DVD Tuesday M Peter Lorre and Fritz Lang The serial killer thriller is bornI just received a copy of Jon J Muths stunning four-part 1990 graphic-novel adaptation of the groundbreaking serial killer film M newly reissued by Harry N Abrams Inc and it inspired me to recommend Fritz Langs 1931 originalInspired by the real-life crimes of Peter Kurten the child-murderer dubbed monster of Dusseldorf is a first class thriller driven by the simultaneous pursuit of killer Hans Beckert Peter Lorre by the police and the Berlin underworld Normally bitter enemies theyre united in common revulsion for a murderous pedophile The police have law and up-to-date technology on their side but the criminals know the darkness Langs brilliant visual touches are haunting The slashing shadows the high angle shots that suggest menacing angels hovering over Berlin childrens playthings a ball a clown-shaped balloon --set forlornly free as their owners are whisked away the
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Questions about serial murderers in movies a shower of blood The Godfather IIs Troy DonahueMerle Johnson mystery and moreSend your movie questions to FlickChickSee Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this weeks new flicks in Movie TalkHear Maitland on the weekly TVGuide Talk podcastQuestion I love movies about serial killers and that got me to wondering What was the very first serial killer picture -- AlexFlickChick I love first questions because they always get the discussion going Id argue that Alfred Hitchcocks silent The Lodger 1926 gets the credit for being the earliest movie about a serial murderer That said it focuses less on the killer and his victims than on the increasingly concerned landlady who comes to suspect her upstairs lodger might be this Jack the Ripper fellow she keeps reading about in the newspaper Fritz Langs M 1931 seems to me the first film whose structure resembles that of contemporary serial killer pictures It focuses on both
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