Movie Review: Red Krokodil: Director’s Cut is a Nightmarish Decent into Self Inflicted Hell!

 
Red Krokodil tells the tale of a man hopelessly addicted to a drug that causes him to fall into physical decay in a tiny apartment located within a post-apocalyptic city. His mental state begins to fall to hell in a hand basket as well as he begins to have strange hallucinations of a rabbit headed interloper…then the nightmares become worse, and so does reality!
What’s good about Red Krokodil? Well for starters, the effects utilized to show our protagonist’s rotting away are really well done. There’s plenty of weeping sores, gaping holes, and bodily fluids to keep the gore hounds well fed. The fantasy elements presented featuring rabbit masks, strange openings within the apartment, peering disembodied eyes et. al. were really well done as well, and made the piece more of a fever dream than just the drug induced nightmare it could have been…in other words, this ain’t just a body horror flick creeps (and the allegories to war both within and without don’t hurt that fact neither)!
As for the flip side, while short in length, the beginning of the film seems to drag a hair. The set up is basically an endless barrage of the main character taking drugs and thrashing around nude with hints here and there of the insanity to come. Obviously showing such information is crucial to the over-all story, but I got it the first time…by time four or five I was ready to move on. Also, this is one hell of a bleak film , so if you prefer your fright flicks with even a p.h. of “fun” or “hope” you will have to avert thine eerie eyeballs from ol’ Red Krokodil.
So the flick is dark, but ultimately entertaining on it’s own, but this Blu-ray release has some extras present as well. They include: an alternate ending, deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and a test of one of the few instances of CG utilized in the film (but to tell what that is would be a huge spoiler, and that ain’t my bag baby). The film’s trailer is also to be found within a sampling of other previews from various Unearthed Film’s (the picture’s distributor ‘natch) releases.
While it’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, Red Krokodil is nevertheless an artistic, nightmarish, and ultimately poignant decent into the hell we make for ourselves both inside and out.