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by Gerald Pribek
grade: 8
What immediately strikes us about Im Haus der alten Augustin are the extraordinary atmospheres typical of that 1980s cinema of which we still often feel a strong nostalgia. At the Diagonale 2024.
A disturbing past
Within the already varied programme of the Diagonale 2024, there is one feature film in particular that has stood out for its great ability to draw heavily on what has been realised in the past, while also finding its own identity. We are talking about Im Haus der alten Augustin, the debut feature film by director and actor Gerald Pribek, which even received a special mention from the jury in this edition of the Diagonale.
Im Haus der alten Augustin, then, is a fascinating psychological horror film set in 1986 Austria. The young artist Albin (played by Gerald Pribek himself) is in love with Ida (Lisa-Carolin Nemec), but cannot get along with her father, the strict Dr Hampapa (Clemens Aap Lindenberg), who would like his daughter to date a boy with more concrete prospects for the future. Ida, after several quarrels, breaks up with Albin, but when, one evening, the two seem to get back together, they meet by chance, near a nightclub, a bizarre naturalist who seems to have known the girl for a long time. When he mysteriously commits suicide, however, things suddenly become complicated and new frightening truths are about to come to light.
What immediately strikes us about Im Haus der alten Augustin are the extraordinary atmospheres typical of that 1980s cinema of which we still often feel a strong nostalgia. Gerald Pribek, for his part, has been able to treasure what has been realised in the past by the great masters of film history such as, just to give a few examples, John Carpenter and David Lynch, making this first feature film a work that from the outset takes us by the hand into a world that is indeed disturbing and highly unsettling, but also magnetically fascinating.
The two young protagonists kiss in the hall of a small cinema. The film has just finished and it is time to go home. Ida must return soon, otherwise her father will be angry. In Im Haus der alten Augustin we immediately relive old sensations that only great cult films of the past were able to convey to us, yet at the same time, in showing us brutal deaths and a disturbing past, the feature film slowly becomes decidedly topical in dealing with themes that, yesterday as today, represent real shadows within the society in which we live.
After an already satisfying career as an actor, therefore, Gerald Pribek has shown us that he can do quite well behind the camera as well. We had already noticed it in the short film Am Erdbeerstand (2020) and with this interesting Im Haus der alten Augustin, through vivid and pulsating images in which the shadows often get the better of the light and colours of the works of art, the director has officially revealed himself to be one of the names within the Austrian film scene to keep in mind. Let’s see what other nice surprises he will give us in the future!
Original title: Im Haus der alten Augustin
Directed by: Gerald Pribek
Country/year: Austria / 2024
Running time: 108’
Genre: horror, thriller
Cast: Lisa-Carolin Nemec, Gerald Pribek, Birgit Linauer, Clemens Aap Lindenberg, Thomas Erlmoser, Christina Dungl, Günter Tolar, Tobias Ofenbauer, Sir Tralala
Screenplay: Gerald Pribek
Cinematography: Dmytro Yamkovyi
Produced by: Gerald Pribek