''Im Banne des Unheimlichen'' (lit. ''Under the Spell of the Unknown''); English title ''The Zombie Walks'', a.k.a. ''The Hand of Power'') is a 1968 West German

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Alfred Vohrer Alfred Vohrer (29 December 1914 – 3 February 1986) was a German film director and actor. He directed 48 films between 1958 and 1984. His 1969 film ''Seven Days Grace'' was entered into the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1972 ...

and starring

Joachim Fuchsberger Joachim "Blacky" Fuchsberger (; 11 March 1927 – 11 September 2014) was a German actor and television host, best known to a wide German-speaking audience as one of the recurring actors in various Edgar Wallace movies (often a Detective Inspector ...

and .

Plot

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

's Inspector Higgins (Joachim Fuchsberger) becomes involved in a case that began with the corpse of Sir Oliver supposedly laughing from inside of his own coffin during his funeral. Soon people who were close to Sir Oliver start to get killed. Sir Oliver's brother Sir Cecil swears he saw his dead brother jaunting around the countryside in a skeleton costume. Higgins teams up with reporter Peggy Brand (Siw Mattson) and his bumbling chief Sir Arthur (Hubert von Meyerinck) to unmask the villain who is killing people with a poisoned scorpion ring.

Cast

Production

The screenplay for the film is based on the novel ''The Hand of Power'' by Edgar Wallace.

Reception

The film premiered at the "Europa" cinema at

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

in West Germany on April 17, 1968.

References

External links

* 1968 films 1960s mystery films 1960s crime thriller films German mystery films German crime thriller films West German films 1960s German-language films Films directed by Alfred Vohrer Films based on British novels Films set in England Films based on works by Edgar Wallace 1960s German films Films scored by Peter Thomas (composer) German-language crime thriller films {{crime-thriller-film-stub