The film is based on the actual case of Fritz Harrmann, a.k.a. the Werewolf of Hanover, who was a homosexual child molester. He was convicted in 1924 of two dozen murders, but speculated during his trial that he may have killed 30 or 40 people. It was produced by Fassbinder and directed by his protégé Ulli Lommel. All the characters have a quiet intensity with a sleazily repulsive Kurt Raab, who wrote the screenplay and plays Harrmann. While its nice to have a film that avoids condescending trite moralizing the film, this art house take on horror doesn’t seem to do anything but disturb, and I’m left wondering if there was any motivation in making the movie other than prurience. The director would go on to make numerous straight-to-video horror films based on real serial killers. The film is lurid though not overly gory by today’s standards, and the settings grimy. The story is simplistic but full of macabre elements and all out perversity that more than keep the interest.
4/5
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