(About Spoilers: all over this review, don't read it if you don't want to be spoiled.) Either this movie is blatantly bad, or it is an intended rip-off / parody of the movie "Gonger - Das Böse vergisst nie".
First what is good about the movie. The setting looks great and is very believable. The small-town atmosphere is really well set up. The acting is good, too.
The plot is almost identical to the one from the movie Gonger: A young woman named Sophie comes back home from Berlin, where she recently quit her work on a medical degree, and moves back into her father's home. The small town where her fathers lives faces a series of inexplicable child deaths, which Sophie and Klaus' father Mark (who she miraculously meets again in town) start to investigate. She also meets Elisabeth again, who is now her father's pharmacist.
The children from the local school think that the "schwarzer Mann" ("black man"), also known as "Engelmacher" (angel maker) or "Erlkönig" (Erlking) is responsible for the deaths, as according to an old legend he punishes all children for their sins (this legend does not really exist in reality, to my knowledge at least - maybe in Austria?). Sophie and Mark get freaked out by this story more and more and start to believe it. Sophie examines the bodies of the dead children (because apparently, the local doctor doesn't have time for that) and can't find a natural reasons for their deaths.
In the end they find out, that Elisabeth murdered the children, because apparently, she had been raped by three men from the village a long time ago, and her pregnancy got aborted by Sophie's father, to cover the incident up. She then kills herself for no apparent reason.
Other than the plot, there are also scenes cloned from Gonger, e.g. the kid playing with a red ball in the twilight, or the cellar into which Sophie's father permits her to go without giving a proper reason.
If it is the intention of the movie to shock or build suspense, it dramatically fails. There is dramatical music in almost every scene, and every single time someone enters a door, the hint is given that it MIGHT JUST BE the "black man" (Note that this "black man" thing is not racist in the least, though it might sound so. "Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann" is a common German kids' game and doesn't involve dark skinned people). However, most of the times, heck no, all of the times it is just Klaus, or Sophie's father, or someone else. The music gets just very ridiculous the third time it is heard.
The village's doctor is most likely a rip-off of "House, M.D.": he has the same beard, behaves similar to House, and seems to be addicted to cough syrup. At first, they say he can't do the autopsy due to lack of time, but then he hangs around during Sophie's examination (which apparently could be started because Mark bribed the doctor with alcohol) to give her hints. Finally, he repeats her examination to find more clues. No reason is given why he suddenly found time.
It does not help in any way how the characters handle the threat. They act as if deep inside, they fear the angel maker and believe that he exists, while to the outside they refuse it can be true. This is also a reference to Gonger. Like in Gonger, the killer hunts down the children of those who killed her child (resp. himself in Gonger), and it all starts at the day when one of them came back home. However, in this movie, there's nothing mysterious behind it, it's just Elisabeth freaking out.
There is just so much wrong about this movie. Sometimes weird, unlikely truths just happen to reveal themselves just in the very moment the lacking plot needs them. Like the door on the graveyard which leads to an underground tunnel system that connects every single house in the village, as long as it has a cellar. That isn't even close to being realistic. One time, Klaus shouts "Mama" from his room, not fearfully, just to call her. It's not even possible that they hear it downstairs, judging from how quietly he said it. But Sophie and Mark completely freak out and run upstairs as if Klaus had screamed in horror, which he hasn't.
On other occasions, some characters start to behave fearfully, as if they could hear the (unreasonably) frightening music which is playing in the background. Sometimes they don't really act sensible, like when after the "black man" attacked Eva, Felix leans over her and prompts her to breathe which is heard by her father (the village's head of PD) who then shoots Felix - because Felix looks scary, and therefore obviously must be the murderer.
The final scene summarizes the movie perfectly, where family Bucher and family Lynsky are out at the lake, Sophie and Mark rowing a boat, when suddenly and unexpectedly (and unreasonable, as we already know that Elisabeth has been the "black man") the angel maker's eight-fingered hand reaches from the water. Then, Sophie wakes up as this was obviously a nightmare, and the door opens slowly. Frightening music is played in the process, as we see who opened it and entered the room - it's her son.
And the scene in which the black man takes off her mask is the most ridiculous and unlikely thing I've ever seen.
4 out of ten because of the really nice setting and the benefit of the doubt that it might just be an attempt to parody Gonger. However, in my opinion, a parody should be funny, and just a bit more obvious. This movie however is completely ridiculous and laughable.
