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The Bitter Taste

A former pentathlete is captured by an undead countess and her
cursed followers. To escape the deadly hunt, she must reactivate her rusty skills in swimming, running, riding, shooting, and fencing. Alongside a dubious yet charming fisherman and a grumpy police officer, she forms a reluctant alliance to increase their chances of survival.

  • Guido Tölke
    Director
  • Julia Dordel
    Writer
  • Guido Tölke
    Writer
  • Julia Dordel
    Producer
  • Julia Dordel
    Key Cast
    "Marcia"
  • Nicolo Pasetti
    Key Cast
    "Josh"
  • Anne Alexander Sieder
    Key Cast
    "Georg"
  • Christiane Ostermayer
    Key Cast
    "Katharina"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Action, Horror, Supernatural
  • Runtime:
    2 hours
  • Completion Date:
    July 31, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    700,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2,39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Biff Market Work in Progress
    Brussels
    Belgium
    Shortlist - WORK IN PROGRESS
  • FrightFest
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 2, 2024
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Minerva International
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
  • Dorcon Film
    Country: Germany
    Rights: All Rights
    Country: Switzerland
    Rights: All Rights
    Country: Austria
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Guido Tölke

Guido completed his film studies at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover, Germany. Since then, he has worked in various roles including Director of Photography, Camera Operator, Focus Puller, and Gaffer on numerous camera systems. His work on countless film projects has taken him around the globe.

Guido's debut documentary, “Intelligent Trees,” has been screened in over 1,000 theaters in France alone and ranks among the top ten German documentaries in French theaters of all time.

Guido has also been a lecturer in cinematography for over a decade at the University of Hildesheim and the University of Hanover. He has been producing, directing, and editing his own films since childhood, specializing in creating high-end visuals on minimal budgets.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Being a kid of the 80's I always loved Cave Adventures like "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones" as well as Fun Splatters like "The Evil Dead 2" and Creature Features like "The Thing". It has always been a dream of mine to bring all these elements together in one film, and maybe adding a certain "Gore Verbinski" mood to it.
However, with "The Bitter Taste" we actually started out with the idea to make a fast, and simple but original micro budget Horrorfilm - to pass the time as we were trying to get a much larger filmproject off the ground.
We ended up with our yet most ambitious and elaborate movie for the smallest budget you could imagine!
It was Julia Dordel's idea really, to use the sports discipline of Modern Pentathlon as an overall theme because, you name it, "no one has ever done this before"...
It so happened that we both took the challenge and went "No holds barred" for writing a screenplay without any restrictions to any idea, making it impossible to stay simple and contained like we wanted in the beginning. "The Bitter Taste" suddenly evolved to a location-heavy, action-heavy and effects-heavy film with many actors, a complex backstory and long running time.
Given the many locations and action sequences and a very limited low-budget, the goal was to intelligently achieve as much production value and viewing pleasure as possible. That meant figuring out how to make a big budget idea into a DIY project.
It became a dream and a nightmare for no less than 5 years of work, mainly at nights, trying to realize a film that switches from Mystery to Action to Horror to Splatter, featuring chases by car and on horseback, underwater scenes, fencing, shoot outs, a proper "endboss"- monster and a burning house. We wanted to go beyond the average horror/ slasher film by creating an entertaining genre mix that we call "crossover horror". It pays tribute to many of my childhood movie classics, while featuring rather modern, strong female characters, thanks to Julia's creative work on the screenplay. Together we created a story that is so varied and filled with ideas, that we hope, it does not only attract to Horror Fans but also to an audience that loves action, adventure, suspense and mystery.