Satan's Brew

Released Oct 7, 1976

1h 40m

Comedy

List

75%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Leftist experimental poet Walter Kranz (Kurt Raab) has hit a wall creatively and his publisher won't advance him any more money until he produces additional work. Kranz distracts himself with prostitutes, infidelity and violence until, in the wake of a revelatory dream, he concludes that he's the reincarnation of romantic poet Stefan George. He begins to pass off George's poems as his own, and adopts what he believes the dead writer's habits and style to have been.

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Audience Member

Fassbinder attempts a screwball comedy and, well...let's just pretend it never happened.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie and Haneke's "The Piano Teacher" both mock the notion of the madness of genius, but while Haneke portrays it as a kind of horror movie filled with dread Fassbinder approaches it as a breathlessly crazy screwball comedy.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This might bother some of Fassbinder's more 'serious' fans, but this is probably my favorite of all his films (that I've seen, anyway). Kurt Raab, usually Fassbinder's production designer, takes the lead role, giving a very Peter Lorre-ish performance as down-and-out leftist poet Walter Krantz. Unable get an advance from his publisher due to a lack of productivity, and under pressure from his unpleasant wife (Helen Vita), he struggles to make money, interviewing a prostitute for an upcoming book project which never materializes, blackmailing and murdering a variety of women, and even taking in a sycophantic female admirer (Margit Carstensen, almost unrecognizable) to get enough money to stay afloat. His murder of a masochistic mistress is under investigation by a slightly unhinged cop (Ulli Lommel, later to become a director himself), but Walter is more concerned with making money, and then later, his new obsession with the idea that he is in fact the reincarnation of homosexual German poet Stefan George. Bookended by a quote from Antonin Artaud, the film wears its Theatre of Cruelty influences on its tattered sleeve, with frenetic performances, outrageous dialogue, and bizarre, often offensive situations. I don't want to spoil too much, but if you like weird stuff, this is most definitely for you.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Black comedy about a poet who believes himself to be the reincarnation of the 19th century homosexual poet Stefan George. Fassbinder's work has plenty of slapstick and caricatural personages to keep an audience entertained; it is however undeniable tha somehow it feels as if the crazy situation gets out of his control as he awkwardly tries to drive a messy film to a sort of a conclusion in the end. As a surreal depiction of moral decadence it's quite amusing and engaging, but the coldness of it all makes it an over-zealous and self-indulgent kind of work.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Una de las comedias mas bizarras y pachecas que he visto.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This absurdist is so strange that it's hard not to like.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

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Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Director

Kurt Raab

Walter Kranz

Helen Vita

Luise Kranz

Margit Carstensen

Andrea

Volker Spengler

Ernst Kranz

Ingrid Caven

Lisa

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Janet Maslin

New York Times

If you have any doubt that there's such a thing as being too prolific, by all means go see Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Satan's Brew.

Rated: 1.5/5

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

A 1976 comedy by the well-known German humorist, Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Jay Antani

Cinema Writer

If you're new to Fassbinder, this one may catch you off-guard, but if you love the guy, here's another to scratch your head over and chuckle mischievously along with.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 26, 2010

Full Review

TV Guide

[It] may be the least interesting film made by the great Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a shrill and tiresome attempt at a screwball black comedy.

Rated: 2/4

Sep 18, 2006

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It was enjoyable as offbeat entertainment from a director who is not afraid to take chances and change his filming style.

Rated: B

May 16, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Nov 2, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Leftist experimental poet Walter Kranz (Kurt Raab) has hit a wall creatively and his publisher won't advance him any more money until he produces additional work. Kranz distracts himself with prostitutes, infidelity and violence until, in the wake of a revelatory dream, he concludes that he's the reincarnation of romantic poet Stefan George. He begins to pass off George's poems as his own, and adopts what he believes the dead writer's habits and style to have been.

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Screenwriter: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Production Co: Albatros Produktion, Tango Film
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 7, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Mono

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