Decoder

1984 [GERMAN]

Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 50% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 50%
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1240 1.2K

Plot summary

F.M. discovers that different sonic frequencies induce different patterns of behaviour in listeners, first in his own studio but later in the local "H-Burger" restaurant where the passive muzak appears to be wiping people's emotions.

Director

Muscha Photo
Muscha

Top cast

Ralf Richter Photo
Ralf Richter as Jaeger's Assistant
FM Einheit Photo
FM Einheit as F.M.
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt Photo
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt as Crisis staff
Werner Veigel Photo
Werner Veigel as Self
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
815.91 MB
1280*960
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles de  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 3
1.48 GB
1440*1080
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles de  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Horst_In_Translation 2 / 10

No idea what I just watched

Reviewed by UnknownDoomer 5 / 10

Tech / Noir

Industrial and urban landscapes, a predominance of dark tones, laconic dialogues, and an electronic soundtrack - the four main components of this film, which can be classified as a rather rare subgenre of techno-noir. The atmosphere and surroundings, as quite regularly happens in an art house, significantly prevail over everything else.In order to somehow minimally connect the mentioned elements into a single whole, a storyline was conceived dedicated to a certain F. M., who spends a little more than all his free time on musical experiments. One day he discovers that the population is under the control of a corporation hidden in the shadows called "Muzak". As it's main instrument, it uses specifically processed, hypnotic music, in fragments of which hidden messages are sewn (here one cannot help but suggest analogies with the works of John Carpenter, be it "Aliens Among Us" (1988) or the more peculiar "Videodrome" (1982)). If you edit one of the tapes with such recordings, you can get the opposite effect. Quite naturally, his hobbies fall into the attention spectrum of mysterious people and an agent with the call sign Yeager is sent to hunt for him. The main character also has a girl who performs in a peep show and is interested in frogs.It would be possible to dwell in more detail on certain subtleties and twists and turns of the plot, such as the same diner where paramilitary orders reign, but this makes not much sense, since they serve only as a necessary background for the audiovisual elements. The artistic component is periodically diluted with real documentary inserts. In particular, the riots shown in the films are a real chronicle, and the action itself probably takes place somewhere in the western part of Berlin. In the context of local electronic-industrial music, there are a couple of notable tracks. In contrast to the somewhat similar in spirit, but much more highly specialized "Liquid Sky" (1982), it almost does not flow into obsessive, white noise - certainly a plus for the overall action.In the end, I note that with all that has been said, the picture is still specific, an extraordinary example of a cult project, but for a narrow circle of people, that does not pretend to be anything more. In other words, if you liked certain elements from the first "Terminator" (1984), then this picture may either fine to watch or seem like just a set of strange, incoherent clips.
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