Another movie that I didn't watch for a long time so that I could be ready for it, Der Fan totally paid off. Man, this is one dark journey into the abyss.

Simone (Désirée Nosbusch, who recorded "Kann es Liebe sein?" with Falco) is in love with a new wave singer named R. Love is such an easy word for how she really feels, as her adoration for him replaces eating and sleeping and school. Now, all she wants to do is wait and wait for a letter for him that never comes. She is nothing without him and becomes nothingness.

When she finally meets him in the flesh, she freezes and he takes advantage of her, making love to her and then coldly rejecting her. In any other film, this would be the life lesson, but instead, Simone kills him with a statue, then consumes his flesh before turning his bones to ash and shaving her head.

The movie ends with one last fan letter, as a pregnant Simone claims that R will always be a part of her. Well, in one way or another, right?

This is yet another film that stands on the side of arthouse versus grindhouse, but that only depends on what theater is showing it. Eckhart Schmidt wrote the book that this was based on and directed this film, as well as Alpha City, which will be on our site in a few weeks.

So often, glam stars seemed to come from another planet. In this one, the fan seems as if she does not exist on the same level of existence as us, a ghost that walks among us, ready at any moment to unleash violence. She is an angel of death walking amongst mortals, which rock stars most assuredly are.

"Der Fan" is a bone chilling and thought-provoking film about teenage obsession and the gradual descent into social isolation, despair and slow brooding insanity. Simone is a pretty young girl whose entire universe spins around a pop-singer named "R". She talks to him in her mind, fantasizes about their utopist future together, eagerly awaits letters that never come and completely neglects her school work and social life in favor of dreams about him. Simone eventually takes the initiative abandon everything without notice and hitchhikes to Munich in order to meet him at a concert. She finds her beloved "R" and, for a brief period of time, all her dreams come true as he fancies her, albeit guarding a haughty distance. But, of course, now that she finally found him, Simone isn't prepared to share her lover with the rest of the world anymore … "Der Fan" is an unimaginably slow-paced film and – please – don't immediately start to question it's cult reputation upon noticing absolutely nothing significant happens during what appears to be the entire film. Believe you me; it's all just patient and awkwardly uncomfortable building up towards one of the most shocking and revolting climaxes ever. This was an incredibly controversial release back in its home country Germany, and it's not too hard to see why. Without revealing too much about the infamous denouement, I can safely say this girl Simone single-handedly gives a whole new dimension to the term "obsessive groupie". Désirée Nosbusch gives away a hugely impressive performance as Simone and undeniably the other biggest strong point of the film – apart from the ending of course – is Rheingold's prototypic 80's electro pop music. If you're familiar with the oeuvre the relatively known 80's band Kraftwork ("The Model", "Autobahn", "Radioactivity"),you know pretty much what to expect. "Der Fan" isn't a movie for all tastes but certainly a curious collector's item for the more avid and open-minded cult fanatic to seek out.

"Der Fan" or "The Fan" is a West German 85--minute movie from 1982, so next year it will have its 35th anniversary. The writer and director is Eckhart Schmidt and it's probably his most known work and also one of the most known works for actress Désirée Nosbusch who plays the title character, that easily turned her into one of Luxembourg's most successful actresses ever and all this at such a tender age. I must say I am not familiar with any of the other actors in here though except Blacky Fuchsberger who has a small cameo. If you read a bit about this film, you will see that it was a controversial film back then, not only because of the contents, but also because of the argument ensuing between Nosbusch and Schmidt around the time when the film came out and that had to do with Nosbusch's nude scenes.

And with the controversy dying down over the last few decades, very little stays memorable from this movie. I thought Nosbusch gave a good performance, but I also felt that almost all the supporting players were mediocre or bad on most occasions. This also includes male protagonist Bodo Steiger and I am not surprised at all that he has not acted in more films really. The story also has huge problems in my opinion. For example, it was entirely unfitting that Nosbusch's character suddenly starts cutting off body parts from the man. It feels a bit tough already for me to make an argument for her killing the man, but you can somewhat explain it through spur of the moment and affect. There was no indication at all that she was a sociopath or a violent killer earlier and then they let her do stuff like that. Yes she was misguided, but still. And lets be honest, the way he rejects her is not really severe rejection and it's difficult to justify her screaming and her killing in that scene. It was also cringeworthy how they showed it so many times from different angles. Or how did nobody from the crew tell the police who he went away with. I am not sold at all. As a whole, I can only say that by today's standards, I see this film as a blatant case of style over substance that lacks realism entirely and goes for cheap thrills from start to finish instead of delivering a good character study. The bald head at the very end is the perfect example. I cannot recommend the watch. The few topless shots of the (then already) stunning Désirée Nosbusch are not enough to sit through all the mediocre and weak moments. Watch something else instead.