Flashback 1987 Lion's Gate   Buy It Now

Flashback is what happens when you mix Psycho and I Know What You Did Last Summer, with The Sound Of Music.  Yeah, yeah, I know...sounds a little strange (okay, fine, a whole lot of strange), and I doubt anyone stateside could have weaseled their way through that mixture; but in Germany, they have this knack...  The knack is called "style", and it became apparent to audiences again, a few months prior to Flashback's release, with the horror/thriller sensation, Anatomie.  That flair continues here are raises what could have been a disastrous copy-cat flick into a highly entertaining and worthwhile view.

First let me say that there is nothing original here...at all.  Seriously folks, if you dubbed your entire collection of slasher films onto your VAIO and ran them through Movie Shaker, the end result could very well be Flashback.  But unlike the vast amounts of other copy-craps, this time it works...really well.

Things get started pretty early on, as we see a lunatic cross-dresser slashing through some victims with a nasty sickle.  Two of these victims are the parents of young Jeanette, who unfortunately happens to walk in on their untimely demise.  Last thing she remembers is the killer hovering over her, ready to send her with a one way ticket to join her parents at the pearly gates.  Weird thing is...it's now years later and Jeanette is still alive; undergoing therapy in fact to try and recover the memories of that fateful night.  But therapy is only so effective, and after several years in an institution, it is time for Jeanette to head out into the world.

Her doctor happens to know a wealthy man who's children need tutoring, and the job is hers for the asking.  So it's off to a secluded homestead, in the mountains of Germany, to begin her life on the outside.  Upon arriving, she finds a less than warm reception from the "children", who it turns out are near her own age, as their summer vacation has been cut off for their lessons.  Leon (that's Leon the man, not Leo the child, mind you) is the alpha male of the siblings.  He is best known for throwing some wild parties attended by hot women (I am beginning to think after watching Flashback, that the entire world's supply of hot women may now be contained solely within Germany).  Mellissa is the middle child and a spoiled blonde airhead all the way.  Lissy (pronounced Lizzy) is the youngest sister.  She has a fiendish attraction to fast-food (look for the reference to Pulp Fiction's Kahuna Burger) and appears to be the most "normal" of the three.  Soon Jeanette has her hands full trying to teach French to these unwilling students, who would rather spend their vacation partying and travelling than learn a language.  But soon she must deal with something else as well...

The dress-wearing scyther has shown up after all this time and soon the bodies begin piling up.  A severed hand here, an impaled skull there, and a whole lot of randomly chopped folks begin to make Jeanette (now known as Jeanie) begin to think something may be afoot!  Not to mention the suspicious antics of the housekeeper, played by the historic actress

Elke Sommer (whom I remember best from the 1964 Peter Sellers classic, A Shot In The Dark) and a forbidden barn where no one ever goes, but the lights are always on!  Intrigue!

Packed with enough gore to satisfy horror fans of all ilk and most gore-hounds as well, Flashback earned itself an 18 and over rating in its native Germany.  This is not an easy thing to do in a country that brought us Der Todesking and Nekromantik.  Surprisingly, an unrated version of the film showed up on Germany's version of Pay-Per-View, but is not a currently available release that I know of.

Like most horror flicks, the gore ranges from horrible latex and wax jobs to gruesome splatter.  Of special note in this film is unfortunate clod who gets people juice splattered on him twice; once from a snow blower with a body in it and once from a corpse dangling above him.  These are two of the films lighter moments of levity, but not the only ones.  There are quite a few moments of levity (some that I could do without) to offset the violence, and the whole movie has a tongue in cheek feel that lets slip the fact that it isn't all being taken too seriously.  Delivering a slasher film with a poker face is an extremely hard thing to do, and the writers/director have wisely decided to sidestep a straight delivery.  Not a bad job for a TV director's film debut!

Of course there are the obligatory plot twists and misdirection, but regardless of why it all works, suffice it to say that it does.  I was hooked from the first moments and found it incredibly hard to figure out exactly why; soon enough it didn't matter anymore and I just went along for the ride.  Afterwards, I was anxious to check out more about this film and the making of it, but regrettably there are no extras included (there are some extras included on the Region 2 release from Concorde, including a Featurette and Interview).  Oh well, needless to say I will be looking into other works from this team.

Lest you and I forget that there are foreign films out there that are not stuffy murder mysteries or heart-rending tales of the holocaust, go check out Flashback.  It just may flash you back, all the way to when horror movies were formulaic and fun, and no one cared!  Good stuff.

-aaron-