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One of my all time favorites.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

One thing I try to strive for is to watch as many movies from as wide a variety of sources and styles as possible. In doing so I might not like all of them but at least I've left myself open to seeing things outside of my comfort zone and exposed myself to things I might miss that are great and some that are the worst things imaginable.With that in mind I just watched TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES, a 1973 movie directed by UIli Lommell. Lommell was a protégé of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and a part of the New German Cinema movement that ran during the early 70s. His career has gone up and down and he's delivered fairly mainstream films like THE BOOGEYMAN as well as several films that could be called "art films" before finally making his way to made for DVD movies that haven't fared that well. But there is always the possibility of his rising once more.TENDERNESS focuses on the true story of Fritz Haarmann, a German serial killer who did most of his nefarious deeds right after WWI. As played by Kurt Raab, Haarmann comes off as one of the most chilling murderers seen on screen. An out of the closet homosexual who preyed on young boys that he then murdered, Haarmann then went on to cut up his victims and sell their bodies as meat to friends who were in need of fresh meat. While that alone might make for a terrifying killer there is more behind the man to make him even more horrific.Raab plays Haarmann as a slightly shy yet smooth talking con man who convinces friends to ignore his odd behavior from time to time. Not only does he get them to ignore it, he talks his way out of an arrest by offering his services to the local police in helping them ferret out other criminals. With a fake badge in pocket he uses his influence to not only pass along information about his criminal competition, he also uses it to persuade young runaway boys to his apartment where he beds and then kills them. Raab has chosen a bald headed look that at times reminds us of Max Schreck as Nosferatu, a good comparison as Haarmann was also known as the vampire of Hanover due to his biting some of his victims on the neck.The movie takes on an odd feel for a number of reasons besides the pedophile serial killer at the center of it all. The people Haarmann associates with may belong to the lower criminal class but they are also seen as struggling to survive after their country has been beaten in war. There is a certain amount of sympathy to be felt for them and Lommell depicts that in subtle ways. The movie also has a bombed out feel in it's of settings and style of being filmed. The filmed world of Haarmann is a gray one lacking of color and life, much as that Germany would have been at the time. The few glimpses of color involve either his associations in a local bar or during the murder sequences.The life and times of Haarmann are seen here in the latter part of his life rather than attempting to cover his entire career. In the end the number of murders he committed with his lover Hans Grans has been listed as anywhere between 24 and 50 people. That many are not seen here. He isn't depicted as a raging lunatic but as I stated earlier, as a subtle and manipulative sort that isn't seen killing in the most brutal fashion of some movie killers but still in perhaps some of the most twisted ways.For a film coming out of the seventies it offers more full frontal nudity than most as well as touching on homosexuality that was still fairly taboo at the time. It doesn't condone or condemn the topic but instead uses it to develop its central character. If you find this offensive then the movie will do just that. I mention it so that those who might be are aware.In the end the movie is one I may have to watch a second time to fully understand or appreciate. While the story itself is interesting (enough so that another more famous movie, M, was based on this same tale), I found the pacing of the film to be slow and in trying to keep up with the translation of dialogue with what I was watching made me unable to fully appreciate what was on the screen at times. As a single viewing experience it was just so so for me. Perhaps my opinion will change the second time around. What I did find was an experience of watching a film from another country that didn't fit the Hollywood mold. That doesn't make it a good experience, just a different one.For the average viewer I'm not sure I would suggest watching this. For foreign film fans you will love it. For fans of Lommell and Fassbinder I have little doubt you will add it to your collection. For me, on the whole, it was interesting but nothing stupendous.

Years before he came to America to delight us with THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR and THE BOOGEYMAN, Herr Lommel teamed up with the Fassbinder troupe to give us this beaut. It's based on the true story of Fritz Haarmann who prospered in post-World War I Germany by way of theft and murder. A police informer posing as a detective, he lures young lads from the train station to his apartment where they're drugged, raped and finally murdered by having their throats chewed open. Then they're hacked up and their flesh sold as beef or pork. Haarmann's neighbors complain about the noise he makes–if they only knew. Much of his activity is left to the imagination but what's shown is truly disturbing and was considered mean stuff at the time. Shaven-headed and pointy-eared, Kurt Raab looks suitably predatory in the lead role. Jurgen Prochnow's name appears in the main credits but so far I haven't been able to spot him. This movie claims that Haarmann was hanged in 1925 but other sources say he was beheaded. His execution should have been shown; I really wanted to see this dirt-bag get it before the film's end. TENDERNESS...is all the more disturbing because it's so well made, possessing a grim, bleak atmosphere lacking in Lommel's later, more commercial work. Not for the squeamish, the homophobic or anyone expecting a normal motion picture.

Fritz Haarman-the infamous "Butcher of Hanover" was one of the worst serial killers in the recent history.During five years(1919-1924)with the help of his homosexual partner Hans Grans he butchered nearly fifty youths.Their method was always the same:they enticed a youth from railway station back to Haarman's room,Haarman killed him(according to his account by biting his throat)and the boy's body was dismembered and sold as meat.His clothes were sold,and the useless(i.e. uneatable)body parts were thrown into the river Leine.Haarman was sentenced to death,Grans to twelve years in jail.Ulli Lommel's "The Tenderness of Wolves" is a realistic portrayal of this notorious killer.It's brilliantly acted,psychologically disturbing and almost completely non-violent.Definitely a must-see!

This movie was one of the most interesting experiences that I have ever had! On one hand, it made me cringe. (The graphic sex was a surprise; I expected the gore.)On the other hand, it was beautiful and eerie. Great atmosphere... dark and smoky. Full of mystery and forbidden pleasures... cannibalism, vampirism, underage sex, corruption... the list goes on and on. Kurt Raab was frightening as Fritz Haarman: child molester, vampire, cannibal and black market salesman. He lures young boys off of the street and takes them back to his small, dingy apartment. Once there, he molests them (before, and sometimes after he kills them) murders them in cold blood and processes their carcasses to sell as meat in this post-WW2 drama. Both sexy and revolting, Raab draws the viewer into his dark, tortured psyche without garnering any sympathy for his dilemma. He is in one word, depraved.Fritz' neighbor is hearing strange chopping noises in the night--- she does not like his way of bringing strange boys to the apartment. Suspicious, she contacts the police, who basically patronize her, until the murders become so numerous that they are impossible to ignore any longer. Go see this film. It is a truly disturbing experience.