The Mad Butcher

The Mad Butcher (Lo strangolatore di Vienna) is a 1971 Italian-German horror comedy directed by Guido Zurli. Set in Vienna, the story follows Otto Lehman, a butcher recently released from a mental institution, whose morbid obsession with attractive women drives him back to killing. He disposes of his victims by working them into his famous sausages, which become strangely popular with the local customers. As people connected to the shop begin to disappear, a police inspector starts hunting a mysterious strangler loose in the city, slowly closing in on the seemingly respectable tradesman. The film blends macabre horror with broad black comedy, and its cast includes Victor Buono, Brad Harris, Luca Sportelli and John Ireland. Released in the early 1970s, it stands among the low-budget European genre productions of its era.