After watching the wonderful Face of the Frog (1959-also reviewed)I found out that I had picked up another Krimi, the purchasing of which I had forgotten about! This led to me deciding to see the terrible people pour out some Krimi.
View on the film:
Taking the Krimi genre deep into the Giallo direction that he and his then-wife would complete to a full transition with their final Krimi serving The Sinister Monk (1965-also reviewed) director Harald Reinl is joined by cinematographer Albert Benitz in superbly dipping the Krimi into Giallo and Gothic Horror.
Backed by a silky Jazz score from Heinz Funk and featuring a high body count, Reinl brings the ghostly looking killer from out of the shadows with splintered panning shots darting from the startled gaze of the cops seeing a "ghost" disappear in front of their eyes.
Running a list of who is being targeted in vengeful killings across the screen, Reinl crosses off each name off with ultra-stylised proto-Giallo first-person tracking shots and slivers of blood across the bourgeoisie household, (a future regular setting for Giallo) which Reinl gloriously twists into a Haunted House final,where Long and Sanders search to unmask the ghostly killer,whist in a crumbling house with things that go bump in the night.
Bringing a Gothic flavour out of Edgar Wallace's novel, the screenplay by Reinl's regular scriptwriter J. Joachim Bartsch (here joined by Wolfgang Schnitzler) sizzles a tense Krimi mystery of the police attempting to get one step ahead of the "ghost",with the seeping fog gradually wrapping round the detectives of the open possibility of a supernatural element being involved in the killings, leading them to sail into murky waters where criminals use the "supernatural" as a cover for their continuing crimes.
Joined by Joachim Fuchsberger keeping Inspector Long hot under the collar as he gets under pressure to stop the ghost piling up the bodies with avenging murders, Queen of the Krimi, Karin Dor gives a excellent performance as Sanders,with Dor's expressive face capturing Sanders gradually warming to the police,whilst nudging the viewer to the change of perception in the killer twist ending,as Sanders unmasks the motives of the terrible people.
View on the film:
Taking the Krimi genre deep into the Giallo direction that he and his then-wife would complete to a full transition with their final Krimi serving The Sinister Monk (1965-also reviewed) director Harald Reinl is joined by cinematographer Albert Benitz in superbly dipping the Krimi into Giallo and Gothic Horror.
Backed by a silky Jazz score from Heinz Funk and featuring a high body count, Reinl brings the ghostly looking killer from out of the shadows with splintered panning shots darting from the startled gaze of the cops seeing a "ghost" disappear in front of their eyes.
Running a list of who is being targeted in vengeful killings across the screen, Reinl crosses off each name off with ultra-stylised proto-Giallo first-person tracking shots and slivers of blood across the bourgeoisie household, (a future regular setting for Giallo) which Reinl gloriously twists into a Haunted House final,where Long and Sanders search to unmask the ghostly killer,whist in a crumbling house with things that go bump in the night.
Bringing a Gothic flavour out of Edgar Wallace's novel, the screenplay by Reinl's regular scriptwriter J. Joachim Bartsch (here joined by Wolfgang Schnitzler) sizzles a tense Krimi mystery of the police attempting to get one step ahead of the "ghost",with the seeping fog gradually wrapping round the detectives of the open possibility of a supernatural element being involved in the killings, leading them to sail into murky waters where criminals use the "supernatural" as a cover for their continuing crimes.
Joined by Joachim Fuchsberger keeping Inspector Long hot under the collar as he gets under pressure to stop the ghost piling up the bodies with avenging murders, Queen of the Krimi, Karin Dor gives a excellent performance as Sanders,with Dor's expressive face capturing Sanders gradually warming to the police,whilst nudging the viewer to the change of perception in the killer twist ending,as Sanders unmasks the motives of the terrible people.