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Des Teufels Bad (2024)

Reviewed on 2025 November 20

Very moody, sad psychological horror piece, a German Austrian production, of a woman who marries and gets not one thing she bargained for. This is based off actual events from the 1700s.

Agnes (Anja Plaschg, killing it) is a new bride who thinks she married a teddy bear of a man: Wolf (David Sheid). I don’t know what Wolf’s problem is, and speculation might give you spoilers, so I won’t. For extra fun, Agnes gets to live within walking distance from Wolf’s nitpicky mother (Maria Hofstatter). I don’t think ol’ mummy would have thought any girl was good enough for her little Wolf, but there are a couple of early scenes of Agnes petting livestock the way a lot of people fuss over their pets so we assume Frau Grumpalot really won’t have patience for her temperament. Add a repressive community with appalling medical beliefs and dispositions that make the Calvinists look like fun tolerant people, and you know what’s coming isn’t going to be good.

This is a squirm-inducing movie, and I mean that in a good way. The cinematography is beautiful, so even when it it seems to move slowly when it’s setting things up, it’s still incredible to look at, even when you’re itching to see what happens next, The acting from all is wonderful and Anja stands out. She also scored the sinister music.

Three chocolate morsels and a little schnapps.

— Shukti