DAY 21 – TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES

This film is, by far, the most fucked up movie in this marathon. After acquiring a whole mess of wonderful Arrow Video DVDs, naturally several ended up as candidates on this project of mine. Ulli Lommel’s TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES (1973) is another cinematic account of the “Butcher of Hanover”, a German serial killer from the early 20th century. Most notably, Peter Lorre portrayed the monster in Fritz Lang’s M decades earlier. This film made in the ’70’s in Germany didn’t have to pull any punches. Kurt Raab plays the sinister pederast predator who lures young boys to their deaths and ultimately uses their flesh to concoct fancy meals for his coterie of cannibal friends. All the graphic scenes that Fritz Lang didn’t employ are all in this movie. It was difficult to watch, even for me. Regardless, the relentless evil of the movie is rather impressive. This lesser-known film boasts one of the most skin-crawling villains I’ve ever seen. Bravo, but I’ll likely not watch you again for a long time…

8/10