Premutos: The Fallen Angel 2-disc Extended Director's Cut – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Germany, 1997
Director: Olaf Ittenbach
Writer: Olaf Ittenbach
Cast: André Stryi, Christopher Stacey, Ella Wellmann, Anke Fabré, Fidelis Atuma, Olaf Ittenbach

Release Date: December 28th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 115 Minutes 44 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 German, LPCM Stereo German
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"Premutos is the first of the fallen Angels, even before Lucifer. His goal is to rule the living and the dead. His son should pave the way for him to return. A young man begins to suffer from visionary flashbacks - of the past lives he lived. On his father's birthday, a case containing an old book is found in their garden, which was hidden by a Warlock in 1943. When the young man touches with the book, he mutates into a monster and awakens an army of zombies, ready to bring back the fallen Angel Premutos." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Premutos: The Fallen Angel comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 36.5 GB

Feature: 24.6 GB

Shot on 16mm, the source used for this transfer looks great. Colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout. That said, when compared to previous home video releases of this film, including the original version, which is included as part of this release as an extra. This new transfer is a noticeable upgrade in every way.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with two audio options: a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in German and a LPCM stereo mix in German. Both the audio mixes are clean, clear, and balanced, and range-wise they sound robust when they should. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a photo gallery (74 images), theatrical trailer (2 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo), a documentary titled Olaf Ittenbach - The Early Years (72 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles), a featurette titled Making of Premutos (50 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German, Dolby Digital stereo English dubbed), the original version of Premutos: The Fallen Angel (106 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with removable English subtitles, Dolby Digital stereo English), a slipcover and a CD with Premutos: The Fallen Angel’s soundtrack.

Summary:

Premutos: The Fallen Angel continues German cinema’s long tradition of splatter horror cinema that began with filmmakers like Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik) and continues to this day with filmmakers like Marian Dora (Cannibal). 

That said, though, most German splatter films skim when it comes to narrative. This is easy to overlook since they more than make up for this with intense gore sequences that are not for the squeamish. And in this regard, Premutos: The Fallen Angel delivers in spades.

Most special effects have moved into the digital realm. And yet, Premutos: The Fallen Angel’s use of practical special effects is its greatest asset. There’s something about practical special effects that CGI is unable to recreate.

At just under two hours in length, Premutos: The Fallen Angel is an ambitious film that archives everything it set out to do. Whether it be for its absurd premise, which is superbly realized, or its copious amounts of gore, And most importantly, there’s not a dull moment.

Premutos: The Fallen Angel gets an excellent release from Unearthed Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, an alternate version of Premutos: The Fallen Angel, and a pair of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer