Flashback

[Metapher]

Title: Flashback

Also known as:
Flashback - Mörderische Ferien

Year: 2000

Genre: Slasher / Mystery / Thriller

Language: German / French

Runtime: 95 min

Director: Michael Karen

Writer: Jimmy Sangster & Natalie Scharf

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0239406/



Plot:
After watching her entire family getting brtually murdered, Jeanette Fielmann is living in an institution. She has been living there for about 10 years when her doctor sends her out in the free world to work as a private French teacher for the kids of the Schroeder family. Jeanette starts feeling home when she suddenly starts seeing the murderer. Is it just illusions or is the killer out from the mental institution?

Our thoughts:
There's honestly just one reason to why I bought "Flashback - Mörderische Ferien" (translated to "Murderous Vacation" I believe), and it was the cover. I'm aware that DVD/VHS covers lie, but this still seemed like a gory movie and that was enough at the time. I knew nothing about the film and I have yet to hear a word about it except for a few reviews I found while looking it up before writing this review. It's not a great horror movie, there are times when you wonder what the makers were thinking because they seemed to ignore all kind of logic, and at times it's plain silly, but I still ended up having a good time with this film.

It starts off with a murder in a train cabin. This scene is pretty damn stupid; a guy makes out with a girl, and when the lights go out for just about one second (for no reason I think? It was bright day outside), the person on top of the girl isn't the guy, but a man in drag. And the guy is laying on the side with his throat cut. I have no idea how she didn't notice that a man came in, moved and killed the guy, and then started doing stuff to her himself. Seems like there should've been atleast a little noise from all of that? But I guess that when it took about a second, there was no time to react, right? Either way, that scene is only there to have an extra murder I suppose. We then go on to watch as the killer invades the family of our lead Jeanette Fielmann (when she's a kid). In this invasion, we have a classic tale put on film. Which one? It has plenty of names, two being "The Licked Hand" and "People Can Lick Too". This is an urban legend where the killer is hiding under the bed, and when the woman in the bed thinks it's her dog licking her hand, it's actually a killer. It was a fun little thing to put in the film, and I honestly think it's a pretty creepy tale. Anyway, her family is murdered, but she somehow survives and spends the next 10 years in a institution. She is finally let out of the institution to work as a French teacher for three siblings. Now she's living in a huge house, far from the closest neighbor, and obviously the psycho is back to get her.

The movie is fairly bloody. The props (severed hands were common) looked pretty bad but it's easy to ignore because other than that I was a happy chap. My favorite kill is when a guy gets the killer's sickle through his head while he's in the car listening to some love song while (I think) spying on one of the girls in the house where Jeanette works. What's good about it is that he's sitting there with the sickle through his head the rest of the movie. The cops pass him several times just jokingly saying that he sure must like that girl. Made me giggle. This is just one of the examples where comedy helped the movie work even though it's fairly poor in ways.

Standard slasher stuff. It's obvious that movies like "Friday the 13th" and "Scream" influenced the film. Luckily, it's without being too much of a rip off. There's still a bit of a twist towards the end though, like there should be in these films. You won't be shocked but it's not too shabby. I highly recommend this film if you like standard slashers that just don't need to be original to be entertaining. Not a bad buy!

Positive things:
- I thought the lead was pretty cute.
- Sickle, woo!
- Entertaining.
- A twist ending that doesn't completely suck.
- Some of the comedy helped it move along.
- The opening scene is just... Something.
- Great location.

Negative things:
- Often lacks logic.
- Some bad props.
- The scene at the cinema where they are watching "The Relic". The crowd is acting like they are at a concert.

Rating:
Gore: 2.5/5
Nudity: 0/5
Story: 3/5
Effects: 2/5
Comedy: 1.5/5

We bought this movie from:
SubDVD.com

Reviewed by:
Ronny

More pictures from the movie, and other reviews at:
http://www.filmbizarro.com/design/vi...=flashback.php