Wasn't it Santa's Slay that had the same story? Boy sees parents killer by slasher and grows up to do the same. I'm saying the story here is not original.I was taken with Valerie Niehaus, who played Jeanette all grown up. Her career is long, but almost exclusively TV. I believe she has made only 3 movies. She really kept me interested. which is more than I can say for some others in the film. 60s Teutonic temptress Elke Sommer was also very good.The cinematography was excellent and really added to the movie. It was dubbed, and the job done was good.I wasn't sorry when Ella (Katja Woywood) got it, but why did the slasher has to cut Xavier in half?There are some really funny parts throughout. It makes for a more enjoyable time.The ending was unexpected and terrific.

* 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.

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.

Hell, what´s going on in Germany. A few months after the great movie Anatomie follows this Slasher-Movie about a killer in women-clothes. Horror in Germany is so called "in". But this movie isn´t one of those movies for teens from 12 to 16 years. You must be 18 to see this movie. Well it´s hard in Germany to get an 18 rating, remember: Sleepy Hollow was for children at the age of 12. The movie starts 15 years in the past. A little girl saw the deaths of her parents. A person in women-clothes killed her parents with a sickle. After that experience she went directly to a psycho medical care. Now in this summer she has to teach teenies french. The problem is, the teens live in the mountains, far from other neighbours and the killer with the sickle is right there. Looks like a normal slasher-movie, yeah and it´s like that, but who cares ? There are some bloody scenes (have you ever seen a sickle in a dick?) and the atmosphere is very scary. The acting is sometimes silly, but what are you expecting ? The actors are from local soap-operas... Finally I think you should watch the movie if you are into this genre. My girlfriend wasn´t so happy about that movie but I enjoyed it. I think 8 of 10 (but I like those silly slasher-movies, even I´ve seen this hundred times before).