When serial killer Gabriel Engel is arrested, country cop Michael Martens travels to the city to interrogate him. He hopes to get a confession from Engel, but instead the crazed killer turns Martens' world upside down.
You may have heard about this film, Antibodies, I sure know I have. "A top-notch psychological horror-thriller", "a gruesome ride into the mind of a twisted child murderer", "a gripping and chilling piece of cinema".. and the list goes on. So obviously I was expecting one helluva good thriller that would not only be suspenseful, but extremely clever as well. Now, Antibodies is not a bad film per say, but it was not half as smart or "chilling" as some people claim it to be, in fact, it wasn't better than you're average episode of CSI and while that may be all right, it does not make it great. In the same vein as Silence of the Lambs? Hell no, it's rather that Antibodies at times is a clone of Silence of the Lambs, something that the filmmaker even admit to early on in the film, making a reference to Hannibal Lecter. But doing by that and showing that Alvart is aware of that he's stepping into the territory of another film does not justify his actions. The borrowing becomes too much, it's just way too similar and has a foul taste to it.
We're treated to a pretty good intro, but as soon as the lead, Michael Martens (Wotan Wilke Möhring), makes his first appearance, things start to go down-hill. Why? His character is one of the most boring characters ever, and even though I at times through the course of the film found myself struggling to like it and to accept him, I just couldn't. He is this police man that lives out in the country where he upholds the law, he's a married man, a "good christian" and a very wooden type of person. Furthermore, he's Antibodies' "Jodie Foster", the only man the vicious serial killer, who's a sissy version of Hannibal Lecter, wants to talk to.
The camera work is good and the film looks very slick, but the fact is that it feels like watching a tv-thriller and that's not a good thing. To even compare the film to Seven is absolutely crazy since Seven was a truly smart movie and Antibodies feels somewhat like the little brother to all these smart bigger thrillers, that have been looking up to them for ages and now trying to be just as good, but that does not even come close.
 
As the film starts, serial murderer Engel is captured and is being questioned for the murder of a whole heap of young boys and a cop. Soon, the body of a young girl, from the town of Herzbach, is found and the murder fits Engel's profile as well, but the loony denies that he had anything to do with the death of the girl. Eventually, the police in the big city calls for police officer Michael, also from the town of Herzbach, who after having visited Engel, seems to be the only one Engel wants to speak to. So the police have to continue using the country cop Michael in order to find more leads.
While it starts out as cop versus serial killer, director Alvart soon takes the movie in a more Biblical direction and re-tells the story of Abraham attempting to kill his son Isaac. This Biblical direction of the film is absolutely horrible and so is all the borrowing from Silence of the Lambs, and there's no excuse for that because it's not like it pays homage or anything, it just borrows, and may I add heavily. The serial killer Engel is supposed to be one smart mother, but by showing him off like this, Antibodies' keeps aiming at something it just can't reach and needless to say, it does not have a satisfying outcome.
I would like to discuss the ending a whole lot, but because of possible spoiler, I can't talk too much about it. Let's just say that if you think about it during the course of the film, you can probably figure out that Engel has some "diabolical" plan to release upon the poor country cop towards the end and that is correct. Furthermore, a plan like that is just a piece of the cake and obviously the film needs another twist to make it seem really smart and unpredictable. And it does have a twist and I have to admit that it is a very good twist, unfortunately Alvart does not stick with the "sad" ending that could've made the outcome seem so much better. Instead he makes it end in a typical Hollywood fashion kind of way, so that you will feel good and not be leaving the theater all upset. Well, that is just too bad.
While Antibodies may have some redeeming qualities, the Biblical part of the movie is terrible and with this Christian layer that constantly lays thick over the whole film, it's hard to not feel a bit sick every once in a while. The suspense is really nowhere to be found and the heavy influence of Silence of the Lambs makes the film quite uncomfortable to watch. Our "hero" is dull and not the least bit likable and the serial killer is not half as terrifying as some reviewers wants him to be. In the end, Antibodies may work as a tv-thriller in Germany, but if you want to see some really clever thriller, then just re-watch Silence of the Lambs or Seven one more time.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Antikörper, Antimatter
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Christian Alvart
WRITING CREDITS: Christian Alvart
GENRE: Thriller, Crime, Drama, Horror
CAST: André Hennicke, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Christian von Aster
COUNTRY: Germany
RUNTIME: 127 min
RATING: 3/10
Antibodies Website/IMDB Click here
Antibodies Trailer Click here
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