This was a pretty good police thriller. Someone recommended it as a horror, but really, there is nothing to promote horror in the film. It is, though, promoting all kind of nasty feelings.
The story is pretty complex, but shortened to extreme, it is about a small village cop who goes to meet a captured serial killer in order to determine if the (only) sexual murder that took place in their small catholic community is the murderer's doing or not. You see, as an outstandingly nice person, he needs to know that none of the people in his village are the authors of such a heinous crime.
From then on, it's pretty much Silence of the Lambs, only a lot better, since German killers are clearly more scary than American ones, albeit not so flashy. There is even a jab when the killer first meets the cop he says "who did you expect? Hannibal Lecter?". And it was something very creepy about such a nice guy that is surrounded by assholes and still kept his cool all the time. I would have tortured and killed someone that would kill my dog, accidentally or not.
For a German film, I thought it was very well done with top notch performances, production quality and overall feeling. I do have some issues with it, though. Firstly, the name is so misleading. I was rooting for a biological horror film and I got this. Then it was really long for a slow thriller, two hours long. Shorter would have been better, I say. And lastly the Bible quoting ending. Was that truly necessary?
Bottom line: a nice thriller, with great performances. André Hennicke, interpreting the killer, is like a German Robert Knepper. So, if you can imagine a Silence of the Lambs with no girls, with Robert Knepper as the killer and probably Nicholas Cage as the cop (replaying his Wicker Man role) you would get a pretty similar US remake.
The story is pretty complex, but shortened to extreme, it is about a small village cop who goes to meet a captured serial killer in order to determine if the (only) sexual murder that took place in their small catholic community is the murderer's doing or not. You see, as an outstandingly nice person, he needs to know that none of the people in his village are the authors of such a heinous crime.
From then on, it's pretty much Silence of the Lambs, only a lot better, since German killers are clearly more scary than American ones, albeit not so flashy. There is even a jab when the killer first meets the cop he says "who did you expect? Hannibal Lecter?". And it was something very creepy about such a nice guy that is surrounded by assholes and still kept his cool all the time. I would have tortured and killed someone that would kill my dog, accidentally or not.
For a German film, I thought it was very well done with top notch performances, production quality and overall feeling. I do have some issues with it, though. Firstly, the name is so misleading. I was rooting for a biological horror film and I got this. Then it was really long for a slow thriller, two hours long. Shorter would have been better, I say. And lastly the Bible quoting ending. Was that truly necessary?
Bottom line: a nice thriller, with great performances. André Hennicke, interpreting the killer, is like a German Robert Knepper. So, if you can imagine a Silence of the Lambs with no girls, with Robert Knepper as the killer and probably Nicholas Cage as the cop (replaying his Wicker Man role) you would get a pretty similar US remake.