Wie die Karnickel (2002)

Horst Bömmelburg's (Michael Lott) relationship with his girlfriend Vera Malkowski (Anna Böttcher) is stressful and unsatisfactory in every way. When Vera finds a pornographic film in the trash, she leaves him and moves in with her mother. Horst makes friends with his new gay neighbour Siggi (Sven Walser), who introduces him to a new and much more relaxed perspective on his sex drive. At the same time he starts an affair with the famous soprano singer Kriemhild Nastrowa (Andreja Schneider), who is guesting with the orchestra that Horst is playing basoon in.

Vera does not know any of this and on her friend Gilla Bienentreu's (Elke Czischek) advice, attempts to seduce Horst over dinner with sexy lingerie. However, the attempt fails miserably. Gilla then introduces Vera to Gudrun Benningsdorf (Mina Tander) and Britta, editors of “Xanthippe”, a feminist magazine. They interpret Vera's story in their own way and publish an article in which Horst is presented as an inconsiderate “offender”.

Soon, Vera turns up at Horst and Siggi’s flat party. When Horst makes an attempt at lessening Vera’s feelings of humiliation from the disasterous dinner, she kicks him in the groin and walks out of the party. On the same evening, Kriemhild ends her affair with Horst, who is feeling rather relieved, as her insatiable sexual appetite was beginning to exhaust him. Kriemhild marries the geriatric conducter of the orchestra, Zacharias Brettschneider (Jochen Stern), who arranges a job for her at the Scala.

Siggi has just split up with his longterm partner Hubert (Heinrich Schmieder), and lives his life between one night stands and the desire to return to him. When his mother announces a visit, he plans to finally come out to her and present Hubert as his steady partner. However, he declines and a one night stand is asked instead. When Siggi's mother (Irmhild Wagner) visits, Hubert unexpectedly does appear, thereby blowing Siggi's cover, and on top of this is starting an affair with Benno (Alfonso Losa).

Horst admits his passion for porn star Kelly Trump (herself) to Siggi. Without Horst knowing, Siggi signs him up to be a guest on the trashy talkshow "Catch your Dreams", where Kelly Trump and another actress, as well as the editors of Xantippe magazine are also invited. Horst arrives with Siggi as a supposed audience member, and when he is asked on stage, he is publicly exposed as addicted to pornography. The talkshow host introduces the other guests and does his best to play everyone off against each other.

Siggi had only wanted to help Horst meet Kelly, and so tries to leave the live show with him. Vera suddenly turns up, having watched the show at home. She had become so enraged when the distorted relationship in Xanthippe was read out on TV, that she rushes into the studio to set things right. While angry discussions are raging on stage, Vera starts to make friends with Kelly Trump, and Horst returns to the show. He demands to know what all the fuss has been about and asks everyone in the audience who has seen a porn movie to stand up. After some hesitation the entire room ends up standing. After the show Vera and Horst make peace and agree that their relationship had no real basis. Vera goes to the pub with Kelly, and Horst and Siggi go home contemplating.

"Wie die Karnickel" is a charming, straight forward, light-hearted comedy full of clichés about the heterosexual and gay world. A version was released in the US with the title "Maybe, Maybe Not..." starring Til Schweiger. Unlike that movie, this one has not yet been released in the U.S.A. It's sort of based on the comic book, "Wie die Karnickel" created by Ralf König, although this time the script was written by König first, then published as a comic. Marius Ruhland composed the original music, and Sven Unterwaldt Jr. directed. In German.

Creatures from the Pink Lagoon (2006)

In a small town in 1967, young sissy Phillip (Nick Garrison) is about to celebrate his birthday at the beach house owned by his best friend Stan (Lowell Deo). All of Phillip's friends are gathered for the party, including Stan's hunky boyfriend Billy (Vincent Kovar), Billy's shy nerdy cousin Joseph (Evan Mosher), who is attracted to Phillip, and Randall (Philip D. Clarke), the chain-smoking queen of the bunch who insults the others, especially his boyfriend-du-jour, Gary (John Kaufmann), who is instantly smitten by Billy. Phillip's friends want to convince him to drop Billy, who is cheating on him.

Unfortunately, the chemical plant near a cruising highway rest stop has mutated the local mosquitos, so that anyone bitten becomes a raving, undead flesh-eating zombie. A horde of horny gay men are turned into ravenous cannibalistic zombies by the toxic mosquitoes and are making their way towards Phillip's party, eating every man in their path. They have attitude, a dislike of cheap cologne, and an appreciation for showtunes and Judy Garland. With body parts washing up on shore and party guests disappearing, our heroes must find a way to stop the zombie attack.

This homage to the schlock horror classics of the 1950's and 60's never takes itself seriously. It's "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Boys in the Band", and is irreverent, outrageous, cheesy, very campy, and not politically correct. Shot in black & white and made on a shoestring budget by a group of Seattle stage performers, it features a simplistic plot, unspecial effects, and enthusiastic performers, who obviously had a lot of fun making this film. DVD extras include trailers, deleted scenes, a "making of" featurette, a previous short by the director (and one of the stars, in drag) for Seattle's 2004 gay pride, production stills, plus crew and actor commentaries. David Maddux composed the original music for this droll melodrama. The screenplay was written by Basil Harris and Chris Diani, who also directed. It is Diani's first feature film.