Im Banne des Unheimlichen

This is pretty poor. I started well and being in colour and made in 1968 had high-ish hopes. The thing here is that there were just too many people involved and the tale far too ridiculous and uninteresting. It needs more than a few colourful sets and humour. Actually the humorous element was okay but then the seriousness of the tangled tale then becomes undermined and more difficult to watch. The only reason this gets any points at all from me is the 'zombie'. An absolute object lesson to all low budget film makers. A black cloak, a wide brimmed hat and a skull face mask with beautifully working jaw and great lighting. It is increasingly such a joy when the killer 'zombie' arrives to relieve us from our boredom that we are immediately on the wrong side.

As far as bad movies goes, this one is a gem. Everything, from the killer's skull mask to the cheesy melodrama effects, makes it extremely funny. One extraordinary line shows a mechanism triggering the door to a secret passage opened by. a penny bank! Some wacko characters shows the filmmakers didn't take themselves very seriously. The final explanation doesn't explain anything. But this is a murder mystery far over the edge, on the tradition of "Doctor X".

From the versatile (albeit rather monotonous) mind of Edgar Wallace comes another reasonably effective Krimi that incomprehensibly isn't called "The Laughing Corpse". I think we can all agree this would make a much better title than the dull and irrelevant titles "The Zombie Walks" or "The Hand of Power". The best sequence is the opening, when during the funeral of the wealthy but eccentric Sir Oliver the pallbearers drop the casket because diabolical laughter suddenly comes from inside of it. When soon after the heirs of Sir Oliver are getting killed, the remaining family members are convinced he returned as a vengeful zombie.

The usual Krimi-ingredients are there, like far too many characters that are all suspects, and the only way to prove their innocence is by dying at the hand of the real killer. Scotland Yard hero Joachim Fuchsberger is present again, but to my knowledge this is the first and only Krimi without the annoying Eddi Arent as the comic relief. Instead, the charismatic Hubert Von Meyerinck provides the redundant comical interludes. Oh, there's also a guy with a green face, but everybody seems to think this is totally normal. It must be said the killer looks awesome! He wears a creepy skull mask, in combination with long hair, a black cloak and hat, and uses scorpion's venom to murder his victim. Where can I pick up his outfit to celebrate Halloween?

OK late 60's West German made, English-dubbed Edgar Wallace mystery thriller. Usual convoluted story, this time pepped-up with some creep running around in a skeleton outfit, poisoning victims with a needle ring. The heroine is a reporter who always seems to be one up on the cops. The Sinister Cinema DVD-R is not bad quality and the color is adequate.

At the burial of Sir Oliver, witnesses hear a terrible laughter, and quickly the rumour spreads that Sir Oliver returned from the dead - as a walking skeleton. His brother Cecil (Wolfgang Kieling) soon suffers from persecution mania, because everybody he knows seems to be the target of an (attempted or successful) assassination. Inspector Higgins (Joachim Fuchsberger) has no clue why, but reporter Peggy Ward (Siw Mattson) pushes the investigation a bit with her reckless curiosity.

The cast also includes Hubert von Meyerinck as Sir Arthur, clearly trying to make a difference from his predecessor Schürenberg with little human touches such as his musical interests, Pinkas Braun in a typical twisted role as a man who could be a bad guy as well as a good guy, and Lil Lindfors who gets to sing a great song whose lines ("I wanna feel my heart beat") seem quite ironic if you consider it's all about a "zombie". The undead may look a bit silly on still photos, but believe me, it's scary enough in the film. It inspired the title character of the comedy "Der Wixxer" (2004). Something that didn't work was the make-up for Ramiro: he looks green like a Martian, not olive like a Creole. Nonetheless, tremendous entertainment!