Flashback - Mörderische Ferien

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.

The first German try to make a commercial horror film was "Anatomie". It was very successful at the cinemas (over 2 million visitors, I think...), but at least this movie was a disappointment: there was too much talk and less suspense in it. I always had the feeling, that it was much more suited for television then for the big screen. Some months later they released "Flashback" and my expectations were not too high. I finally saw it on video and I must say that it´s better then his predecessor. "Flashback" is according much more to its American examples like "Friday the 13th", "Scream" or "I know what you did last summer...": it´s a simple slasher movie were the protagonists get killed in order of disappearance. The most positive aspect is, that this film doesn´t take itself too serious. The scene with the dead body in the cable car for example is a plain sideswipe against the yellow press. Otherwise "Flashback" contains more action and suspense then "Anatomie", because it´s not trying so hard to tell a difficult (or demanding...) story. The film goes straight forward and there are also many gory scenes, so I´m sure that all splatter fans will really like this one. The script author seems to have a sense for very dark humor, because the body count is very high and there are also some innocent little pets dying (...what an animal lover like me naturally can´t tolerate! Grrr..!!!). Fortunately, the end is pretty surprising and macabre. It´s like the one in "Scream", something you really wouldn´t expect... Finally, I left this film with the good feeling, that the Germans are able to make good horror films yet. Watch out for the up coming "The Experiment" (starring Moritz Bleibtreu) which also got a lot of good reviews..! My IMDb rating for "Flashback": 8 out of 10 points.

Overall: B+ / 7 of 10 Jeanette is a young woman living in mental health facility since she was a girl. She is haunted by the nightmares of when her parents were brutally murdered by a serial killer with a fetish for killing his victims with a sickle while wearing women's clothing. When the doctor's release she is hired a French tutor for the children of a well-to-do business man. But her new found life out in the real world is short lived when the killer comes back for her. The direction is above average for a film of this nature with good visual flare that owes to several masters of the genre (Dario Argento). The script is a rehash of a lot films. Scream, Psycho and I Know What You Did Last Summer come to mind some of the deaths are lifts from other films but the humor injected into the story is grin inducing. The acting is par for a horror movie that never takes itself too seriously. The photography is excellent. There are many scenes that have cool lighting and camerawork with lots of cranes and big establishing shots. The editing is straight forward and doesn't get in the way. The music is fun and just as over the top as the rest of the film.The film has a decent amount of blood and will keep the gore hounds entertained with slashing, mutilated bodies and snowblown body parts (a really fun scene on its' own). Overall we have a standard horror script that borrows heavily from the genre but mixes in some fun comedy and an irreverence that's all its' own. An interesting and fun twist ending meet you at the end. The is a light hearted German film that is equal parts blood and comedy. Great fun!

* 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.

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...