Sixteen year-old Sabine loves her boyfriend Jochen but she's afraid of sex which frustrates Jochen no end. Her parents are afraid of it, too, and forbid the girl to see her beau whose parents have sent him to stay with a country aunt. Undeterred, Sabine sets out on a hitchhiking odyssey to reunite with her sweetheart as a serial killer (Harald Maresch) prowls the freeways, raping and strangling young girls. He's doggedly pursued by Inspector Morath whose family life suffers because of his obsession with the unsolved murders...
Three parallel stories -the girl, the killer, and the inspector- converge at a roadside diner in a tense, suspenseful cautionary tale based on the true story of a sex maniac who used the German autobahn as a hunting ground for young female hitchhikers. The black & white photography is startlingly eerie at times, especially the scenes in the mist-shrouded forest. Recommended.
Handsome Harald Maresch fled the Nazis during WWII by emigrating to Hollywood where he changed his name to Harald Raymond and acted in a few films, most notably FRENCHMAN'S CREEK. He also began a passionate affair with Mexican Spitfire Lupe Velez but when she got pregnant, Harald got cold feet and called it quits. Abortion was not an option for the very Catholic Lupe so she killed herself and their unborn child with an overdose of Seconal and the resulting scandal drummed Harald out of Hollywood. He returned to Europe and resumed a modest film career with his best-remembered effort probably being the cult classic THE HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND. Unable to stay away, Harald died in Los Angeles in 1986.
