trimbolicelia Not bad 1960 West German made, English-dubbed Edgar Wallace mystery thriller. Someone is lobbing off heads of assorted people and sending them to the police. Along for the ride is a movie company that defaces the property of the location where they're filming, a dotty property owner, a diva actress, a perverted rich guy, and his brutish servant. The servant, YOU HAVE TO SEE. A native African who was ferally raised, covered in hair, and un-nerving to the nth degree. Dressed in coveralls like he was a simple-minded gardener, he looks like a cross between Bigfoot and I don't know what. Actually he's the highlight since a large part of the movie sort of moves sluggishly along. The last half hour picks up some. The Sinister Cinema DVD-R is, I believe, the only version available at this time. The quality is not terrible but not great. At times it's OK but other times it is somewhat dark and hard to see. Recommended for fans of the genre.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Der Rächer" or "The Avenger" is a West German film from 1960 and I am not sure what it is with the statement of Dutch being the first language here on IMDb. The version I watched was in German and I am fairly certain that this is also the original language. The director is Czech-born filmmaker Karl Anton and here we have one of his most known works. This is mostly because it is an entry from the successful Edgar Wallace film series and this movie from over 55 years ago is actually one of the longest films from said series as it runs for over 95 minutes. It is in black-and-white like all the early entries. The cast includes some known names like Drache, van Bergen and Kinski who played in several Wallace films, especially Kinski and Drache were really prolific. As for Drache, I see him as fairly charismatic, but I am not sure if he could convince me with his range and if I see him on par with Fuchsberger for example or Tappert. Anyway, the action here is centered around a killer who keeps cutting off people's heads and who is not necessarily an enemy of the police men here as he also killed one of theirs this way, but it was one who was corrupt and a spy. But murder is murder and so he has to be caught and maybe you can already guess too the way he gets caught in the end or what happens to him. There is always some subtle humor to these films and this one here is no exceptions. For example on one occasion, Drache's character makes a joke about someone else losing his head and with the summary I gave you earlier you understand the reference. But still I must say it is not as funny anymore today as it may have been back then and I also feel the humor here really relies on the dramatic/crime plot working and it almost never is interesting to that regard, never edge-of-seat material. But this can be said about almost the entire Edgar Wallace film series and I have seen almost all of them by now. If you like the other films, you may enjoy this one too. I personally don'd see it as quality filmmaking though. Not recommended.

dbborroughs Movie set set story of a villain who is removing the heads of his victims and leaving them in boxes to be found. Good thriller is a bit too leisurely for much of its first hour where a great deal seems to happen but nothing seems to get done. It's a lot of looking into red herrings and such. Its not bad but it isn't until the second half that the film really starts to move. It's a good but unremarkable Edgar Wallace adaptation. I've seen the film twice now, and I liked it better the firsts time when I was distracted doing things while it was on, I suggest you do something similar. It's of note for fans of Klaus Kinski since the normal manic actor plays some one seeming restrained and bookish.

Mort-31 An earlier one of the classic German Edgar Wallace films, Der Rächer does not yet try to reach the effect of fright too often by showing screeaming women or pointing out frightening moments by zooming onto dead bodies and having us hear earsplitting, shrieking sounds. It is a solid mystery story, with a plot that is almost logical and can be followed rather easily. (The idea of course reminded me of the hilarious Arsenic and Old Lace, but this was a completely different thing. I guess, Edgar Wallace wrote his novel earlier, and maybe Joseph Kesslering read it, maybe he didn't.)Heinz Drache plays the detective, Ingrid van Bergen plays, in one of her rare Wallace appearances, the beautiful girl that needs to be protected. Klaus Kinski is a sinister character on the verge between genius and madness. So there is nothing new concerning the cast (only Eddi Arent is missing, but I didn't really miss him), no world-shattering surprises, except maybe at the end. Good Sunday-afternoon suspense.