Just when Michael arrives in Berlin to visit his ex-girlfriend Gabi, a terrible virus starts spreading across the city at a rapid pace, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Much to Michael's concern, Gabi's not home; instead, he meets Harper, a teenage plumber's apprentice at work in her apartment block. Together, they manage to barricade themselves when raging hordes of infected people swarm the building. Surrounded by these thirsty zombies, Michael and Harper have their hands full to survive - and it will take all of their ingenuity to make their way out to try and find Gabi. German with English Subtitles 2010 64min.

"Very well designed and interpreted, RAMMBOCK surprises by its humanity and its way of using just a building and its courtyard as a place of action. Not without humor, the film is nevertheless a real human tragedy in which we find love, betrayal and sacrifice. The film brings an emotion that was lacking in many recent zombie movies."

- www.scifi-universe.com

"Frosh helmer Marvin Kren and scribe Benjamin Hessler have clearly absorbed the conventions of the genre, from George Romero to "28 Weeks Later," but this compact Teuton take on two innocent strangers facing an undead apocalypse is singular enough to please more than just die-hard zombie fans (...)The influence of Romero's 1968 classic "Night of the Living Dead" and countless others can be felt, though rather than simply aping rote genre conventions, the filmmakers have enough flair and talent to keep things fresh, even without much subtext. (...) As in "Rear Window," the setting here is used to generate a sort of paranoid unease and creepy menace that quickly seeps into the pauses between the violent zombie attacks. (...) Kren is a precise director of action and actors, and Hessler not only has a strong ear for dialogue but also likes to toy with viewers' expectations. Pic inventively moves the characters from one apartment to the other as the protags attempt to stay one step ahead of the monsters." - Boyd Van Hoeij - Variety

"By focusing on two main figures in an apartment building Marvin Kren and Benjamin Heussler succeed to create a most impressive claustrophobic effect. (...) In addition to directing and screenplay, the equipment and the performance of the makeup department are outstanding. (...) The film also has extensive laughter."

- Thomas Hunzike - FilmSprung

"The young director has adapted the George A. Romero 1968 established genre, obviously studied very closely, to the realistic ambience of a residential complex in Berlin's to give his own version of "Night of the Living Dead on stage." With a small budget, stoic drama and astonishing precision he provides both the funniest and smartest film of this year."

- 
Stefan Grissermann - Profil Movie Review: Rammbock (3/4 Stars) Orlando Sentinel - May 3, 2011

When was the last time a zombie movie touched you, made an emotional connection? It’s been a while, right? Maybe a moment or a character in “28 Days Later.” But before that? And after it? That’s what jumps at you in “Rammbock” (“Siege of the Dead”), a lean little German zombie thriller opening in select cities (at Universal’s AMC 20-plex)  for a limited run on May 4. A peripheral character in this film, a husband, has run out of tranquilizers for his infected wife. She snarls and snaps at him and the two heroes of the film who have come to his apartment for help. The husband holds out his arms for his beloved, she leaps for him and he embraces her and takes her right out the window with him, an expression of love so eternal that I can’t recall it ever happening in a zombie movie before. But there are a few moments with this sort of pathos in this generally light, brisk (just over an hour) German film from writer Benjamin Hessler and director Marvin Kren. That makes “Rammbock” stand out from the ever-growing  zombie movie pack. Michael or “Michi” (Michael Fuith) has come to Berlin to confront Gabi, the longtime girlfriend who abruptly dumped him, by phone. He opens the door to her apartment, calls her and nobody’s home. A maintenance comes in to do some work, and suddenly goes berserk and is dispatched in a geyser of blood. The disease, “like rabies or something” hits and become “Germany’s 9/11.” Zombies are staggering through the streets and into the courtyard of a small apartment block. The residents there are terrified, behind locked doors, able to communicate through their windows as they look down on the menace below. Michi finds himself penned up with handyman Harper (Theo Thebs),  a guy who is a bit quicker to recognize what’s going on as an apocalypse of sorts. Michi is frantically calling Gabi’s cell phone and stupidly protecting her property, her silverware, from Harper’s efforts to protect them as the world is ending just outside their door. “Rammbock” follows them through a harrowing couple of days, penned in.  There are craven moments, as some neighbors cower and insist that “somebody” lock the gate so the zombies can’t get back into the courtyard — nobody wants to take that risk. And there are comic and even heroic ones as these survivors improvise a way of getting from apartment to apartment without opening the front door. And through it all, Michi’s love is strong. He is still determined to find Gabi and rescue her. If she’ll still have him. Fuith is a wonderful blend of comically hapless and heartsick in the part. It’s not as scary as “28 Days Later,” not as funny as “Zombieland” or “Shaun of the Dead” (which has a similar save-the-girlfriend story). But “Rammbock” is scores with its pathos and its DIY ethos. With every film student on the planet plotting his or her chance to slap ragged clothes and makeup on actors good at lurching, “Rammbock” may turn out to be the most valuable and instructive zombie movie of them all. Laughs and exploding heads? Seen it, done it. But a zombie movie with heart? That’s novel.

