If you’ve ever seen an Ulli Lommel film you know that there is a certain subject matter that he loves to tackle. That subject, in case you were wondering, is real life serial killers. Per IMDB, Lommel has 60 titles under his belt as director. Of those 60 titles you’ll find the likes of D.C. Sniper, Manson Family Cult, Baseline Killer, Son of Sam, Curse of the Zodiac, Black Dahlia, Green River Killer, B.T.K. Killer and Zodiac Killer. All of these movies are somewhat based on either a real life serial killer or a real life crime. Are these films all accurate to the true crimes that inspired them? I’m guessing not, but I haven’t seen many of them so I can’t really be the judge of that. I do find it incredibly interesting however, that Lommel keeps drinking from the same well. Now all the films I listed are pretty recent, haven been released from 2005 onward, but if we jump all the way back to 1973 we learn that this isn’t a new fascination of Lommel’s.

In 1973 Lommel directed his third and arguably best film, Tenderness of the Wolves. Much like his recent work, this effort was based on a real life serial killer named Fritz Haarmann who terrorized Germany for a 6 year period in the early 1900’s. In the film world Haarmann is likely more known for being one of the 3 German serial killers that served as inspiration for Fritz Lang’s masterpiece M, but here Lommel does a better job actually focusing on the heinous crimes committed by the man known as The Butcher of Hanover. And I assure you, they were quite heinous.

Tenderness of the Wolves is one of those movies that isn’t overly graphic but it kind of feels filthy. It just has a nasty darkness to it and why wouldn’t it? Fritz (Kurt Raab) is one of the most sadistic individuals to ever live and have his story adapted to film. In Lommel’s take on the story, written by the film’s star Raab, Fritz has a special relationship with the police. Basically he watches over the train station and chases off anyone who loiters there. First he just makes them leave but if they keep coming back he eventually arrests them. At least that’s what the police think.

In reality most of those hanging out at the train station are young boys who are running away from home. Fritz takes them back to his place by seducing them and then kills them. He drinks their blood and chops them up. Some of the body parts go into a nearby river and the rest are sold to local restaurants. See Fritz doesn’t only work with the police but he also works in the black market selling meat. Oh and he also runs a variety of scams with his partner Hans (Jeff Roden). Fritz most certainly lives an interesting life.

Fritz is a scary individual in large part due to the fact that he doesn’t seem like a scary individual. At first glance he may seem a little odd, but for the most part harmless. Most of his neighbors know him as someone with a good heart. He works with the police, goes out of his way to assist troubled youth and gives the local restaurants good deals on meat. On the surface he’s the type of guy you want in your community. Not everyone thinks so fondly of him, however. Some neighbors have their concerns.

Fritz isn’t living one secret life but rather multiple secret lives. Not only does he have this violent murderous side, but he’s also a gay man. This is a gay man in the early 1900’s. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that couldn’t have been easy. I wouldn’t say Fritz is completely open about his sexuality, but he doesn’t really keep it a secret either. He’s sort of in this weird in between stage. My guess is he wants to be more open but society doesn’t allow it. Fritz and Hans have a relationship that is sexual, but Hans also hooks up with various girls and makes fun of Fritz in public for liking boys.

The connection Fritz and Hans share is one of the most fascinating aspects of the film. Fritz is able to manipulate his victims and yet throughout it all Hans seems to do the same to him. Hans comes off as a straight man willing to sleep with Fritz in exchange for money and a place to stay. Fritz clearly sees it as something more serious. He loves Hans.

Tenderness of the Wolves isn’t your typical narrative. You don’t get any backstory that goes into detail about what caused Fritz to kill. The film is more like a snap shot in the life of a serial killer, a look at the last stretch of killing before Fritz is finally caught and arrested. Like most films based on true stories I expected this to be a pretty big exaggeration of the truth, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Raab seemed to do his research when writing the script. After watching the film I did some reading up on the real life Fritz Haarmann and I think Tenderness of the Wolves is a pretty accurate telling of what happened. And that’s the truly scary part.

Tenderness of the Wolves is out now on Blu-ray from Arrow Films.