Der Zinker (1963)
66KDer Zinker: Directed by Alfred Vohrer. With Heinz Drache, Barbara Rütting, Günter Pfitzmann, Jan Hendriks. Scotland Yard investigates a series of murders where the victims have died by snake venom poisoning.
“Although this early West German Edgar Wallace u0026quot;krimiu0026quot; is called u0026quot;The Squeakeru0026quot; for some reason, itu0026#39;s actually about another colorful shadowy Wallace supervillian called u0026quot;the Snakeu0026quot;, who uses venom milked from deadly cobras in the city zoo to paralyze and kill his enemies and and anyone else who gets in his way. Klaus Kinski plays his henchman, a creepy zoo worker and the obvious but more minor villain. The Snake himself, however, could be any number of people from the colorful cast including a classical musician and society matron who drinks straight whisky for tea time, her lovely young niece, the nieceu0026#39;s fiancée, the owner of the zoo, or perhaps even one of several police officers investigating the bizarre murders.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie has a few effectively creepy scenes, some good comic relief, and an effective ending. Still it doesnu0026#39;t compare in my mind to the classics of the krimi genre like u0026quot;Dead Eyes of Londonu0026quot;, nor even to slightly less well-regarded entries like u0026quot;The Mad Executionersu0026quot;, u0026quot;The Strangler of Blackmoor Castleu0026quot; and u0026quot;The College Girl Murdersu0026quot;. It was directed by Alfred Vohrer who also directed u0026quot;Dead Eyesu0026quot; and two of the three films just mentioned, but I wouldnu0026#39;t rank it among his best work. It does feature an early appearance by the late enfante terrible German actor Klaus Kinski (who would no doubt dismiss it as another u0026quot;piece of sh*tu0026quot;, but, of course, he said that about ALL his films). Strangely, it doesnu0026#39;t feature Joachim Fuchsberger, who was in even in more of these films than Kinski. It does have the go-to u0026quot;comic reliefu0026quot; actor Eddie Arentt, but frankly Inge Langen is a lot more funny as the elderly, whisky-swigging society matron.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is somewhat overrated in my opinion, but definitely worth seeing if you like the krimi genre.”
