NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

gridoon2018 "Dr. M" (aka "Club Extinction") feels alienating at first, because it's an out-of-left-field movie for Claude Chabrol to be involved with - it seems more like something along the lines of, say, David Cronenberg. And there is also an awkward language mixture: English for spoken, German for written. But although the film is difficult and vague at points, it is also extremely intriguing, with a few brilliant and/or shocking scenes (wait for the one in the restaurant....). Jan Niklas makes for an unorthodox lead, and Jennifer Beals has a glorious acting moment, where she delivers a pained "smile" for a photo shoot. Although "Dr. M" is different to the usual Chabrol fare, he proves once again that he is incapable of making an uninteresting film. **1/2 out of 4 .

MARIO GAUCI To begin with, I vividly recall reading the mixed newspaper review of this one when it was surprisingly released locally; needless to say, I missed it at the time and, until earlier this year, never again did I have the opportunity to check it out. In fact, it turned up – alas, dubbed – on late-night Italian TV and, though I did record it, I recently opted to acquire the English-language version…which is just as well, since two deleted scenes were included in the package! Anyway, knowing the flak the film has received (which was practically universal), I really did not know what to expect from it. However, I must say that I liked it quite a bit, while acknowledging it cannot hold a candle to any of Fritz Lang's movies revolving around the influential figure of criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse (here, the name has even been changed to Marsfeldt!). Incidentally, the actor most identified with the role (in a revival series of 1960s low-budget efforts) i.e. Wolfgang Preiss appears here as the Chief Of Police!Perhaps the film does at times feel like one of the many German TV cop shows which have flooded the market from the 1970s and still continue to this day, but there is no denying the grip of the narrative (which tried, but unfortunately failed, to be prophetic when the Berlin Wall got torn down only months before the picture debuted!). Equally striking is the imagery pertaining to mass suicide (the most disturbing being a child waiter in full view of the patrons at a swank and busy restaurant), media manipulation and wasted disco-crazy youth (appropriately bleak though, I concede, not all that original).The intense performances are also a plus: particularly Alan Bates as the outwardly charming but obviously sinister Dr. M and Jan Niklas as the disenchanted yet dogged cop on his trail of terror, though heroine Jennifer Beals proves no mere purveyor of eye candy either. Indeed, Bates' occasional resort to hamminess (especially when he passes himself off as a psychedelic guru at a desert holiday resort and spouting his nihilistic credo to an incredulous, disgusted Beals and Niklas during the climax – set in the Doctor's obligatory 'control room' – all the while connected to a life-support system!) are perfectly in keeping with the fanciful goings-on. The eclectic cast also includes the likes of Euro-Cult regular William Berger, future Italian TV presenter Daniela Poggi and former "Brat Pack"-er Andrew McCarthy in small roles.In the end, while it may fall short of Chabrol's best work, the film nonetheless makes for a thought-provoking, stylized and yet entertaining parable on our less-than-reassuring times (incidentally, its suggestion/fear of the millennium as the 'end of days' is pretty amusing at this juncture).

przgzr Anyone who saw more then a few Chabrol's movies knows the pattern: a crime story where a crime is either a consequence of human (mostly family) relations, and it happens in second part of the movie, or it happens on the beginning, and during the movie we watch the consequences crime left on characters' lives. From time to time, however, Chabrol jumped out from the string. In 1990. two different movies followed one another, 'Quiet Days In Clichy' and 'Dr M'. While there is a lack of murders in first one, he compensated it well in the second. In fact, number of killed people in 'Dr M' may be equal to deaths in all other Chabrol's movies together. This time we don't watch a troubled family or a silent psychopath but an organized crime group trying to make Berlin a ghost town, by killing its inhabitants, washing their brains or making them leave in panic. If we found a good motive it might sound good, but there isn't any worth believing in. Deadly ill man showing his power, or an irrational anger because the others are still alive and healthy? If Berlin somehow caused his illness, we could understand his revenge, if he had any financial interests, we could easily believe he is capable of doing crimes (maybe even for his family when he dies, what could make us feel some sympathy). But it's not only the motive. Who is he at all, and how does his organization work? (People who are in network or tourism business usually don't kill thousands of people who watch their programs or travel with them.) Was he a big criminal before he became ill? Why do the others still follow his orders? And why, if killing so many others, he hesitates to get rid of the few who can jeopardize his plan? Etc.Another trouble, making this movie the worst Chabrol film I've ever seen. The movie takes the worst from American action movies and old 60's European art movies. Action with no depth and boredom with no excuse. The characters are uninteresting (even in extreme US action movies you can find a few more real persons), and the actors don't add anything. Maybe Chabrol did it on purpose, putting gray faceless persons in gray faceless town. But this is still not a reason to have them slaughtered. After seeing this picture of Berlin, I can suggest a short two-steps brain washing (basic) program:1. Watch Wenders' "Himmel über Berlin".2. Go to 1.

Xanadu-2 Good idea for a moody futuristic thriller, nice art direction and location photage of Berlin cannot help this european movie mess. Famous french director Chabrol is at a loss with german actors speaking english and lovely Jennifer Beals given no direction at all. It all seems totally unrehearsed one-take filming. Bad sound and lighting do not help. A chance to make an atmospheric Blade Runneresque thriller went down the E.U. drain. A dull waste with interesting ideas worth a remake.