First what is good about the movie. The setting looks great and is very believable. The small-town atmosphere is really well set up. The acting is good, too.
The plot is almost identical to the one from the movie Gonger: A young woman named Sophie comes back home from Berlin, where she recently quit her work on a medical degree, and moves back into her father's home. The small town where her fathers lives faces a series of inexplicable child deaths, which Sophie and Klaus' father Mark (who she miraculously meets again in town) start to investigate. She also meets Elisabeth again, who is now her father's pharmacist.
The children from the local school think that the "schwarzer Mann" ("black man"), also known as "Engelmacher" (angel maker) or "Erlkönig" (Erlking) is responsible for the deaths, as according to an old legend he punishes all children for their sins (this legend does not really exist in reality, to my knowledge at least - maybe in Austria?). Sophie and Mark get freaked out by this story more and more and start to believe it. Sophie examines the bodies of the dead children (because apparently, the local doctor doesn't have time for that) and can't find a natural reasons for their deaths.
In the end they find out, that Elisabeth murdered the children, because apparently, she had been raped by three men from the village a long time ago, and her pregnancy got aborted by Sophie's father, to cover the incident up. She then kills herself for no apparent reason.
Other than the plot, there are also scenes cloned from Gonger, e.g. the kid playing with a red ball in the twilight, or the cellar into which Sophie's father permits her to go without giving a proper reason.
If it is the intention of the movie to shock or build suspense, it dramatically fails. There is dramatical music in almost every scene, and every single time someone enters a door, the hint is given that it MIGHT JUST BE the "black man" (Note that this "black man" thing is not racist in the least, though it might sound so. "Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann" is a common German kids' game and doesn't involve dark skinned people). However, most of the times, heck no, all of the times it is just Klaus, or Sophie's father, or someone else. The music gets just very ridiculous the third time it is heard.
The village's doctor is most likely a rip-off of "House, M.D.": he has the same beard, behaves similar to House, and seems to be addicted to cough syrup. At first, they say he can't do the autopsy due to lack of time, but then he hangs around during Sophie's examination (which apparently could be started because Mark bribed the doctor with alcohol) to give her hints. Finally, he repeats her examination to find more clues. No reason is given why he suddenly found time.
It does not help in any way how the characters handle the threat. They act as if deep inside, they fear the angel maker and believe that he exists, while to the outside they refuse it can be true. This is also a reference to Gonger. Like in Gonger, the killer hunts down the children of those who killed her child (resp. himself in Gonger), and it all starts at the day when one of them came back home. However, in this movie, there's nothing mysterious behind it, it's just Elisabeth freaking out.
There is just so much wrong about this movie. Sometimes weird, unlikely truths just happen to reveal themselves just in the very moment the lacking plot needs them. Like the door on the graveyard which leads to an underground tunnel system that connects every single house in the village, as long as it has a cellar. That isn't even close to being realistic. One time, Klaus shouts "Mama" from his room, not fearfully, just to call her. It's not even possible that they hear it downstairs, judging from how quietly he said it. But Sophie and Mark completely freak out and run upstairs as if Klaus had screamed in horror, which he hasn't.
On other occasions, some characters start to behave fearfully, as if they could hear the (unreasonably) frightening music which is playing in the background. Sometimes they don't really act sensible, like when after the "black man" attacked Eva, Felix leans over her and prompts her to breathe which is heard by her father (the village's head of PD) who then shoots Felix - because Felix looks scary, and therefore obviously must be the murderer.
The final scene summarizes the movie perfectly, where family Bucher and family Lynsky are out at the lake, Sophie and Mark rowing a boat, when suddenly and unexpectedly (and unreasonable, as we already know that Elisabeth has been the "black man") the angel maker's eight-fingered hand reaches from the water. Then, Sophie wakes up as this was obviously a nightmare, and the door opens slowly. Frightening music is played in the process, as we see who opened it and entered the room - it's her son.
And the scene in which the black man takes off her mask is the most ridiculous and unlikely thing I've ever seen.
4 out of ten because of the really nice setting and the benefit of the doubt that it might just be an attempt to parody Gonger. However, in my opinion, a parody should be funny, and just a bit more obvious. This movie however is completely ridiculous and laughable.