This obscure Belgian horror was directed by Guy Lee Thys. this was his first attempt to direct a full feature, 7 years later he made Cruel Horizon and what a difference there is between those two flicks.
The Pencil Murders or De Potloodmoorden didn't deliver what I expected from it. Being made in a time when giallo's and slashers were the big thing this fails on both parts. Face it, the way he is trying to disguise the killer is in fact based on the giallo genre. The glove of the killer is shown, typical giallo. But it's script wise that it failed. The story do involves the killer but it's also about the detective Rick (Leslie De Gruyter) his relation with his wife. Due the reason that he's out to catch the killer his wife (Rosemarie Bergmans)is having an affair. Those two stories are the main part in this flick which gives us a lame flick without killings. Oh yes, there are killings but one is done off-camera. The only killing that's worth the name giallo is the one in the bath.
But this flick had other things to deliver. But that's only for viewers coming out of Belgium. Two songs are used by the band Arbeid Adelt, a notorious new wave band from the eighties and were reformed last year. It's funny, because the singer Marcel Van Tilt I do have to work a lot with due he's in the television business nowadays as I am. Also worth watching is the young Warre Borgmans (Carl) who became a well known actor in Belgium afterwards. Also in it is Bert André, sadly past away in 2008. Famous for being Buurman Neuteboom in the Flodder franchise.
It's weird to see that a first time director could get those names in his first attempt. Also to notice are the words used for the time being and the racism by the cops. Later on here in Belgium some riots happened due real life cops were racists. A thing that couldn't be filmed in that way any more, the words used for the black generation was 'neger' the same as n*gger and 'kwatta' which was a brand for chocolate back then.
It's so strange that Belgium doesn't really have a horror scene by which I mean making flicks. The Netherlands do have it called Nederhorror and they have a lot of famous flicks like S8N8, Doodeind, Sint or Amsterdamned and The Lift. Belgium do have a few, Cannibal (2008)or Daughters of Darkness (1971), but most of them were utterly sleazy like this one or Intensive Care (1991) with George Kennedy and Koen Wauters or The Flemish Vampire (2007). But De Potloodmoorden is really an obscure flick and very hard to get, only available on VHS.
Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5
The Pencil Murders or De Potloodmoorden didn't deliver what I expected from it. Being made in a time when giallo's and slashers were the big thing this fails on both parts. Face it, the way he is trying to disguise the killer is in fact based on the giallo genre. The glove of the killer is shown, typical giallo. But it's script wise that it failed. The story do involves the killer but it's also about the detective Rick (Leslie De Gruyter) his relation with his wife. Due the reason that he's out to catch the killer his wife (Rosemarie Bergmans)is having an affair. Those two stories are the main part in this flick which gives us a lame flick without killings. Oh yes, there are killings but one is done off-camera. The only killing that's worth the name giallo is the one in the bath.
But this flick had other things to deliver. But that's only for viewers coming out of Belgium. Two songs are used by the band Arbeid Adelt, a notorious new wave band from the eighties and were reformed last year. It's funny, because the singer Marcel Van Tilt I do have to work a lot with due he's in the television business nowadays as I am. Also worth watching is the young Warre Borgmans (Carl) who became a well known actor in Belgium afterwards. Also in it is Bert André, sadly past away in 2008. Famous for being Buurman Neuteboom in the Flodder franchise.
It's weird to see that a first time director could get those names in his first attempt. Also to notice are the words used for the time being and the racism by the cops. Later on here in Belgium some riots happened due real life cops were racists. A thing that couldn't be filmed in that way any more, the words used for the black generation was 'neger' the same as n*gger and 'kwatta' which was a brand for chocolate back then.
It's so strange that Belgium doesn't really have a horror scene by which I mean making flicks. The Netherlands do have it called Nederhorror and they have a lot of famous flicks like S8N8, Doodeind, Sint or Amsterdamned and The Lift. Belgium do have a few, Cannibal (2008)or Daughters of Darkness (1971), but most of them were utterly sleazy like this one or Intensive Care (1991) with George Kennedy and Koen Wauters or The Flemish Vampire (2007). But De Potloodmoorden is really an obscure flick and very hard to get, only available on VHS.
Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5