Search - Tenderness of the Wolves on DVD

Fritz Haarman: The Werewolf Of Hanover

Raniel Almaria | Roselle, IL | 01/09/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES is an adaptation of the life & crimes of one of Germany's most horrific serial killers, Fritz Haarman. Haarman was a homosexual pedophile, police informant,& black marketeer. He was also a butcher of young men & boys & after he has had his way with them, he would dismember them & sell their body parts as meat on unsuspecting customers. He was caught & was convicted of killing 27 victims, though he would confess that he has killed over 40 or 50. He sentenced to die by the guillotine. TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES is not a very easy film to watch. There is very little in terms of sheer horror or violence, but the movie shows very graphic homosexual scenes & overtones. The film doesn't hide the fact that Haarman's world is full of depravity. He is surrounded by the scum of Germany's society. The film doesn't show Haarman butchering his victims, you only hear of chopping sounds through the walls of his neighbors as they wonder what Haarman is preparing for them. TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES is a very creepy, dark, disturbing film about a man so full of evil & perverted that the viewer is left feeling wretched & dirty after viewing this film. This film is DEFINATELY NOT for everyone."

Creepy and evocative.

Raniel Almaria | 12/28/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dark retelling of the story of Fritz Haarmann, the "Hanover Vampire," and an interesting blend of true crime drama, serial killer mystery, and homage to such films as Fritz Lang's "M." Kurt Raab is eerie as Haarmann, with his bald head, bulging eyes, and sinister calm manner. A good amount of factual evidence from this case is included in the movie, and much of the atmosphere is left to the imagination - the warning of "graphic violence" on the box reverse side seems unnecessary, since only one murder and one attack are actually filmed. (Perhaps in 1973, this was considered "graphic," but it is tame by today's standards.) All in all, a very creepy movie."

Good stuff.

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 04/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tenderness of the Wolves (Ulli Lommel, 1973)Produced by the legendary Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Gods of the Plague, Chinese Roulette, etc.) and written by lead actor Kurt Raab, Ulli Lommel's Tenderness of the Wolves has emblazoned on its box "inspired by Fritz Lang's M." Yeah, in the same way John Carpenter's The Thing was inspired by Christian Nyby's version. In both cases, the later crew went back to the original source material to create something more faithful than the first film. M is great filmmaking, and it would be hard to categorize Tenderness of the Wolves as a clear improvement over M, but it's certainly closer to the original story.Raab (The Magic Mountain, Bitter Harvest) is Fritz Haarmann, the Werewolf of Hanover (as he was popularly known). Haarman's MO was to pick up runaway teen boys at the train station, take them back to his room, kill them, and sell them to the unsuspecting population of Dusseldorf as grade-A pork. Amusingly, during the time he committed most of his murders (those, at least, which authorities verified were his handiwork), he was also a police informant, and used his connections to the authorities as part of his pickup line. None of this was present in M; all of it at least makes an appearance in Tenderness.The movie is carried, for the most part, by Raab's performance. The man is, quite simply, creepy looking. Lommel (The Blank Generation) uses Raab's creepiness to maximum effect, to the extent of deprecating the other major players in the film (Haarmann's accomplice, Hans Grans, gets about a quarter the screen time he probably should, from all accounts). Staying focused on Haarmann and his activities most of the time gives the film a clarity which it might not have otherwise had, and has been lacking in many of Lommel's later horror flicks. Everything comes together quite nicely, and aside from the nits serial killer groupies are going to pick (e.g., the lack of mention of the infamous "head behind the stove"), it works quite well.One of Lommel's best films, and a must-see for fans of the serial killer genre. *** 1/2"

Horrific, Engaging, and Disturbing Fritz Haarmann bio pic

Get What We Give | Georgia | 11/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In post World War I in Germany, Fritz Haarmann was/is known as the Butcher of Hanover. This is a historical fact.

The Tenderness of Wolves shows us just how this monster actually operated. Director Ulli Lommel, his hand guided by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, provides us with a truly disturbing film.

Kurt Raab as Haarmann actually appears to be playing Peter Lorre playing Haarmann in the (far superior) M. Raab seems, at times, to be channelling Lorre.

The plot is not entirely cohesive and it cannot withstand itself through the middle. However, the beginning and ending of this film far make up for the deficit of the middle.

Haarman lured young children away from desolate life with a promise of a hot meal and warm place to sleep. Instead he offered them rape, murder, mutilation, and eventually cannibalism.

This is an arthouse film masquerading as a horror/thriller/drama. It is definitely worth your time, but it is not for the faint of heart.

A good film."