Nekromantik 1988
Directed by
Jörg Buttgereit
Made by
Jelinski & Buttgereit
Nekromantik Plot Summary
Read the complete plot summary and ending explained for Nekromantik (1988). From turning points to emotional moments, uncover what really happened and why it matters.
Robert Schmadtke is a troubled man who works for a company that cleans up public spaces after traffic accidents and other fatal incidents; a job that quietly allows him to indulge in and explore his necrophilia fetishes, shared by his wife Betty. Their apartment is a stark, unsettling space, framed by centerfolds featuring models, photographs of infamous killers, and jars containing preserved human parts, all kept in formaldehyde as a cold, clinical reminder of their fixation.
One day, the street cleaning crew is summoned to remove a man found dead in a lake, and Robert becomes fascinated by the heavily decayed corpse. He secretly brings it home and presents it as a gift to Betty, who shares his dark curiosity. In a reckless, ritual-like moment, they detach a wooden chair leg, attach it to the corpse’s groin, and cap the act with a condom, turning the body into a makeshift prop for Betty to engage with. The act that follows is a chilling, consensual necrophilia that marks a turning point in their marriage and their psychological unraveling.
The next day, Robert is confronted at work by colleagues and ultimately fired for chronic tardiness and the lingering odor from his suit. Returning home, he informs Betty of his termination; she lashes out in anger and exits, taking the corpse with her. The loss triggers a spiraling breakdown in Robert: he destroys their pet cat, then bathes in its entrails, an unsettling image that hints at the depths of his corruption.
That night, after drinking whiskey and taking pills, Robert drifts into a dream where he is a partially decayed figure, playfully interacting with a decayed severed head beside a girl dressed in white. Awakening to darkness, he leaves the apartment to hire a gigolette and go to a cemetery, hoping the environment will heighten his arousal. He cannot perform, the gigolette mocks him, and in a fit of anger he strangles her and then has sex with her corpse. The following morning, an old gravedigger stumbles upon the scene; Robert seizes the man’s shovel and decapitates him before fleeing back to his apartment, where he ends his life by stabbing himself in the stomach while ejaculating.
In the aftermath, an unseen figure in high heels appears, shown digging up Robert’s grave, leaving a final, eerie note about the persistence of the impulse and the fragility of the boundaries between life and death. This conclusion lingers with a stark, unsettling atmosphere, inviting reflection on the disturbing blend of compulsion, loss, and the human gaze into the void.
Nekromantik Timeline
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Robert's unsettling life at work and home
Robert Schmadtke works for a street cleaning company that handles the aftermath of fatal incidents. His job allows him to indulge in necrophilia fetishes, which saturate his private life with a disturbing contrast to his outward duties. His apartment is filled with centerfolds, models, and jars of preserved human parts, revealing the depths of his fixation.
Corpse found in the lake and brought home
A dead man is recovered from a lake by the cleaning crew and brought to the couple's apartment. Robert becomes fascinated by the decayed corpse and secretly brings it into Betty's world as a gift. This act marks the beginning of their twisted ritual.
Chair-leg modification and the first necrophilic act
The couple cuts off part of a wooden chair leg and attaches it to the corpse's crotch, then covers it with a condom. Betty eagerly treats the modified body as a sexual instrument. This grotesque action cements their shared necrophilic dynamic.
First confrontation and termination
The next day, coworkers confront Robert at work, and his chronic tardiness and the odor from the suit in his locker lead to his firing. The termination exposes their private fixation to the outside world and forces a reckoning with consequences. Robert returns home to tell Betty what happened.
Betty leaves with the corpse
Robert informs Betty about losing his job, and she chastises him before departing with the corpse that has become part of their ritual. Their isolation deepens as she takes the body away, leaving Robert alone in the apartment. This marks a turning point in their relationship and the unraveling of their shared life.
Descent into despair and acts of destruction
Overwhelmed by the collapse of his life, Robert kills their pet cat and then bathes in its entrails. He spirals into despair, signaling the depths of his fixation and the collapse of any sense of normalcy. The act demonstrates how far he has fallen.
Nightly drink, pills, and a prophetic dream
He drinks whiskey, takes pills, and falls into a dream where he is a partially decayed corpse playing with a decayed severed head beside a girl dressed in white. The dream foreshadows his disintegration and his obsession with death and decomposition. It blurs the line between wakefulness and nightmare.
A gigolette, a cemetery, and failed performance
That night, Robert hires a gigolette and they go to a cemetery, hoping the atmosphere will heighten his arousal. He fails to perform sexually in the eerie setting, and the gigolette mocks him. The scene marks the escalation of his fragility and dependence on death for stimulation.
Murder and necrophilic continuation
In a surge of rage, Robert strangles the gigolette and then continues with necrophiliac activity using the corpse. The act deepens his descent into violence and his fixation on dead bodies.
Gravedigger discovers the scene
The next morning, an old gravedigger stumbles upon the scene and confronts Robert and the corpse. Robert grabs the gravedigger's shovel and decapitates him before fleeing back to his apartment. The violence marks a turning point in his break from reality.
Robert's suicide
Back in his apartment, Robert stabs himself in the stomach, dying as he experiences a final ejaculation. The suicide ends the immediate horrors and seals his fate within the macabre story.
