The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 5, 2019

Walter Bannert's "The Inheritors" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The only bonus features on the disc are two vintage trailers for the film. In German or English, with optional English subtitles for the German track. Region-Free.

Consumed by hatred

Where are the police? So these animals are running wild all across town, trashing bars and beating people up, doing some really nasty things to stoned teenage girls right on the streets, and there is not a single policeman around to confront them? This is West Germany during the late 1970s?

The back cover of this release wants us to believe that it is because The Inheritors is “based entirely on real characters and events that director Walter Bannert discovered in the neo-Nazi camps in 1980s Austria and Germany”. Fine, I don’t doubt that he did. However, the cinematic characters can be based on authentic characters and this does not automatically make the reality that the film is trying to sell legit. In fact, the mayhem that is used to define it is so out there that it actually makes even wild genre films like Jack Hill’s Switchblade Sisters look rather restrained. By the way, did you know that in the early 1990s Hill was invited to introduce a screening of Switchblade Sisters at a small festival in Sweden and much to everyone’s surprise he confessed that it was made from a script based on William Shakespeare’s Othello?

The film opens up with a seemingly ordinary event that becomes the catalyst for the radical transformation of its main protagonist. While heading home, teenager Thomas (Nikolas Vogel) sees popular troublemaker Charly (Roger Schauer) being questioned by two policemen and helps him get away. Shortly after, the boys meet again and Charly introduces Thomas to a small group of brainwashed radicals. The leaders of the group are then seen working closely with some psychopath that openly dreams of relaunching Adolf Hitler’s national socialist agenda and passionately ‘educating’ new recruits like Thomas that can help them promote their message. Naturally, after Thomas begins to feel comfortable with his new comrades, he, Charly, and a few other boys are frequently dispatched to do campaign work on the streets. But the more engaged Thomas becomes with his comrades, the more his relationship with his parents deteriorates. At school he is also branded a total loser and eventually forced to drop out. The boy's ugly transformation is completed when his hate overpowers him and he slips into the dark abyss of madness.

There are a few relevant points in this film about the dangers of radicalization, but their delivery is done in such disappointing fashion that the overwhelming majority of it looks comically unhinged, at times even flat-out grotesque. For example, the progression of Thomas’ alienation at home is essentially summed up with a series of awful shouting sessions that are completely unbelievable and instantly forgettable. (His mother, in particular, overplays her frustration so badly that it is painful to watch). Then at the club, where the boy's brainwashing is supposed to occur, he only gets bombarded with drunken chatter courtesy of older men who already seem completely lost in their own idiotic fantasies. Even if the boy is so alienated and desperately looking for someone, or something, to bring some sense into his life, it is hard to imagine that, as shown in the film, these rambling idiots can even begin connecting with him.

The weakest material is the one where Bannert desperately tries to add some sort of a documentary authenticity to the official campaign rallies. Everything looks arranged in that very awkward way that immediately makes it impossible to even entertain the idea that the people in charge are actually on the same page and working toward some common goal. The speeches are pathetic drivel that no one with half a brain would waste time listening to, yet the film is trying to sell them as some dangerous and more importantly very effective propaganda that is helping a neo-Nazi movement spread like a cancer.

Perhaps Vogel deserves some credit for bringing out bits of the cold anger that his character is obviously struggling with, but it isn’t enough to take this film seriously. There are just not enough good supporting actors around him to make his radicalization look legit.

The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Walter Bannert's The Inheritors arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

The strongest aspect of the technical presentation is the lack of digital tweaking that would have destabilized the film's native organic qualities. However, the new 2K transfer that was prepared -- reportedly from the original negative -- has its fair share of issues. For example, the density levels never approach what a proper remaster struck from the OCN would deliver, which is one reason why some of the darker footage is actually quite problematic. Unsurprisingly, grain exposure is never as consistent and convincing as it should be. Virtually the entire film also looks softer than it should, though the softness is inherited, not introduced by digital tools. Colors are stable, but there is plenty of room for improvements, especially in terms of saturation. Finally, there are minor flecks, a few scratches, and plenty of blemishes. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and German Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the German track.

I viewed the film with the German track and even though this is only a lossy track I thought that it was decent. My guess is that the audio was transferred as is without any restoration work because some tiny pops remain and there is even a bit of 'thinning' that appears to be age-related. The English track is a dub that isn't at all impressive.

The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - presented here are two trailers, English and German, for the film. (4 min).

• Trailers - additional trailers for other releases from Mondo Macabro's catalog.

The Inheritors Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

An excellent film about political radicalization is one that makes your legs weak and brings so much fear and anxiety in you that when its final credits roll you temporarily feel nauseated. The Believer, Paradise Now, and The Wave have had this exact effect on me, and I can honestly say that I never want to see them again. I thought that the concept behind Walter Bannert's The Inheritors was rather interesting and there was enough potential for a memorable film, but the end product is so comically unhinged, at times even flat-out grotesque, that I never believed the awful transformation of the disillusioned boy. At one point it actually felt like I was viewing a bad propaganda piece conceived by Konrad Wolf and his comrades at DEFA to prove that on the other side of the Wall life really was as bad as they had advertised it. Why exaggerate the ugly and indefensible so much that you make it look like borderline parody material? This recent Blu-ray release of The Inheritors is sourced from a new 2K transfer, but there is quite a bit of room for meaningful improvements. RENT IT.