Written and directed by Eckhart Schmidt
Starring Désirée Nosbusch, Bodo Steiger and Simone Brahmann
West Germany, 1982
DER FAN is a German horror movie about a teenage girl who's obsessed with a pop singer. And I mean OBSESSED. She writes him letters, listens to his music constantly and basically organizes her entire life around the possibility of meeting him.
Désirée Nosbusch plays Simone, whose fixation on a singer named R (Bodo Steiger) eventually leads her to skip school and hang around outside a television studio where he's scheduled to appear. Against all odds, she actually meets him, and the two wind up spending some time together. At first, this seems like the fulfillment of every teenage fan's fantasy, but this is Horrorfest, so things take a turn.
DER FAN does not resemble a conventional horror movie for much of its running time. It's more of a character study of an alienated teenager, with long stretches where not much happens. The whole thing has a cold, detached quality that serves to highlight this is not just a crush. This is psychosis.
The electronic soundtrack, featuring music by the German group Rheingold, adds to the atmosphere. There's something about the combination of early '80s synth-pop and the movie's rather clinical presentation that makes everything feel a little unreal. And, counterintuitively, rather than seeming dated, the unique soundtrack gives the movie a hip edge and timeless feel.
When the movie finally decides to become a horror movie, it REALLY becomes a horror movie. No spoilers here but let’s just say it’s worse than you probably imagine, which, in this case, is a good thing.
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