Suspenseful 'Rammbock: Berlin Undead' kicks off horror film series on Wednesday New Orleans Times Picayune (NOLA) RAMMBOCK May 3, 2011

With a new horror movie debuting every month and screening each Wednesday and Friday night for the length of its run, AMC Theaters' new Bloody Disgusting Selects program isn't your normal screening series. That makes "Rammbock: Berlin Undead" a perfect inaugural offering -- because it isn't your normal zombie movie. It's a German zombie story, one that has recently toured various horror-heavy film festivals -- including the Austin Fantastic Fest in September. But it's not just that, either: It's a German zombie love story. That, it is safe to say, makes it a genre of one. Leading up to its AMC run -- which is the closest it's likely to get to a full U.S. release -- director Marvin Kren's film has been generating a good amount of buzz. What's more, it mostly lives up to it, as Kren spins a tense, absorbing yarn that knows just how to get the job done before wearing out its welcome. Admittedly, some of that is because Kren's film -- bowing Wednesday (May 4) at the AMC Elmwood -- clocks in at just a shade over an hour, a good 20 to 25 minutes shorter than even the shortest of features. But for all of its faults (underdeveloped characters and an ending that flirts with the ridiculous) it manages to squeeze more movie into those 64 minutes than many other films do in 90 or more. And, remarkably, it does it without being overly gory or sadistic -- at least not by today's horror-movie standards. It's set in a modern Berlin apartment building, all dingy and gray and forboding, which is fitting for two reasons: because sad-sack main character Michael is showing up to bid a final farewell to his ex-girlfriend, whom he still loves; and because within six minutes of the opening credits it will become the site of the zomb-pocalypse. It seems a particularly nasty virus has begun spreading through the world population, turning man into man-eater. And if you get an infected person's body fluids -- including saliva -- into even the smallest open wound, you'll join the army of walking dead, who in this case are red-faced, wild-eyed and typically ravenous. Michael finds that out the hard way, although he manages to barricade himself in an apartment with a teenage plumbing apprentice before either of them can be devoured. That's the good news But where's Gabi, Michael's ex-girlfriend? And with food running low and no sign of rescue from the zombie marauders teeming in the streets outside, how the heck are they going to survive? It's a taut foundation for a movie, although Kren has a tendency to lean on convention rather than doing anything to advance the genre. That means viewers are left with the standard set of hard-to-ignore questions. Namely, why don't zombies just eat each other? And if a virus is behind it all, shouldn't the survivors just stay put on the off chance the infected get better? Honestly, it's best not to ask in this kind of movie. You won't get answers anyway. But you will be entertained. Upcoming movies in the AMC-Bloody Disgusting screening series include "Yellow Brick Road," "Atrocious" and "Hedgehog." If they're of similar quality to "Rammbock," local horror fans will have something to look forward to this summer. ____________ RAMMBOCK: BERLIN UNDEAD 
3 stars, out of 4

Snapshot: A horror movie about a lovelorn Berliner trapped in an apartment building after a virus suddenly turns nearly everyone else in town into flesh-eating zombies. In German with subtitles. What works: It's a brief but well-crafted movie, filled with intense moments built on suspense rather than gore. What doesn't: Most of the characters are woefully underdeveloped, and beneath its fresh veneer -- a German zombie love story -- it's built solidly on genre convention.

Free Press Houston

May 6, 2011 A couple of horror films roll into town this weekend. The absurdist psychic tire thriller Rubber and a German zombie siege film titled Rammbock. Rubber actually stars a car tire (named Robert, although I don’t recall anybody actually talking to it) that rolls around the desert terrorizing animals and humans. Robert’s special powers include the ability to telepathically blow things up, as in Cronenberg’s Scanners. Or as that Saturday Night Live skit goes, “Them heads, they blowed up real good.” Rubber has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek; this is surrealism on the level of Samuel Beckett, and if this premise sounds even remotely funny you’re going to have a good time. A highway patrolman opens the film with a monologue addressed to the camera that’s a classic in its own right. “No reason,” says the officer over and over to explain why things happen in famous movies. Then we see a car on a dirt road with empty chairs. The car veers right and left and slowly knocks over each chair. We proceed to a group of onlookers who are scanning the desert with binoculars. Only at that point is Robert introduced, and the tire gets up out of the sand and starts rolling towards destiny. Obviously a tire cannot blow things up much less commandeer a motel room and sit in the bed watching television. Woe to the maid who tosses this tire out. Rubber constantly keeps the ride interesting with a blend of humor and splats that will make a hip audience smile. Rubber plays as a midnight movie at the River Oaks Three. Rammbock unwinds as part of a series of four horror films that will play throughout the summer at AMC theaters (it opens at the Studio 30 today). The other films are Yellowbrickroad, Cold Fish, and Atrocious. Rammbock, which runs just over an hour, uses that compactness to establish the claustrophobia that ensues when a zombie virus forces Berliners to hole up in an apartment complex and hold out against the rampage. Rammbock offers equal parts character interaction and zombie attacks.

– Michael Bergeron