# Solvent (film)

Solvent is an English-language Austrian supernatural mystery comedy drama horror film directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner and produced by art group monochrom. It stars Jon Gries, Aleksandra Cwen, Johannes Grenzfurthner, and Roland Gratzer.

## Plot

In an Austrian farmhouse, a team of experts discovers a hidden secret while searching for Nazi documents. Among the team is Gunner S. Holbrook, an American expatriate who becomes increasingly obsessed with unraveling the mystery. As Holbrook delves deeper into the farmhouse's dark history, his sanity begins to unravel, leading him to confront an insatiable evil lurking within.

## Themes

Horror and sound play an essential role in the film. Grenzfurthner says that Solvent forms a trilogy with Masking Threshold and Razzennest.
In an interview with VOD Club, Grenzfurthner explains that while the films in the trilogy don't share a narrative thread, they are linked by their examination of philosophical themes:
   In Masking Threshold, it revolves around the ether, the vibrations, the ephemeral horror. In Razzennest, it's about the ground, the earth, what is hidden within it, what cannot let go. And in Solvent, as the name suggests, it will focus on the liquid; on the water that unerringly carves its path, serving as a metaphor for the indelible power of history.
Grenzfurthner used the old farm of his maternal grandfather, Otto Zucker, as the location for the film and also incorporated old photographs of Zucker to depict the Nazi antagonist Wolfgang Zinggl. Grenzfurthner spoke at length about his desire to incorporate the reality of his family into this fictional exploration of Austria's Nazi past. Zebrabutter calls this a cinematic "palimpsest."
The film combines a point-of-view style with experimental techniques, incorporating elements of both mystery and splatter films.

## Production

The film was primarily shot in Unterzögersdorf, Lower Austria, from March to November 2023.

## Cast

* Jon Gries as Gunner S. Holbrook
* Aleksandra Cwen as Krystyna Szczepanska
* Johannes Grenzfurthner as Ernst Bartholdi
* Roland Gratzer as Fredi Weinhappl
* Jasmin Hagendorfer as Cornelia Dunzinger/Cousine Edith
* Ronald von den Sternen as Richie Fischvogt
* Peter Plos (body performance) and Galen Howard (voice) as Kyle Edward Boll
* Bibiane Zimba as Leni
* Sky Elobar as Mike Haneke
* Otto Zucker (archival footage) as Wolfgang Zinggl

## Release

The film premiered at Slash Filmfestival in Vienna in September 2024:
   Johannes Grenzfurthner's reliably radical(ly humorous) fathoming of the Austrian psyche in stream-of-consciousness style is a witty and sometimes hilariously low-brow POV-horror grotesque. The director leads the viewer down to dank, damp cellars where yesteryear's gunk seeps unhindered into the present. And the result is a film as visionary as it is insane.
Nightmares Film Festival hosted the U.S. premiere. Dark Nights Film Festival in Sydney presented the Australian premiere.

## Reception

Critical response has been positive. The film holds a 94% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with a weighted average of 7.7/10. Bradley Gibson of Film Threat (8.5/10) says Solvent "takes us to the darkness of humanity's most wicked impulses flowing just beneath us, poisoning the water table. [...], creates and deepens a mood of growing spiritual decay. Lovecraft explored the notion that horror and madness could render physical changes, and this is delightfully pursued as well." Critic Anton Patel remarks that "the film deals in serious issues – the most serious – about human nature and our capacity for both evil and good (mixed, as in a solvent). That tonal dissonance between comedy and horror only adds to the discomfort created in the viewer, who is confronted with the awfulness, whether merely petty or outright genocidal, coursing invisibly, and often absurdly, through all our veins." Richard Propes (The Independent Critic) praise the performances of Gries, Cwen, and Grenzfurthner, and states: "Solvent isn't an easy film to watch and it's sure not for the timid, however, for those who prefer their cinema uncompromising and with integrity galore there may not be a more must-see film in 2024."

## Awards

* The Film from Hell (Best of the Fest) at Nightmares Film Festival 2024
* Best Poster Art at South African Horrorfest 2024
* Best Feature Film at Horror Underground Film & Screenplay Festival 2024