Grave disturbed by a mysterious digger
Some time later, an unseen figure in high heels is shown digging up Robert's grave, suggesting that the consequences of his actions linger beyond his death. The haunting image hints at an afterword where death continues to cast its shadow.
Nekromantik Characters
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Robert Schmadtke (Daktari Lorenz)
A troubled cleaning worker who becomes consumed by necrophilia and a need to control death as a sexual playground. His fragility, compulsions, and escalating violence push him toward destructive acts, including murder and suicide. He walls himself off from intimacy, seeking fulfillment in corpses and the macabre. The character's arc traces a collapse from mundane routine to psychological breakdown.
Betty (Beatrice Manowski)
Robert's wife who shares his necrophilia fetish, and who participates in acts with corpses. She is both a collaborator and a casualty of their shared perversion, reacting with anger when confronted with consequences. Her departure with the deceased corpse marks a turning point in the couple's dynamic. She embodies a complicity that neither wholly rejects nor embraces entirely.
Gigolette
A hired companion who accompanies Robert to the cemetery; she mocks him, triggering a violent reaction. Her death marks a brutal escalation in his crimes and his eventual complete surrender to the necrophilic fantasy. She represents the fragility of external social forms in the face of twisted desire.
Old Gravedigger
An elderly worker who stumbles upon the couple's act and is killed when Robert uses the gravedigger's shovel. He serves as a sudden intrusion of reality into the couple’s secret world, and his death underscores the film's moral and physical risks. The encounter shatters any illusion of safety in their nocturnal rituals.
Nekromantik Settings
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Time period
Late 1980s
The story unfolds in a contemporary urban milieu of the late 1980s, marked by a grim, underground aesthetic. The technology and fashion are era-appropriate and contribute to the film’s raw, unpolished tone. The timeframe lets the characters operate with a degree of anonymity in a bustling city. The period’s social mores heighten the taboo nature of the protagonists’ desires.
Location
Robert's apartment, Cemetery, City streets
Most of the film unfolds in a monochrome, cluttered urban apartment where the couple keeps trophies and preserved body parts. The couple's forays into a cemetery and the surrounding city streets provide the backdrop for the night-time rituals and acts of transgression. These locations contribute to a claustrophobic, decayed mood that blurs the line between domestic space and the macabre. The setting reflects a subculture of urban alienation and appetite that drives the plot.
Nekromantik Themes
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Death and Desire
Nekromantik centers on the paradox of arousal and repulsion, where desire is inseparable from death. The protagonists pursue intimacy through corpses, transforming objects of preservation into sexual instruments. The film uses explicit necrophilia to probe the limits of erotic fantasy and personal boundaries. The dream sequences and ritualized acts deepen the sense that mortality is a lure and a trap.
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Isolation, Obsession
The characters orbit each other in a universe where human connection is severed and replaced by fixation. Robert’s fixation alienates him from colleagues, friends, and Betty, driving a spiral of secrecy and violence. The urban setting amplifies this sense of isolation, as private fantasies erupt into public danger. The story exposes how obsession corrodes empathy and social ties.
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Reality and Fantasy
The film blurs the boundary between waking life and sick fantasy, mixing gritty realism with surreal dream imagery. The couple’s rituals and the dream of a decayed severed head reinforce that their world operates outside conventional moral logic. The cataclysmic ending underscores how far fantasy can push into fatal acts. The film invites viewers to confront the consequences of transgressing normative boundaries.
Nekromantik Spoiler-Free Summary
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In the shadowed precincts of an industrial city, a routine that most would find repulsive becomes the quiet backdrop for an obsessive intimacy. Robert works as a street sweeper, tasked with clearing the debris of traffic accidents and other grisly incidents. The job, far from mundane, grants him an unsettling proximity to death, allowing a macabre fascination to seep into the very fabric of his daily life. The streets he traverses are lined with the remnants of tragedy, and the stale, metallic scent of his uniform lingers long after the work is done, hinting at a world where the boundary between the living and the dead is constantly being brushed aside.
At home, the apartment reflects a bleak, almost clinical aesthetic: wall coverings of glossy centerfolds, photographs of infamous figures, and jars that hold preserved human parts in formaldehyde. It is a space curated to echo the couple’s shared fixation, a sanctuary where the grotesque is displayed with a detached, almost artistic reverence. Betty moves through this environment with a calm that mirrors Robert’s own detachment, her presence amplifying the eerie equilibrium they have cultivated together.
When a freshly recovered corpse is brought back from the streets, Robert sees an opportunity to deepen the strange communion he shares with Betty. He presents the body as a twisted gift, hoping to merge his necrophilic desire with an act of intimacy. The gesture, however, sets in motion a subtle shift; Betty’s reaction hints at a fascination that may eclipse the connection they thought they possessed. This fragile power dynamic, teetering between attraction and repulsion, begins to reshape their already distorted relationship.
The film unfolds in a tone that is simultaneously clinical and visceral, painting a world where the allure of decay is both a source of comfort and a catalyst for tension. Through its stark visual style and unflinching atmosphere, the story invites viewers to linger on the unsettling intimacy that blooms in the margins of mortality, without revealing the darker spirals that lie ahead.
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