The Dead Man 2: Return of the Dead Man (1994) User Reviews

Soundtrack by Merzbow

[Network_23 · 22 May 2013]

This is a difficult film, to watch and to review. On the one hand, it's a beautiful artistic exercise from the always inventive and brilliant Aryan Kaganof. On the other, its a catalog of overly offensive debasement by bodily fluids. The opening scene is one so revolting I've tried my best to block it out of my mind and would really not like to recall it for you, the reader of this review. Maybe that's a bit unfair of me, but it's clear Kaganof meant it as an opening punch right to the solar plexus that will divide an audience: Those who will stay and those who will run out in horror. I did stay and, remember, I did say that the film is a beautiful artistic exercise. The film is gorgeously shot in an old bar full of degenerates. They drink while Waco burns. Into this place, which I took to be the afterlife, an elderly man, presumably the eponymous title character, enters to witness as much ennui as there is obscenity. It's also a place where a woman urinating off of a bar triggers a horrific memory of an assault back among the living. The dead man becomes resigned to his fate, much like the viewer must become resigned to the terrible visions thrust upon him. Lots of films tackle the issue of life after death, but this is one of the most wondrous, complicated visions of it. And lots of filmmakers try to take on the title of "provocateur," but few take it to the level that Kaganof brings it in Dead Man II.

Originally written by Mike Everleth for Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film.

disappointing provocation

[Krystof · 14 October 2001]

The young director Ian Kerkhof has made some on-the-edge avant-garde films that are really worth looking for (like De Enge Knijperman en de Onderstebovenvrouw), but this isn't one of them. It was his graduation film for the dutch film academy and as such, it is a deplorable piece of work. Its sole reason for existence is the transgressive opening sequence, which contains the most disturbing non-documentary footage I have ever seen. If you don't want to know what is in it, you shouldn't continue reading this review, because I am about to reveal that the notorious scene shows two gay men involved in a sort of lovemaking which consists of the one actually vomiting in the mouth of the other. It is as disgusting as it sounds and it takes up a considerable part of the running time of the film (several minutes).

In principle, I believe that in art, anything goes, but in this particular case the entire film is so devoid of intent, meaning and technical skill, that one is left to conclude that provocation was its sole intent. The film has no beauty, no charm and no vision: it is nihilistic without reflection, and it is ugly. And maybe that's my main objection to the film: that it doesn't manage (or care to) approach its controversial content with anything but cynicism. Maybe the opening sequence could work in a different film, but here it is left on its own because everything that follows (including more explicit and transgressive sexual imagery) is so bleak and boring in comparison that it seems as if the entire film was simply tagged on at a later stage to get an excuse for showing the vomit-scene. Some intellectual attempts at redeeming the film have been made, but frankly, I'm not impressed: it is simply an act of provocation. The overall graininess and ugliness of the images is actually surprising from a director who has proven himself to be a major stylistic talent.

But still: as a provocation, it works. The vomit-scene is really the only reason why one might want to see the film: it is the only thing that is interesting about it. So maybe it would have been more honest to leave out the overdrawn attempts at intellectualizing and to simply acknowledge the fact that Kerkhof wants to show some really gruesome stuff. There's really nothing wrong with that. And besides: how many people can claim they have seen a man derive sexual gratification from letting another man vomit in his mouth? Right, not many. So if you want to be one of them, this is the film that should fulfill all your wildest dreams. But no, it is not Great Art.

WARNING: when first reading about this film, I supposed that the vomit-scene would be achieved through special effects and that it might be interesting to see how such transgression was incorporated in a film. While reading my review, the same thought might have crossed your mind. But be warned: everything in it is very real. The vomiting is real. So the squeamish should avoid this film at all costs.