zombies are feeding on helpless men and women in the courtyard below.
Advised by TV reports to stay inside, Michi and Harper barricade themselves inside the apartment. But they need food—and a man across the courtyard needs sedatives to keep his infected wife calm (which, news reports suggest, will keep her from turning into a zombie). So Michi and Harper devise a plan to get everyone what they need.
Unlike Hollywood’s moody vampire movies or bloody torture flicks, Rammbock is a smart and surprisingly human horror film. Screenwriter Benjamin Hessler doesn’t waste a lot of time discussing the origin of the mysterious virus that turns people into monsters—because that’s not important here. Instead, the focus is on the survivors—on their situation, their surroundings, and their plans to escape.
As a television reporter suggests, the outbreak is almost like a German 9/11—and the characters react accordingly. Many have lost loved ones in the outbreak and suddenly find themselves alone. Others are desperate to hear from their loved ones—or they’re fighting to keep their loved ones safe. But they’re all just regular people, reacting just as you’d imagine real people acting if there was, in fact, a zombie outbreak. And those real characters (especially poor, forlorn Michi) are way more interesting than their undead adversaries.
Much of the film, meanwhile—especially in the beginning—plays out in a Rear Window kind of way. With zombies attacking anyone who ventures into the apartment building’s courtyard—or even the hallways—the survivors can see the rest of the world only through the windows of their apartment building. It’s how they witness the violence below—and it’s how they communicate with each other.
As Michi and Harper step away from the windows and venture deeper into the building, though, the film becomes more and more claustrophobic. Their surroundings gradually get more confined the more they try to run. First, they’re trapped in an apartment. Then they’re confined to just one room. They find themselves stuck in closets and other tight spaces as the infected monsters continue to attack.
Rammbock isn’t a particularly gruesome horror movie. There are some short bursts of violence, which might not be enough to keep gore hounds entertained. But the subtler, more human horrors make this smart short thriller worth a look.
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