Freaktana A Major Disappointment

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Das Amulett des Todes" is a West German film from 1975, so this one is already over 40 years old. It was made by Ralf Gregan and Günter Vaessen and it is one of Dutch actor Rutger Hauer's rare journeys into the world of German cinema. The two people I mentioned already are German and same can be said about pretty much the entire cast, such as female lead actress Vera Tschechowa and the eternal Sedlmayr. The film is fairly short, only runs for 80 minutes and the story is as follows. A man get violated by a bunch of crooks and a woman is watching. The men see her and take her hostage, but she manages to flee with the injured and from that moment on, a love relationship grows and they are always trying to get away from the bad guys and when they can't then Hauer's character fights them (sometimes they appear completely out of nowhere) with all he has, while Tschechowa's is usually tied up somewhere crying and being very scared. In theory, I like films with simple plot lines, so I believe this could have turned out a decent movie. But it did not. The plot was pretty ridiculous at times and Tschechowa is the perfect example here of how stereotypically bad female character were written around that time. Not even Hauer can save this film. It's bad through and through and there are very few solid moments only. 4/10 was still really generous here. I do not recommend the watch and I was pretty glad this was over so quickly. At best, a guilty pleasure, but not even as something like that it delivers.

56DeSoto Finally, after much hard work and searching, I found a Rutger Hauer movie that is worse than Beyond Justice (which co-starred Omar Sharif and Elliot Gould!). Had to dig deep, but this confused film takes the cake. It's dated, not just by the fluffy hairstyles and constant cigarette puffing, but also by the unfortunate synthesizer soundtrack. The plot, what there is of it, is hard to follow and none of the characters are particularly likable. The dubbing is distracting. The film comes across as muddy on many levels, though some of that may be due to the iffy DVD transfer. So why 3 stars? Because it has Rutger Hauer and I'll watch anything he's in. But that doesn't mean I'll watch it twice...

Mikew3001 A sinister German sports pilot is getting a job by a gang of smugglers to fly some millions of Marks abroad but tries to escape with the money on his own. Now the gangsters are chasing him and an innocent female eyewitness through the woods.The plot of this German 1974 production sounds so old-fashioned as the film really is - just boring. In the beginning, the action is nearly non-existent, the pacing is just dumb and uninteresting, and only in the second half of the movie, when you're possibly waking up again and trying to get hold of what it's all about.... Ralf Gregan's direction and Michael Ballhaus' photography are missing everything you're expecting from a simply crime thriller, and it's no wonder that the German cinema of the seventies was no highlight at all except for stupid sex comedies and boring art house student films with no space left for well-made mainstream entertainment.There is also some sex and crime involved, notably a hot sex scene between Dutch main actor Rutger Hauer of later Hollywood fame (Blade Runner, Hitcher, Flesh and Blood etc.) and sexy Vera Tschechowa. Especially in the end during the fight between Hauer (ridiculously named "Blondi" here) and the gangster boss, German b-movie standard villain Horst Frank, lots of blood and guts are all around (although these scenes are badly edited in later TV screenings).You will wonder how such actors became involved in such a boring stuff. Other notable supporting actors are Bavarian star actor Walter Sedlmayer (who gets beaten to death like in his real life later on during a spectacular homosexual killing affair), "Tatort" detective Walter Richter and Edgar-Wallace-movie veteran Gunther Stoll. The movie was mainly filmed in the Black Forest woods and some private houses which gives him a really cheap and home-made touch. And nobody really knows what the "Amulett des Todes" (the bracelet of death), worn by lovely looking Vera Tschechowa, really stands for... probably a touch of horror which cannot save the movie at all.O.K., enough words for such a boring movie, but if you get the occasion to watch this film in groovy seventies fashion and hair styles with its driving Moog synthesizer score and some famous European actors in some of their worst roles just do it once and forget it afterwards!

PVOM One of several early European films US distributers released in order to exploit Hauer's stardom during the eighties. This one is especially hard to find, but could pop up anywhere at random. If it does don't bother, despite your curiosity of seeing a young dashing Hauer. The plot has the standard morally impaired Hauer ripping off his employers, only to be tracked down by them. He falls in love with a rural beauty and wears a trenchcoat (eventually a trademark.) Ambiguity in the performances (Hauer seems bored when he should be getting intense) plot, ending all make this a waste of time and effort. The muddy dubbing certainly doesn't help.