The saw of death

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Movie
Original title The saw of death
Country of production Germany
original language English
Publishing year 1981
length 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Jess Franco
script Erich Tomek
(as Rayo Casablanca )
production Wolf C. Hartwig , Karl Spiehs
music Gerhard Heinz , Frank Duval
camera Juan Soler
cut Karl Aulitzky
occupation

The saw of death is a German horror film made in Spain with strong splatter elements. Olivia Pascal starred, directed by genre specialist Jess Franco .

action

On the Costa del Sol in Spain, young girls from all over Europe want to polish up their foreign language skills in a language school. But the young Angela arrives in hell, because an insane murderer who slaughters many beautiful maids with blow and stab and sometimes uses the eponymous "saw of death" to make two out of a pretty girl, does more than him there just bloody mischief. The suspicion quickly falls on Miguel. He is not only severely disfigured in the face, but also a slave to his stepsister Manuela. Miguel once raged as a rascal in the tradition of Michael Myers : During a masked party, he first raped a girl, then he stabbed her with scissors. After spending five years in psychiatry, he was recently released into Manuela's care.

Together with their mother, Countess Maria, who is confined to a wheelchair, Manuela and the teacher Alvaro had set up this internationally oriented language school for young girls. Miguel was fascinated from the beginning by Angela, whom he first noticed on the train ride home. He follows her every step and steps, becoming Angela's eerie shadow. Miguel wants to resume the relationship with Manuela, but she reminds him that, in her opinion, it was precisely this relationship that brought him to the psychiatric clinic at the time. If one wanted to return to the old conditions, one had to get rid of all who might be hostile to this relationship. Neither mother, the old countess, likes Manuela's pernicious influence that she has on her boy at all, and has changed her will accordingly: Miguel is to become the sole heir despite his murder long ago. At this moment the old, handicapped lady cannot foresee that this decision will become her own death sentence.

The girls who learn Spanish at school are always easy going and not averse to any sexual adventure. You hang out by the swimming pool from time to time and present the feminine charms, sometimes topless. The universally coveted, handsome Antonio has to listen to sayings like "gardener, tennis teacher and the best fucker far and wide!" Meanwhile, the sinister murderer resumes his work. The old countess is murdered in her own bed with a torch. One evening when her classmate Eva wants to borrow a sweater from Angela and wants to try it on in Angela's room, she is stabbed from behind with a long knife. The tip of the knife sticks out of her chest again. Angela discovers Eva's corpse, but it soon disappeared again when Angela wanted to show Antonio and her roommate Inga, pale with horror. Death threats ("You too will die! I will kill you! And do you know how? With a saw!") Increasingly ensure that Angela's nerves are razor-thin.

Inga, always sexually starved, doesn't seem to worry too much about what happened, because she really wants to get a guy for bed. Soon she found a willing guy too. With him she drives to a supposed love nest, which soon turns out to be a run-down sawmill. She willingly lets herself be tied up on a stone block in anticipation of a wild sex adventure. It wasn't until the stranger switched on a huge saw that Inga was terrified of death ... but by then it was already too late. Meanwhile Angela panics, she holed up in her apartment. Only when her classmate Laura knocks and wants to join her does Angela come down a little. Laura wants to organize a little nightcap for both of them and promptly runs into the hands of the crazy killer. Angela wonders about Laura's unreliability and, tired from her fear of death, decides to go to sleep. Then she discovers Inga's sawed-off head on her bed. She promptly falls towards Eva's body from the closet. Finally, she sees Laura's lifeless body dangling from the ceiling fan.

Then suddenly the killer stands in front of her. This time, however, Antonio is there on time and heroically throws himself between Angela and the threatening psychopath. Angela flees the bungalow and comes across Manuela, who brings her to her house. Since Manuela is the spirit rector behind the series of murders, Angela now goes from bad to worse. Manuela stuns the pretty brunette with a prepared drink. But not Miguel, who was believed to be responsible for all the bloody slaughter of the past few days, is the mass murderer, but Alvaro. This is Manuela's lover. The reason: Since the old Countess had installed Miguel as the sole heir despite his murder, Miguel, according to Manuela's plan, had to be held up as a murderer so that he would be locked away forever. In this way, instead of Miguel, she could enjoy the legacy of the old countess herself. But Angela can turn the tables with Antonio's help and kill the killers.

Production notes

The saw of death originated in and around Alicante . The German premiere took place on March 27, 1981. In Franco Manera's home country Spain, the slasher flick ran on April 17, 1981 under the title Colegialas violadas , the international distribution title was Bloody Moon .

Erich Tomek , who had also written the script under the Spanish pseudonym “Rayo Casablanca”, also took over the production management. The costumes were designed by Rolf Albrecht , the film structures by Klaus Haase. Frank Duval composed the song Love in the Shadow . Juan Ramón Molina took care of the special effects. Lina Romay was Franco Manera's assistant director under the name “Rosa Almirall”. Otto W. Retzer was one of two unit managers.

useful information

The film was the first attempt from the German side, as a result of the great box-office successes of numerous bloodthirsty horror films such as Halloween - Die Nacht des Grauens , Prom Night - Die Nacht des Schlächers , Friday the 13th , Mother's Day and Monster in the night express (all between 1978 and 1981 in the cinemas) to put together their own splatter and slasher horror film . Trash film director Jess Franco was the right man for this. The criticism, however, criticized the primitiveness (also with regard to the Gore effects) of the making of this film, which, instead of offering a coherent story, relied entirely on its extremely brutal shock effects.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The saw of death on moviepilot.de