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—Director Eckhart SchmidtKIER-LA JANISSE – AUTHOR, HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN / FOUNDER, THE MISKATONIC INSTITURE OF HORROR STUDIES / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPECTACULAR OPTICAL PUBLICATIONSI first came across this movie during an intense period of mail-ordering from European Trash Cinema in the late 90s; listed in the catalogue as Trance and supposedly transferred from a Canadian VHS source, its brief synopsis denoted what my friend Sam McKinlay always called "a Janisse Special": Alienated teen girl obsessed with new wave pop star resorts to extreme measures when he rejects her. Sold!Sixteen-year-old Desiree Nosbusch stars as Simone, who rudely scoffs at pimply potential suitors in favor of her fictional romance with the enigmatic pop singer 'R', and engages in daily battles with the hapless mailman whom she believes is stealing her love letters. While my own fan-letter writing and celebrity crushes never reached the dangerous intensity of Der Fan's protagonist, I could definitely relate to the disaffected teen, strapped into her Walkman 24/7 and making out with wall-sized posters of her idol.
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YASMINE KITTLES – MUSICIAN ( TEARIST)After having watched this film over 30 times, I can still say this is one of my favorite films. I was asked with my band, TEARIST, to score a horror film for a Halloween party at Los Angeles's Cinefamily. Cinefamily often has events with bands re-scoring cult classic films. For this event we were presented with the opportunity to score the horror film of our choosing. Knowing we'd be opening for Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin)—responsible for the incomparable score for Dario Argento's Suspiria—the pressure was on. When Cinefamily programmer Tom Fitzgerald presented Der Fan as an option and sent the trailer—I fell, immediately, in love.
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–Eckhart Schmidt
JACQUELINE CASTEL – DIRECTORDer Fan is director Ekhart Schmidt's long lost Neue Deutsche Welle psychodrama that explores fanaticism, sadomasochistic obsession, and body horror as a metaphor for the rise and fall of fascism. Nazi. Death. Porn.
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