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.

A woman spends 10 years in a mental institute after witnessing her parents' when she was a child being viciously murdered by a crazed man with a sickle and who's wearing a dress. After a whole lot of therapy her psychiatrist releases her and he gets her a job as a French tutor for some teenagers who are living in a lonely house in the Alps. Though, things aren't that peaceful as she finds out the past might be coming back to haunt her? Germany's crack at the slasher market after the all-popular "Scream" (which started up the trend) isn't anything special, but it was fairly well made and enjoyable viewing. The look of it is rather glossy and the atmosphere is very imposing. The story doesn't really make that much sense, but it gives you what you expect from a slasher film. By sticking to the usual slasher formula, with clichés aplenty, high body count, sex crazed teenagers and a very routine story. You can see the influences and homage's towards other slashers such as "Halloween", "Scream", "Dress to kill", "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Black Christmas" throughout the film. It's filled with rather explicit violence and a special warning to pet lovers, as there are couple of graphic scenes towards dogs and a cat. Even the film gives us the usual opening death sequence to wet our appetite. You could say the two horny teenagers who got slashed to death on the train was rather pointless, but what do you expect in a film like this.What made this film standout from the normal slashers was the morbid and incredibly gloomy atmosphere that was created. Very atmospheric during the night sequences with swirling mist and open grass fields. There was such an alienating feel because of the isolation of the surroundings. Eerie sound effects and visuals added to the uneasy element too. The elegantly lush scenery that surrounded the countryside estate was simply breathtaking and a tremendous sight to see. The setting is the real high point and you can add Elke Sommer's cameo too. The other performances were fair if over-the-top, but Elke Sommer's as a uptight housekeeper and Valerie Niehaus as the girl coming to grips with her past Jeanette Fielmann excel in their roles.The cinematography is crisp and rather slickly done. With inventive and well established camera-work. There's the usual killers POV and don't forget the heavy breathing to go along with it. There are some well-staged death scenes with a lot of blood and spitefulness and some fairly creepy moments like figures lurking in the shadows. It totally goes for shocks and scenes that try to make you jump. The soundtrack was a real mixed bag, from Goth to rock to real cheesy romantic music. The direction is rather standard and keeps a solid pace throughout.The tone and elements of the plot reminded me of "Scream" and a little of "Halloween" and "Dress to kill". The plot is filled with the usual hidden secrets, rowdy teens and a party, some added black humour, a cheesy romance, investigating strange occurrences, some deaths lacking meaning, moments of is she imagining or is it for real and a stunning revelation. There are some inconsistencies in the plot that are evident, so don't look too hard into it. Though, the peculiar twist that you get will totally throw you off. That's when it gets rather interesting indeed. The ending scene is a pretty good way to cap it off.It's nothing great, but otherwise it's a not-so-bad slasher with excellent production valves and exquisite setting.

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!

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*A woman gets a job tutoring French to three rich brats for the summer. She's a hottie who just got released from the insane asylum. Her doctor thinks this job will be good for her. Some fresh air, some rowdy German teens talking in terrible dubbed English, and a mad killer stalking the house. She has flashbacks to her parents murder and wonders if the killer could be coming for her. The viewer has flashbacks to every single slasher flick he's seen."Flashback" has one good thing going for it: BLOOD. Lots of blood. They don't skimp on the red stuff. No one is safe. Other than the blood, it's lacking. The plot is lame. The acting is fair but since all the teens are selfish ingrates, you don't care whether they get butchered or not. The whole movie had a goofy vibe. Nothing scary here. So if you like blood in your slasher flick and you're not too picky, you might like it. It was OK.