Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann?

No pun intended - who is afraid of the ... well there was a "game" when I was younger. I am still not sure what it tried to tell us. If you were kind you would say it meant a man dressed in black clothing ... if not ... well let's not get into that. The movie uses this quite questionable game to create a bogeyman ... something that does not exist in real life obviously - but this is a movie so all bets are off? Well let's say ... no even though I think this is not really good I will not take that away from the movie.

This unfortunately is painfully made for TV and not in a sense that would help or elevate it and its status as a horror movie. Cliches - well we are used to them ... but this has not much going for it. It may have a bit of an original twist here and there ... but while the actors are quite decent, overall there are things this lacks ... like a better pacing, more and better shock effects ... and again did not age in a good way. Maybe was not really that good back then - but really feels out of touch in so many ways nowadays ... still if you like horror stuff and are curious about a different "bogeyman" ... well here you go.

when I started watching this film I was prepared for just another German TV movie. I was surprised to get much more. the whole movie is set in austria and uses beautiful landscapes to build a mysterious setting. the setting serves as the background for a thriller plot that seems simple at first but becomes more and more complex as the movie unfolds.

The film uses all the key elements of horror but tells a dramatic crime story.

There are many nods to modern horror movies, the biggest is the appearance of Dr. Herbert West from the Re-Animator movies. It is funny how the previous poster thinks of those references as rip offs while they are clearly meant to serve as an homage and entertain horror fans.

The characters act like real people rather than the comic characters we know from most horror films. The way the policeman reacts to the events around him leads to a fatal chain reaction that sets up a much bigger threat than the "monster" itself.

Still there are some weak points. The horror elements are shown in a very German way and the thriller elements sometimes look like taken out of a tatort movie. (a German TV series about local crime stories).

The illusion of a "boogey man" haunting the small town isn't shown properly and doesn't work out throughout the movie. There are also not enough shockers in the movie to serve as a true horror film. On the other hand it doesn't have to be and maybe doesn't want to be.

I personally loved that the movie was told from a woman's point of view. You can tell that the director is a woman by the way the characters are handled. Sophies conflict with her father is told in such a touching way, that it gives the movie the depth that American horror movies usually lack. We share Sophies fear for her son Klaus and her struggle with the towns residents.

I give this movie 8 out of 10 points for taking me on an emotional roller-coaster that didn't allow me to sleep for hours.