Wild, Weird, Bloody. German Genre Films of the 70s

Starring: Raimund Harmstorf, Amadeus August, Gila von Weitershausen, Gianni Macchia, Christine Böhm, Ernst H. Hilbich, Walter Buschhoff, E. O. Fuhrmann, Horst Naumann, Daniela Giordano

A bank robbery in Munich goes south, ending in a hostage taking and a wave of violence. Loosely modelled on actual crimes, this German-Italian entry in the giallo genre is an impressive blend of realistic and over-the-top elements.

Starring: Mario Adorf, Anthony Dawson, Marquard Bohm, Mascha Rabben, Sigurd Fitzek, Betty Segal

Under the torrid sun in an abandoned desert settlement, there is a lethal battle over the spoils of a bank robbery. This heady spaghetti western features psychedelic music by Cologne kraut-rockers Can.

Starring: Klaus Schwarzkopf, Elke Sommer, Jürgen Prochnow, Ulla Jacobsson, Kristina Nel, Anita Kupsch, Walter Gross, Fritz Tillmann, Berta Drews, Claus Theo Gärtner. Otto Sander, Tilo Prückner

A broke drop-out blackmails a sociology professor after discovering that his dissertation was a plagiary. This action-packed film version of a “sociological thriller” set in Berlin was Wolfgang Petersen’s lead-in to a Hollywood career.

Starring: Jutta Speidel, Wolf Roth, Herbert Herrmann, Charlotte Kerr, Christoph Lindert, Bob Cunningham, Tedi Altice, Ben Zeller, Ronnie Lee Williams

While a German couple is on their honeymoon in the USA, the groom is kidnapped by an ambulance crew. His bride joins forces with a trucker to try to find him. This 1979 thriller about the illicit trade in human organs triggered fierce debate at the time.

Starring: Roger Fritz, Karin Thome, Peter Moland, Werner Umberg, Eva Kinsky, Georg Marischka, Martin Sperr, Christian Friedel, Stefan Abendroth, Hans Noever

A bank robber comes to Munich to ask for his ex-wife’s help in “laundering” the stolen money. He is soon running from a detective and a gaggle of other greedy pursuers. A black-and-white thriller in CinemaScope inspired by American B pictures.

Starring: Angelika Waller, Alexander Lang, Rolf Römer, Günter Junghans, Günther Grabbert, Peter Borgelt, Gerd E. Schäfer, Bruno Carstens, Johannes Maus, Carola Braunbock, Helga Sasse, Heide Kipp, Ulrich Anschütz

A macho engineer has a problem with his girlfriend working as an auto mechanic. She sets about arousing the jealousy of her old-fashioned boyfriend. Set at East Germany’s Leipzig Trade Fair, this musical rom-com struck a blow for the Working Woman.

Starring: Jürgen Jung, Hans-Dieter Jendreyko, Paul Albert Krumm, Hertha von Walther, Oskar von Schab, Ilona Grübel, Sophie Strehlow, Gaby Herbst, Arthur Brauss

A blood-thirsty aristocrat and his followers terrorise an entire region – until the people rise up against them. A visually rich, fascinating genre film that echoes the politics of its time. Based loosely on leitmotifs from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’.

Starring: Evelyne Kraft, Brad Harris, Theo Lingen, Eddi Arent, Stephen Boyd, Christine Buchegger, Walter Giller, Klaus Höhne, Roberto Blanco, Marion Kracht, Heinz Reincke, Christine Schuberth, Herbert Fux

A vampire re-awakes 100 years after she was bitten by Count Dracula. The title character finds work, and victims, as a mortuary cosmetologist in Vienna. The film is a genre mix of horror, thriller, and crude jokes that sported a notable cast for the time.

Starring: Helga Anders, Klaus Löwitsch, Arthur Brauss, Rolf Zacher, Monika Zinnenberg

A young woman is raped in the night. But her real nightmare begins the following morning. A stark “rape without revenge” exploitation film that is a disquieting thematic exploration of toxic systemic masculinity.

Starring: Isi ter Jung, Horst Letten, Barbara Capell, Diana Nisbeth, Marianne Sock, Les Olvedi, Arthur Brauss, Jürgen Michaelis, Peter Przygodda, Wilhelm Roth

A group of women from an alien realm shrink men by sleeping with them, and then kidnap them as sex slaves. But one of them falls in love with her victim. An enchanting satire of the soft-sex film genre with burlesque and poetic elements.

Starring: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Helga Sasse, Erik S. Klein, Helga Göring, Herbert Köfer, Eva-Maria Hagen, Edwin Marian, Norbert Christian, Winfried Glatzeder, Fred Delmare

To hide his lisp, a commercial artist stops talking altogether. Hailed as a savvy innovator, he advances to become director of an ad agency. Armin Mueller-Stahl is brilliant in this subversive satire of a dysfunctional East German working environment.

Starring: Chris Doerk, Frank Schöbel, Dorit Gäbler, Christel Bodenstein, Karel Fiala, Rolf Herricht, Peter Bause, Heinz Behrens, Stefan Lisewski, Horst Schulze

A school principal and her girls’ soccer team battle it out with the town’s men’s team, which has been accorded unheard of privileges by the mayor. A saucy musical featuring snazzy choreography and the East German pop stars Chris Doerk und Frank Schöbel.

Starring: Wolfgang Greese, Dorit Gäbler, Rolf Hoppe, Lisa Macheiner, Achim Wichert, Fred Düren, Helga Piur, Gisela Bestehorn, Fred Delmare, Werner Senftleben, Gerry Wolff

The philandering Orpheus is forced to go to the rescue of his adulterous wife Eurydice who has been spirited away to Hades. This opulent film version of Jacques Offenbach’s suggestive operetta is full of satirical jabs at life in East Germany.

Starring: Hans-Jürgen Modschiedler, Gerd Kruskopf, Paul Lyss, Marianne Mim, Heidrun Rieckmann, Dennis O. Heinrich, Joe Ebel, Ole Jürgens, Eva Pampuch, Bloody Devils

A leather-boy from Hamburg and a 14-year-old drifter help each other out in a milieu teeming with violence. Shot on location with an amateur cast, this down and dirty biker flick paints an authentic picture of a big-city subculture.

Starring: Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven, Wolfgang Schenck, Brigitte Mira, Rainer Hauer, Barbara Bertram, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Heinrich Giskes 

Ulli Lommel’s film about a serial killer in the early post-war era echoes the real story of “wolf man” murderer Fritz Haarmann. A mix of Fritz Lang’s M and Hitchcock’s Psycho that follows in the tradition of Weimar cinema.