Tenderness of the Wolves & Lady Dracula - Vampire Film Double Feature!

This Halloween, the Goethe-Institut and the German Film Office present a double feature of vampire films curated by Deutsche Kinemathek as part of their “Wild, Weird, Bloody. German Genre Films of the 70s” retrospective at the 2025 Berlinale. Presented as part of , a campaign of the Goethe-Institut USA to celebrate and strengthen transatlantic friendship.

Suggested attire: Retro Horror

This horror comedy sets off in the year 1876 as a young girl is bitten by Count Dracula at her boarding school. When her coffin is uncovered and delivered to an antiques dealer 100 years later, she is reborn as a vampire and tries to find her way in the modern world. At first, her job as a mortuary cosmetologist keeps her well-paid and well-fed, but as she runs out of blood bags, she must take greater risks to sate her appetite…

With Evelyne Kraft, Brad Harris, Theo Lingen, Eddi Arent, Stephen Boyd, Christine Buchegger, Walter Giller, Klaus Höhne, Roberto Blanco, Marion Kracht

A Fassbinder-produced reimagining of the story of Fritz Haarmann, the serial killer whose crimes inspired Fritz Lang’s 1931 classic M. In a post-war German city, Haarmann, a seasoned criminal, is recruited as a police informant. He uses the cover this position affords him to preys on young boys, luring them into his garret before molesting them, killing them with a bite to the neck, and turning their bodies into sausages. Everyone in town loves Haarmann’s meats, from black marketeers to the police inspector, but the tide turns when a nosy neighbor starts putting two and two together. Based on a script by Kurt Raab who also stars as Haarmann and featuring performances from many Fassbinder regulars—including a memorable cameo by the man himself—, Tenderness of the Wolves cares less about historical accuracy than about setting the scene for, in Fassbinder’s words, “a thriller with lots of blood … a combination of Fritz Lang’s M and Hitchcock’s Psycho.”

With Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven, Wolfgang Schenck, Brigitte Mira, Rainer Hauer, Barbara Bertram, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Heinrich Giskes, El Hedi ben Salem

LADY DRACULA

© IKOHA Import & Export

TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES

© Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Goethe-Institut Washington, 1377 R Street Northwest, Washington, United States