| Door With 7 Locks |
| Director: Alfred Vohrer Heinz Drache .... Dick Martin Sabine Sesselmann .... Sybil Lansdown Hans Nielsen .... Mr. Haveloc Gisela Uhlen .... Emely Cody Pinkas Braun .... Dr. Antonio Staletti Werner Peters .... Bertram Cody Klaus Kinski .... Pheeny Siegfried Schürenberg .... Sir John Ady Berber .... Giacco Eddi Arent .... Holmes Door With The 7 Locks is actually a remake of an earlier Edgar Wallace chiller from the 1940's. That version starred Leslie Banks(no relation) in Chamber Of Horrors. The "modern" version plays somewhat better. The film starts off with a priest being murdered at a London railway station. On his body is found a key. It is similar to the one found on the body of a man fished out of the Thames earlier. Dick Martin and his assistant Holmes are on the case. Martin is given a clue by Pheeny ( a very twitchy performance by Klaus Kinski wasted in a small role). Martin learns that there is a door with seven locks at Stelford Manor. The manor by the way is an impressive building that deserves a freeze frame look. There at the manor Martin runs into the discredited Dr Staletti whom we saw murder the priest earlier. All clues keep leading back to the manor and the date of April 13th (no doubt a friday). The plot boils down to a large inheritance,a missing heir, a secret heir and of course the usual baddies looking to get their greedy fingers on all of it.We have the fog shrouded manor grounds with Ady Berber hulking about, some very impressive interior sets (although the dungeon cum lab is a little on the weak side) red herrings, kidnappings and attempted murders all to keep you interested. Some nimble dirction keeps things moving along and as usual there is the steady work by Heinz Drache as the intrepid police inspector. We also have what could be the first of the Edgar Wallace films mixing with an overt science fiction plot. Usually the horror is subtle where the usual twisted means for murder are for financial gains. While there is that here we have a mad doctor messing with gland transplants and the burning desire to transplant a human head on the body of an ape. Giacco is the result of an experiment gone slightly amiss. Staletti is probably one of the creepier characters in the krimi series. 7 Locks is an average to above average entry in the series. |
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