Grimm Love
By Ross Forbes, Blockbuster.co.uk

This fascinating character study of a film was party based on the famous Armin Meiwes German cannibal murder that happened in 2002. This film takes the idea and then traces backwards to find out what would cause one person to want to kill and eat another, and also who would want to volunteer themselves to be eaten… and in this case; alive.

Martin Weisz’s film follows an American student played by Kerri Russell (Mission Impossible III) as she tracks the history of two out casts who met via the internet and decided that one would eat the other alive, thereby fulfilling each others fantasies.

Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, Blade II and The Pianist) plays Oliver Hartwin, the result of a broken home and overbearing mother. Thomas Huber plays Simon Grombeck, a man who is searching for his place in the world and trying to understand his own urges. As the American student tracks both men to their home towns she finds that they are not monsters, but sad outcasts, who were looking for a way to be complete with another human being.

The film is dark and extremely well paced, nothing is rushed and nothing is sensationalised. Weisz lets the story and the activities of the two men speak for themselves as the subject matter is so horrifying that it is almost hard to look at the screen at times. The most horrifying part of the film is actually taken from the real life story, and that is the fact that while one man sat down to eat and kill the other, it was all filmed on video tape. This film reminds you that there are people out there that do not live by the same rules as the rest of society and that somewhere in a vault is a video tape of one man eating a willing victim alive.

Once you begin to watch Grimm Love you cannot help but become captivated by the understated and non sensationalised style. It’s dark and horrifying, these people are not monsters and will not pounce on anyone who passes them by, but they look for each other. Captivating viewing, just do not order pizza before hand.

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