Very well executed

Don't Believe the Hype

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

"Nikos" aka. "Nikos The Impaler" aka. "Violent S**t 4" was my first venture into the World of German Gorehound Andreas Schnaas, and yet I think I can say that the name of his "Violent S**t" franchise does it justice. This film is violent, all right, and it is also a steaming pile of fecal matter. Even though "Nikos" must be one of the most (intentionally?) crappiest films I ever laid eyes on, it is undeniable that it is also occasionally vastly entertaining (in a very silly, low-brow manner). The film begins in 1003 a.d., when the terrible Barbarian Nikos (played by director Schnaas himself) is executed in a nauseating manner (an allusion to Joe D'Amato's notorious classic "Antropophagus" 0f 1980). A millennium later, the evil Barbarian is resurrected during an exhibition in New York. A college professor (Joe Zazo), his sexy Latina girlfriend (Felissa Rose), a nerdy female student and two idiot male students, as well as a bunch of other visitors, including an elderly couple from Montana, two gay guys and a fat Italian American who talks like a poor man's Tony Soprano are stuck in the museum and have to escape the blood-lust of the resurrected Barbarian, who then infests the entire city. Inbetween butchering people, Nikos also resurrects Hitler, Ninjas, and a 'Princess Of Darkness'... It is undeniable that the film is occasional hilarious in its (seemingly intentional) awfulness. Yet, it gets very monotonous after a while, as it is basically only Nikos butchering vast amounts of people for an endless 100 minutes. I also hate how many contemporary low-budget Horror/Gore productions have annoying nonstop background music for no reason, and "Nikos" is a perfect example for this unfortunate tendency. The mask that Nikos is wearing was apparently inspired by the mask in Mario Bava's 1960 Gothic masterpiece "La Maschera Del Demonio" (aka. "Black Sunday"), and it kinda hurts to mention Bava's milestone, doubtlessly one of the greatest Horror films ever brought to screen, in the same sentence as this piece of crap. Other than that, Schnaas also pays tribute to some of his own films, which are played in a theater (yeah, right, because his films are screened in New York all the time). After an unendurable beginning, the film gets slightly better towards the end. There is one amusing scene in a video store, in which Troma mastermind Lloyd Kaufman has a talk with prolific Trash actress Debbie Rochon and drummer Bela B. (from the German punk band "Die Ärzte"), just to be interrupted by Nikos. We also see the hot Sex/Horror/Trash actress Darian Caine taking a shower, and some of the gore is also fun to look at (my favorite sequence was one in which a guy gets his face chopped off his head). Even so, "Nikos" is very monotonous and overall boring film that is at least 30 minutes too long. Only recommendable if you are capable of enjoying awfulness, and even then I recommend to fast-forward through the first half. I personally had a good laugh every now and then.

If you're looking for a professional movie with in-depth acting and nerve-crunching special effects, please turn around and surf back from whence you came.Nikos is none of that; the camera-work is amateuristic at best, the characters are even more flat than my home country and the average viewer would make a better actor than the ones participating in the movie. The special effects (and movie font) remind most of an old PC role-playing game and the plot lacks any form of subtlety.All these elements combined make for a very low-budget, amateuristic and unpretentious production that you'll either hate... or love.Nikos will not impress the viewer, but the freedom of the makers gives a very unforced and unique impression to it. As contradicting as it seems, it is the kind of pure pulp that stays interesting and doesn't cease to surprise.The movie has some parallels with Bad Taste in terms of budget and seriousness, but personally I find Nikos the Impaler to be far more interesting, original and hilarious. In short...Watch it if you are into: Bad Taste, the Evil Dead trilogy, Freddy vs, Jason, Shaun of the Dead or similar movies. Don't watch it if you prefer serious high-budget movies that immerse the viewer in a different reality than this is not the title for you perhaps.

This is along with Demonium Andreas Schnaas biggest Budget movie. It's his newest long-movie, and it's a gory splatter-fest! The actors suck, the filming is mostly good, but sometimes that sucks to. The effects of the movie is very good! And there is a lot of them! There is also nudity, something most men around the world likes. And if they don't like naked womens, they are probably gay. And you will also find a gay couple in this movie. So now you maybe think that this movie has it all? But no, it don't. Actually, it don't have much except good effects and one naked women. And oh, the stupid plot off course. A barbarian from old Romania! And it is now in New York. Killing people! Hehe, I don't think Andreas Schnaas cared so much about the plot and about the actors. I think he though mostly about the gory feeling that you get of this movie. Couse it is a good splatter movie. If you like splatters, this off course is a must.But this isn't the bloodiest, goriest movie on the planet either. If you want a bloody as hell German movie, check out "Das Komabrutale Duell". So to the conclusion; If you like splatter movie, check this out.If you hate movies with bad filming with a DV camera, bad actors, and so on, don't check it out.

Wow, I'm rather amazed I've seen a lot of bad horror movies in my life, but this one is probably the worst yet. I haven't seen any of Andreas Schnaas' other movie, but from what I've read this is his best movie. So I might just have to see the rest to see if it's really possible to make anything worse then this one. The acting was crappy, not really the biggest surprise this is after all a low-budget B-movie. But usually B-movie know how to make fun/interesting killing. This is not the case in Nikos. Basically Nikos is just a crappy Jason-clone who walks around killing people with his big-ass broadsword. and that's all he does! A guy walking around killing people with a big sword can actually make a decent movie, if the killer does it in new and interesting ways. Nikos doesn't do that, he just lobs of people's heads (with a few exceptions not may though).I wouldn't recommend this money to my worst enemy, no one should be made to watch this movie, it's simply too crappy.