This is a great German slasher, that's often quite suspenseful, and creative, with a fun story and solid performances. All the characters are cool, and Benno Fürmann is great as the psycho killer, plus Franka Potente gives a fantastic performance as the main lead. It did take a little while to get going, but it was never boring, and it had some good death scenes as well, plus the music is wonderfully creepy. I was lucky enough to get the subtitled version, instead of the dubbed, and I thought all the characters were quite likable, plus it's very well made and written as well. It has some really good plot twists too, and the effects are extremely well done, plus the ending is great. The finale is especially suspenseful, and Franka Potente was the perfect casting choice in my opinion, plus I wish Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey(David) didn't get killed of so soon, because he was a really cool character. There were actually a couple of moments where I felt uncomfortable but in a good way, and I must say this film deserved all it's praise, plus while it does have plot holes, it's not enough to hamper the film. This is a great German slasher, that's often quite suspenseful, and creative, with a fun story, and solid performances, I highly recommend this one!. The Direction is great!. Stefan Ruzowitzky does a great! Job here with excellent camera work, very good angles, great close ups (see the opening sex scene), doing a great job of adding creepy atmosphere, and just keeping the film at a very fast pace.
There is quite a bit of blood and gore. We get cadavers cut open,plenty of very gory surgery scenes,lots of bloody stabbings,people are dissected while still being conscious, severed finger, self mutilation, gutting's, bloody slit throat, lots of wicked looking frozen corpses, plenty of blood and more.
The Acting is very solid!. Franka Potente is fantastic as the main lead, she was very likable, remained cool under pressure, was vulnerable, easy on the eyes, and we are able to care for her character, the only time she seemed to suffer, was when she had to spurt out some bad dialog here and there, but that wasn't very often, she was wonderful!. Benno Fürmann is excellent as the psycho killer, he was simply chilling, and wonderfully OTT, he really gave me the creeps, and was one effective killer!. Anna Loos played her role very well, as the smart slut, I dug her. Sebastian Blomberg was great here as Caspar, he was quite likable, and had a mysterious character,his chemistry with Potente was also on, and there was a great twists involving him at the end. Holger Speckhahn was good as the Idiot Phil and did his job well. Traugott Buhre is good as Prof. Grombek. Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey was great as David, he had a really cool character, and I wish he didn't get killed of so soon. Rest of the cast do fine.
Overall I highly recommend this great German slasher!. ***1/2 out of 5