Der Frosch (1973)
28KDer Frosch: Directed by Don Sharp. With Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Ann Michelle, Roy Holder. An amiable, psychopathic leader of a violent teen motorbike gang is spurred by his mother, a Satan-worshiping spiritual medium, into committing suicide and returning to life as an “undead”.
“This is the stuff late night B-movies are made of! In more ways than you can count this simply should not work: a group of well-spoken, middle-class motorcycle *cough* rebels called (in an act of Shakespearean foreshadowing) u0026quot;the Living Deadu0026quot;, whose whole raison du0026#39;etre seems to be raising terror in local supermarkets and such, decide to become zombie bikers for a hoot. They are able to achieve this with the aid of hidden knowledge from their leader, Tom, (who has a butler for Godu0026#39;s sake!) who has made an occult alliance with a hoodoo frog or something, and who get eventually get thwarted, in (it must be said) quite a chilling way, before they presumably wreck havoc by knocking over another bin. And yet despite the ludicrous plot, executed with some ludicrous suicide scenes, and the ludicrous funeral scene for Tom (which will genuinely have you mouthing u0026quot;what the ?u0026quot;) not to mention Tomu0026#39;s ludicrous Lazarus moment, the film does have a certain eerie feel to it which, although not particularly scary, nonetheless raises it above the slight 70s campiness of it all and makes it a watchable flick. A lot of this vibe is certainly owed to the music which, in addition to the wah-wah pedal getting an inevitable seventies workout, has a memorable recurring motif and certainly adds a tinge of mystery to proceedings especially in the morgue scene. Certainly the movie, along with the likes of u0026#39;Dracula AD 1972u0026#39; and u0026#39;The Satanic Rites of Draculau0026#39;, signalled the death knell of British horror which had ruled the sixties, but if you happen to come across it nestled among the late night schedules and you donu0026#39;t have work the next day, then with your tongue set firmly in your cheek settle down and enjoy…you could certainly do a lot worse.”
