It’s a drastic curiosity in film history: German producers hired an infamous Spanish director to create an English-language response to “Halloween – The Night of Horror.” But Even in a shortened version, the horror thriller rattled “The saw of death“ via German youth protection.
First he ended up on the index, then even more serious measures were taken: In 1986, “The Saw of Death” was confiscated and sales of the film were banned. It was only 36 years later that this decision was revised and indexation was also withdrawn. As of this week, “The Saw of Death” is available uncut with an FSK 18 rating in home theaters.
The film is available in the original English language and German dub, and the Blu-ray includes audio commentary as bonus features. The slasher celebrated its unabridged German DVD and Blu-ray premiere a few weeks ago, but only in a strictly limited edition from a selected retailer. Curious horror fans (and anyone who wants to try their hand at becoming one) can pick up this hard-hitting weirdness now at any well-stocked movie store.
“The Saw of Death”: “Halloween”, German-Spanish filtered, extra loud
Five years ago, Miguel (Alexander Waechter) viciously attacked a girl with a pair of scissors during a costume party. He was subsequently sent to a psychiatric hospital, but now he is released into the care of his stepsister Manuela (Nadja Gerganoff). In the meantime, she helped set up a language school, where a series of murders took place shortly after Miguel’s release.
Young Angela (Olivia Pascal), who feels persecuted by Miguel, is convinced that she has recognized the perpetrator – but no one wants to believe her. So she does further research on her own initiative, which puts her life in danger…
The brutal attack by a masked perpetrator in the prologue, a villain whose name sounds suspiciously like ‘Michael’, young women terrified of a giant stalker: “The Saw of Death” uses a rough brush to paint a picture reminiscent of John Carpenter’s landmark “Halloween”. But while the 1978 slasher classic relies primarily on deep, implicit horror, “The Saw of Death,” released three years later, is already riding the “gory, blatant, flashy” wave.
Germany’s attempt to tap into the “Halloween” hype was started by two busy producers: Wolf C. Hartwig, who dominated the 1970s charts with the “Schoolgirl Report” series, and Karl Spiehs, who produced films like Ilja Richter’s hit ‘fun’ Music, music – that’s where the penne shakes made money.
While Olivia Pascal, who the German audience knew from superficial comedies and soft erotic titles, played the leading role, the director was an expert in the field of exploitation: the Spanish scandal filmmaker Jess Franco, who made her name with women’s prison thrillers and sadomasochistic films. eroticism has created. Some might call this a catastrophic miscalculation if the goal was to grab a piece of the “Halloween” pie. Others applaud this willingness to take risks.
However, in a judgment handed down five years after its limited theatrical release, the Munich court called the film a work with a “glorifying violence character” – even in a shortened version! Even in Britain, where ‘The Saw of Death’ was blacklisted as so-called ‘Video Nasty’, only a shorter version was initially released.
Unlike annoying video titles like ‘Faces of Death’ or ‘In the Bloodlust of Satan’, ‘The Saw of Death’ never achieved greater cult status. But now that it’s no longer so difficult to get to, it should give horror fans an entertaining evening of head-shaking. Because the plot takes on twisted features, just as the murder scenes are gimmicky and harsh. Ideal for a movie night with the joy of shock in every sense of the word.
And maybe one day Oliver Kalkofe and Peter Rütten, thirsty for violence, will take part in the blood orgy in a late-running episode of “SchleFaZ”?! It would not be by far their toughest test for Spiehs’ work: they have already survived “Music, music – the penne shakes”.