Fog, Murder, and Mystery: a Crime Collection Drenched in Style

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MOVIE REVIEW
Fog, Murder, and Mystery: A Crime Collection Drenched in Style
The Curse of the Yellow Snake –
The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle –
The Mad Executioners –
The Monster of London City –
The Racetrack Murders (aka The Seventh Victim) –

Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery
Year Released: 1963 / 1963 / 1963 / 1964 / 1964, Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 7h 40m
Director(s): Franz Josef Gottlieb / Harald Reinl / Edwin Zbonek
Writer(s): Adapted from works by Edgar Wallace and Bryan Edgar Wallace
Cast: Joachim Fuchsberger, Brigitte Grothum, Karin Dor, Rudolf Fernau, Hansjörg Felmy, Marianne Koch, Dietmar Schönherr, Ann Smyrner, Hans Nielsen
Where to Watch: available May 26, 2025, in the UK www.eurekavideo.co.uk, and May 27 in North America www.mvdshop.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: It’s easy to forget how influential the German krimi genre was—until you sit down with a collection like TERROR IN THE FOG: THE WALLACE KRIMI AT CCC. At first glance, these may seem like standard-issue crime thrillers, but they represent a phenomenon unique to mid-century West Germany. The term krimi stems from Kriminalfilm, meaning crime film, but it quickly took on a distinct identity. Melding elements of noir, mystery, Gothic horror, and high melodrama, the krimi cycle—especially those based on the novels of Edgar Wallace and his son Bryan Edgar Wallace—offered a fog-drenched, mask-wearing, body-dropping brand of entertainment that predated both the giallo and the American slasher.

These weren’t just whodunits; they were spectacles of paranoia and style. And thanks to these new restorations from Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series, this box set doesn’t just dust off a few old thrillers—it revives an entire genre with sharp visuals and carefully curated extras that make a strong case for the krimi’s lasting legacy.

Each film in this collection taps into a different blend of suspense, violence, and melancholy, offering variations on the central theme of fear cloaked in civility. With masked killers, secret cults, twisted family dynamics, and double identities, this set thrives on the kind of pulp storytelling that lingers long after the final body drops.

THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE (1963)
The set opens, merging London’s foggy mystery with curiosity rooted in postcolonial fantasy. THE CURSE OF THE YELLOW SNAKE tells a tale involving an ancient artifact from Hong Kong that draws the attention of a sinister cult bent on power. While the film leans heavily into dated cultural tropes—complete with problematic representations—it still works as a high-stakes mystery brimming with paranoia and coded menace. Joachim Fuchsberger brings charm and bravado to a lead role that might otherwise be forgettable. The sense of mounting dread and foreign infiltration touches on Cold War anxieties without explicitly naming them, making this a politically loaded opener.

THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE (1963)
This entry moves us closer to Gothic territory, as a masked killer prowls a remote British estate, branding his victims. Director Harald Reinl leans hard into visual atmosphere—stone corridors, candlelit halls, and mist-laden woods are the canvas for a narrative that thrives on suggestion. This installment is so effective because it juggles the detective plotline with slasher-esque brutality, positioning it as one of the more horror-leaning titles in the set. Fuchsberger returns in a leading role, joined by Karin Dor, adding charisma to a film that might otherwise get lost in its shadows. It’s pulpy, yes, but also legitimately eerie.

THE MAD EXECUTIONERS (1963)
If THE STRANGLER plays with slasher energy, THE MAD EXECUTIONERS doubles down on vigilante horror. A gang of hooded figures is executing supposed criminals across London, while a separate serial killer stalks victims with surgical precision. The double-plot might sound convoluted, and at times it is, but it’s also the film’s greatest strength. The moral ambiguity—do these executions serve justice or chaos?—gives this film a philosophical leaning that lingers beneath its pulp exterior. There's a brutal efficiency in the pacing here, and the sense of urban paranoia feels ahead of time. Dietmar Schönherr adds gravitas to the proceedings, grounding the outlandish premise in emotional weight.

THE MONSTER OF LONDON CITY (1964)
With this entry, the set hits its most metafictional note. Here, the legend of Jack the Ripper bleeds into a story about an actor playing the infamous killer on stage, even as a new wave of murders terrorizes the real city. Is it art influencing life, or vice versa? The film toys with ideas of identity, performance, and historical trauma, offering something more layered than a typical whodunit. Kim Newman’s commentary (included on this disc) digs deeper into how the film connects to British Gothic and postwar German guilt. The killer might wear a familiar face, but the commentary on sensationalism and fear makes this entry one of the standout films in the collection.

THE RACETRACK MURDERS (aka THE SEVENTH VICTIM, 1964)
The most grounded and procedural of the five, this film returns to country estate intrigue, centering on a series of murders surrounding a prized racehorse. The mystery unfolds with a slower burn, but that pacing helps it feel more mature and deliberate than some of the more stylized entries. It might lack the visual flair of earlier entries, but it earns its place with a smartly plotted story and a whiff of Agatha Christie’s influence.

THE PHANTOM OF SOHO
This bonus feature is more of a curiosity than a crown jewel, but it's a welcome inclusion. The film leans into the lurid London underground, with strip clubs and seedy alleyways providing the backdrop for another murder spree. Franz Josef Gottlieb directs with a sleazy confidence that feels closer to Euro-sleaze than the buttoned-up mysteries of the main set. The contrast adds welcome variety and closes the collection on a grimy note.

What makes TERROR IN THE FOG so compelling is the cumulative effect of these films. Individually, they range from clever to flawed to fascinating. As a boxed set, they offer an immersive journey through a stylistic moment that bridged British crime fiction, German aesthetics, and proto-slasher tropes. There’s a consistency in the fog-drenched visuals, twisted morality, and elaborate set pieces that make the collection feel cohesive even as it evolves across films. It’s pulp cinema with ambition—genre storytelling that doesn’t hide its trashier instincts but executes them with such flair that they feel elevated.

The physical presentation is as impressive as the content. Eureka’s commitment to quality shines through with excellent transfers, a beautifully designed hardbound slipcase, and a 60-page collector’s book that dives into the Wallace family legacy, krimi history, and behind-the-scenes trivia.

For mystery, horror, or international cinema fans, this is more than a nostalgia trip—it’s a window into a time when murder mysteries were loud, stylish, and soaked in dread. TERROR IN THE FOG isn’t just a preservation effort; it’s a celebration of how crime stories transformed across cultures and decades, and how one family of writers cast a long shadow across cinematic crime.

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[photo courtesy of EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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