At the Legend Club in Milan, the “Nekromantik Day” marked a historic moment for underground cinema: the first official screening and first Italian home video release of Buttgereit’s film. NAQB was there.
After 38 years of circulation exclusively as bootlegs, Nekromantik (1987) by Jörg Buttgereit has arrived in official form in Italy for the first time. The occasion was the “Nekromantik Day” at the Legend Club in Milan: an evening organized by Rustblade Records and Mostro Production in collaboration with Drag Me To Fest, combining the first official Italian screening of the film, a Q&A with the director, a live performance by Hermann Kopp — composer of part of the original soundtrack — and the launch of the Italian Blu-ray edition of the film, along with the soundtrack in a collectible liquid vinyl edition. Non Aprite Questo Blog was present at the event and, through its interviewer Nyva Zarbano, conducted two exclusive interviews now available on the NAQB YouTube channel: one with Jörg Buttgereit, director of Nekromantik, and one with Stefano Rossello, founder of Rustblade Records, the label that made this historic Italian release possible.
The film, the director, the story
Shot on Super 8 in West Berlin on a virtually nonexistent budget, Nekromantik was conceived by Buttgereit as an underground cinema experiment intended for a handful of theaters in his city. No one — least of all its creator — expected the film to spread, without the internet and without official distribution, all the way to America, Japan, and around the world. German authorities even attempted to have copies of Nekromantik 2 destroyed, and Buttgereit had to stand trial to recover material seized by censors. Rather than self-censoring, he responded by making Schramm, which he himself considers even more subversive. Today Nekromantik is an internationally recognized title, and the evening at the Legend Club confirmed how long-awaited the Italian release was: the audience response was unexpectedly large, with a notable presence of young viewers.
The interview with Jörg Buttgereit
In the interview conducted by Nyva Zarbano at the Legend Club, Buttgereit retraced the key moments in the film’s genesis — including the three weeks spent in his own kitchen building the on-screen “corpse” together with the lead actor, the moment that gave him the final courage to make the film. He spoke about the influences that shaped Nekromantik (foremost among them the cinema of John Waters), the relationship between underground and mainstream aesthetics today, his critical stance on artificial intelligence in creative fields, and what it means to see the film — 38 years after it was made — officially received in Italy for the first time.
Watch the interview with Jörg Buttgereit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWWdqb0ts4
The Italian edition by Rustblade Records
Behind all of this is Stefano Rossello, founder of Rustblade Records, an Italian label specializing in experimental music and underground cinema, who oversaw the entire operation: from direct contact with Buttgereit and producer Manfred Jelinski to the creation of the physical package, designed explicitly for collectors. The edition also includes the original soundtrack, with
distribution extending to the US market as well. Rustblade Records’ stated goal is to bring other titles from Buttgereit’s filmography to Italy — films that remain little-distributed in this country. The interview with Stefano, conducted by Nyva Zarbano, clearly reveals the philosophy behind the project: an artistic approach before a commercial one, with the aim of building a community around authentic underground cinema.
Watch the interview with Stefano from Rustblade Records: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w01dj9-Skoc
“Rustblade and Non Aprite Questo Blog: if we don’t stand together and everyone thinks only for themselves, the scene dies.” — Stefano, founder of Rustblade Records
About Non Aprite Questo Blog (NAQB)
Non Aprite Questo Blog is one of Italy’s leading references for horror culture: film, series, books, comics, and video games. Founded in August 2014 by Joe Godoy Gonzalez, it is active on YouTube, Instagram, X, Twitch, Facebook, Telegram, and Discord with daily content, exclusive interviews, and in-depth industry coverage. In 2021, together with director Chiara Natalini, NAQB founded Drag Me To Fest, a festival dedicated to independent horror cinema.
