Flashback

This is the german attempt to do a horror movie. Since the horror genre was very popular in the late ninety's (consider the scream series) they tried to copy the concept and changed the setting to a small village in the austrian alpes. First of all I think it's much too late for this. There are too much better horror movies. Everything in this movie is stereotype, a lonely village, some stupid cops etc... It's a bit boring, nothing new. It's just a film which was not necessary. The only plus is the good playing of the main actress (the nice and cute Valerie Niehaus) and that the film does not take itself too serious. Some funny scenes. And a unusual ending. I'll give 6/10. If you want some popcorn horror-cinema go out for the US Productions. They did it a lot better...

* minor spoiler * The director of this movie apparently helmed a lot of TV-movies in Germany and it sure shows. This German slasher tries very hard to be stylish looking in a "gallic" way, but seldom succeeds. The look is distinctly like a German TV-movie with harsh lighting in the night scenes and a rather flat look in the daytime scenes. The plot however is very "giallo" with twists and turns. The screenwriters really try to fool the viewer, but since everything is telegraphed in advance in different ways, I was rarely surprised and saw the outcome miles away in advance.

Also hurtful is the way the characters are presented. We can feel no sympathy for these young spoiled brats as they meet their bloody ends. The awful dubbing on the DVD I saw was also a big drawback. At best it's amusing, for the most part it's irritating. However, everything is not bad. The scenery is awesome, we get some nice killings with a sickle and Elke Sommer does a quite nice turn as the stern housekeeper (it would have been nice if she had been the villain of this movie, but alas...), still looking quite good for her age.

This movie also contains quite a few comedic scenes, rarely found in American or Italian slashers. They mostly involve some bumbling cops and if you like that or not is a matter of taste. Quite a few scenes border on farce actually, even a few bloody ones. Especially as they are accompanied by some really strange and in-appropriate music.

So "Flashback" is a decent time waster, but I wouldn't pay too much to see it.

Ten years after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents by a sickle wielding maniac in a dress, Jeanette (Valerie Niehaus) is discharged from a mental institution to take up work as a French tutor for a trio of spoilt teenagers. However, her new life becomes a nightmare once again when a mysterious killer starts to bump off those around her using a sickle as a weapon…

A forgettable title and bland DVD cover did very little to get me worked up about this film, which I only ended up watching because I wanted to gain back some much needed shelf space. But what I imagined would be just another extremely tedious, crappily directed, shot-on-video American slasher turned out to be something slightly more interesting: a predictable but surprisingly polished German slasher, based on a screenplay by Hammer legend Jimmy Sangster and atrociously dubbed into English, which delivers both bloody violence and tongue-in-cheek silliness.

Slick direction, impressive cinematography (with great use of wonderful scenery), decent performances (despite the dubbing), juicy death scenes (including the demise of several cuddly pets) and fun visual references to other horror movies all add to the entertainment factor, but sadly the farcical humour—which comes to the fore in the final act—does detract from the overall effectiveness of the film.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for having the cojones to liquify a cat and bisect a pooch.

Ik like Horror movies very much. And I rented this movie because I liked the story. The movie is spoken in German, but that doesn´t mind me. I like story with big houses and this is one of them. The movie isn´t very scary but it is much fun to watch. 8 of 10

But to be honest and pun aside: the movie is your average slasher. It is predictable to say the least. So no brownie points if you guess correct - not really an achievement to know what or who did what ... or when.

Still it is a decent effort. If you like the genre, you might like what you get served here. There is enough blood for sure for that. Though I reckon some might have liked this to have more skin/nudity. Just in case that is something you are looking for, be aware there won't be any in this movie right here.

Acting is ... well I guess you can call it ok. Again it is all things considered and if you see it in the constraints of the genre this plays within. The end twist is a bit much ... but maybe you like it, so who am I to judge?