Cut Off   ★★★★

SEBASTIAN Fitzek is one of the most popular crime authors in his native Germany.

Based on Cut Off, the film adaptation of his best-seller Abgeschnitten, it’s not hard to see why.

Recently screened at Perth’s 2019 German Film Festival, Cut Off is a wildly entertaining and gruesome serial killer story that features extended autopsy scenes, plenty of jump scares and a terrific climax.

There is a dual set-up that eventually merges two stories and lead characters.

On Heligoland, a remote archipelago off the German coast, there is a storm raging, the power is about to be cut and the main road sealed off.

Linda is a young artist hiding from a former boyfriend who has turned stalker. She leaves a hotel only to discover he Is following her.

Back on the mainland a woman is brought into a morgue with her face caved in.

During the examination forensic scientist Paul Herzfeld finds a small capsule inside the woman’s head.

Under the microscope he discovers a note inside the capsule with his daughter’s name and a phone number written on it. He calls the number and discovers his daughter has been kidnapped.

If that set-up doesn’t get you intrigued then you may as well forgot it right now.

Lovers of Scandinavian crime thrillers will embrace Cut Off with relish, but even they should be aware that in many respects this is as much a horror film as a thriller.

Like many adaptations of carefully constructed literary thrillers, at times Cut Off does become a little confusing at times.

But for most of the running time the twists and turns, combined with purposely misleading jump scares, engage and propel the audience.

The film cleverly presents a couple of early scenes that establish the lead character’s compulsive and short-tempered personality. Paul is expertly played by German Moritz Bleibtreu while young Swiss actress Jasna Fritzi Bauer is equally as good as Linda.

Despite barely being on-screen together, the pair produce a great chemistry during their extended phone conversations as Paul talks her through the execution of an amateur autopsy as part of his ongoing search for clues to his daughter’s abduction that are located within a procession of dead bodies.

It’s dark, gripping stuff, perhaps a little too long and smart for its own good, but nevertheless one of the most entertaining thrillers of 2019.

Director Christian Alvart made a few previous minor American thrillers, Antibodies in 2005 and Pandorum and Case 39, both in 2009, but has mostly worked in German television since.

Cut Off will undoubtedly place him back on Hollywood’s radar.