Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)*** (out of 4)Homosexual serial killer Fritz Haarmann (Kurt Raab) stalks the young boys and men of Germany as he lures them back to his apartment. If they're lucky it's just a sexual thing but for dozens of young people they were lured back to Haarmann's apartment where they were murdered and eaten.Ulli Lommel's TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES certainly isn't a film that's going to appeal to many for a number of reasons. For starters, if you're expecting a horror film then you're barking up the wrong tree. I guess you could call this a crime picture with horror elements but if you're wanting the gory kind of story then you'll be disappointed because this is one of the most laid back thrillers that you'll ever see. Of course, the subject matter itself is another thing that is going to keep most people away.Lommel certainly deserves a lot of credit for not delivering your average crime picture but instead he goes for more of a bizarre atmosphere. What's so strange about this picture is that you're watching a monster who murders and eats children yet you don't ever really hate him. What I liked about the movie is that it's really not that judgmental on its subject as it doesn't try to make him a villain, a misunderstood psycho or anything else. Lommel basically just tells us the story and he really keeps all emotion out of the picture.Technically speaking this is an extremely well-made movie. The camera-work is wonderful and there's no doubt that the director builds up a rather eerie atmosphere with ease. The subject matter is a very dark one yet Lommel never sends the material over-the-top or into a graphic area. It should go without saying but the biggest reason the film works so well is due to the performance by Raab. He's rather remarkable at how good he is in the role and not for a second do you ever feel as if you're watching an actor. You really do feel as if you're watching a troubled mind work his way into the trust of these victims.TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES has a lot of similarities with Fritz Lang's M, another German movie about a serial killer. While this film doesn't reach the same levels of that one, this Lommel picture certainly deserves to be better known than it is.

In 1925, in Germany, Fritz Haarmann (Kurt Raab) is a homosexual, thief and sneak, having a special license from the police. He sells meat in the black market. He also kills boys and young men, drinking their bloods, quarter-sewing their bodies and throwing away the parts in a river. Certainly what he sells in the black market is human meat.This movie is very weird. The period (1925) is only defined in the last scene, and apparently it is based on a true story. In Brazil, the VHS is spoken in Italian having delay in the subtitles in Portuguese. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): 'O Delírio Assassino em Adolfo e Marlene' ('The Assassination Delirium in Adolf and Marlene')

Well, for starters, it's 1970s German cinema, the deepest pit in movie hell. Second, the dynamic story story of Fritz Haarmann is made completely artsily boring, as only the Europeans can do.Anyone who has studied the Haarmann/Grans case knows that the performances and attitudes of the actors are completely wrong. And someone mind telling me what time period this movie is supposed to be set in? Anyone with half a clue, please e-mail me.Oh, I almost forgot. It's a 1970s German movie. So, of course, there is going to be graphic graphic homosexual activity. Bring the kids.

Never thought a film about a gay cannibal could be dull but...The movie IS well-done. It's well-directed, the acting is great and it has a creepy, unsettling atmosphere (as it should). It just gets bogged down, people acted REAL strange at times and just was downright dull! Still, it all happened and the film has artistic merit. There just wasn't enough material for a feature length film.