Die blaue Hand

(Blood splattered everywhere in the first scene, mopped up by the janitors?) Kinski escapes from an asylum and hides out at his family's nearby estate, and assumes the identity of his twin brother, just as a series of murders begin, committed by a man in a black cloak with an iron glove and razor fingers.

How is that, for contrived and convoluted? And quick: this was filmed in February and March 1967, and released already in West Germany in April 1967!

Almost the entire film is bound to the family estate, a setting which allows for plenty of surreal images and vivid colours and soft photography and cracks of lightning in the night, and a few well done stalking scenes, but also limits the film, and makes it feel like a photographed stage-play. A slow moving and somewhat dull stage-play, with an abrupt and dodgy ending.

CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND is a suspenseful thriller full of mystery. Klaus Kinski plays a dual role as twins, one of whom might be a homicidal maniac. The titular killer actually has a blue hand to dispatch his victims. It comes complete with finger-knives!

This movie also contains an insane asylum, a castle with secret passages, and inhuman torture by both rats and snakes! Kinski is his usual, amazing self. He devours these sort of roles like so much candy!

WARNING: This film was rereleased under the title THE BLOODY DEAD, which includes a few added, non sequitur sequences of gory violence having nothing to do with the actual story. This unnecessary footage is tacky, silly, and insulting to anyone with a functioning brain...

One of his betters though it still don't beat Schizoid or Venom. You get 2 Kinski's for the price of one. The classic one bad brother and one good. Kinski in an asylum? Perfect for the schizophrenic nymphomaniac actor. He's always a favorite goon to watch.

Life is short and you only live it once! That was my principal motivation to purchase a 33-DVD box set entitled "The Edgar Wallace Collection". Most of them are obscure and unknown euro-exploitation movies, but they all look deliciously sinister and entertaining. I'm watching them randomly, via a sort of bingo-system, and I was lucky enough to draw one starring my all-time favorite actor; - Klaus Kinski! Apparently, that wasn't too difficult. Kinski stars in approximately one-third of these films.

I am slightly familiar with the oeuvre of novelist Edgar Wallace, and can safely state that ("Creature with) the Blue Hand" is a prototypic work. It's a convoluted murder-whodunit, set in grim décors like spooky insane asylums and gothic family mansions full of secret passageways. Kinski plays a double role, identical twin brothers Dave & Richard Emerson, of which Dave is falsely accused of murder and submitted to an asylum. Someone unknown helps him escape, and simultaneously more members from the noble Emerson clan are brutally murdered by a killer who uses a blue gauntlet with sharp spikes. For once, Kinski doesn't portray the most diabolical character of the bunch. That honor goes to Carl Lange, who plays the sadist head warden of the asylum. He wears a monocle and keeps poisonous snakes in a safe in his office! Siegfried Schürenberg, in his familiar role as Sir John of Scotland Yard, ensures the obligatory comic-relief.

Klaus Kinski stars as Dave Emerson, convicted of a murder but found to be legally insane; soon he has escaped from his asylum, and sets about to prove his innocence. The inspector on the case (Harald Leipnitz) has his work cut out for him trying to wade through all of the suspects and figure out what's going on.

Another entry in that genre known as the "Krimi", this Edgar Wallace adaptation doesn't tell a particularly *great* mystery, per se, but it's made with such energy, pace, and wit that it's a blast to watch. It just races along, and is well acted by a solid, mostly German cast. Fans of Kinskis' work, however, should be aware, that he's not showcased as much as one would think given his prominent billing. Still, he's entertaining to watch, and "Creature with the Blue Hand" (the title stems from the use of the title weapon, a spiked glove from a suit of armor) sizes up as an amiable, atmospheric diversion.

Carl Lange, with his distinctive face, has the look of a classic villain as the nefarious Dr. Mangrove; the incredibly sexy Diana Korner is a treat to watch as Daves' sister Myrna.

Propelled along by a jaunty, jazzy score courtesy of Martin Bottcher, this was later re-worked, with newly shot footage, in the 80s as "The Bloody Dead".

Seven out of 10.