The Terrible People

The Terrible People (Die Bande Des Schrekens) (1960)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Harald Reinl

Starring: Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor, Fritz Rasp, Dieter Eppler, Ulrich Beiger

From: Rialto Film

This is the first of two reviews I'll post today. The second review will be of something even more peculiar than this: 

I've mentioned krimi movies in the past yet I have had precious little time with the genre that inspired the likes of giallo, among other various niches. In essence, they were low-budget West German movies based on the novels of English writer Edgar Wallace, who apparently was quite popular in the country between the World Wars. Before last night I had only seen the first one (1959's The Fellowship of the Frog) and the last two in '72, which were co-productions w/ Italy and were the more famous Seven Blood-Stained Orchids & What Have You Done With Solange? I won't see this in any particular order yet this was one of the first.

Those movies generally had various cast & crew appear in multiple productions. That includes director Harald Reinl helming many entires & Reinl's wife Karin Dor naturally did the same. So did the lead here, Joachim Fuchsberger. Apparently, Wallace's novels were wild affairs filled with creepy locations, events that seemed impossible, double-crosses, and various mystery tropes. What I've seen so far, while they aren't must-see motion pictures all of them are fun and should be thrilling for mystery fans.

This includes a creepy mask, a creepy clock, a creepy house and creepy events at... a get-together at a golf tournament. One surreal aspect of the genre is that despite the German language they were all set in England although they were filmed in Germany. The actual plot is that right before he's to be executed, a criminal swears revenge against those responsible for his capture... which does happen. Is it his ghost? It's more mystery than horror, although there are a few moments of the latter alongside comedy that does not rise above “the police photographer constantly faints at gruesome crime scenes.”

There's a plethora of twists & surprises in an hour and a half; it was a little absurd but overall entertained me. In the future I'll check out a krimi at least once in awhile.