With a title like The Racetrack Murders, this 1964 West German affair sounds as though it should come from the Thin Man franchise. Though it lacks elegant investigators ala Nick and Nora Charles, it does involve death among the horsy set.

Also known as The Seventh Victim, Murders starts with a sequence in which a mysterious man tosses a snake onto a racecourse. When this startles racehorse Satan, the jockey gets ejected, hits the ground and dies.

This leads to more unnatural deaths, all of which appear tied to a desire to stop the talented Satan from competition. As the list of corpses grows, so does the roster of suspects.

Murders offered the second German “krimi” film I watched. I took in 1964’s Monster of London City before I viewed Murders.

Though I liked the way Monster offered a twist on the Jack the Ripper tale, the end result didn’t work. The movie meandered too much and lacked real purpose.

Happily, Murders fares significantly better. While I wouldn’t call it a great thriller, it nonetheless becomes a largely entertaining experience.

Despite all the death on display, Murders comes with a spry attitude. The movie borders on sly romp more than dark thriller, and this loose attitude benefits it.

From virtually the start of Murders, we find examples of cynical humor. The film uses the class structure for cruel laughs and commentary, as the wealthy characters appear more upset with the way the deaths mar their festivities than due to the loss of life.

Murders doesn’t provide a pure comedy, but it still comes with a certain winking tone that suits it. Although the story turns darker as it goes, it still maintains a likably insolent feel that helps make it more enjoyable than a standard mystery might.

This becomes important because little about the story of Murders develops into anything fresh or memorable. We get a slew of killings in an Agatha Christie manner that never really turns into anything especially clever.

Nonetheless, Murders evolves into something frisky and fun. No one should expect a classic but the movie delivers 93 minutes of lively entertainment.

The Racetrack Murders appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. While some anomalies appeared, the image usually looked very good.

Overall sharpness seemed fine. A little too much softness cropped up, but most of the film appeared accurate and concise.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and I witnessed no print flaws.

Blacks mostly seemed deep and contrast largely worked well, though the movie could seem too bright at times. Even with some contrast and sharpness concerns, this mostly delivered a satisfying presentation.

I felt less pleased with the mediocre DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Murders. Speech tended to seem brittle and a bit edgy.

Effects followed suit, as they came with some moderately rough tones. Music lacked range but at least lacked the distortion of the rest of the track. Given the movie’s age, the audio didn’t flop, but it seemed meh at best.

Those comments reflected the film’s original German mix, but the disc also came with an English dub. Also presented via DTS-HD MA monaural, it lacked the distortion of the German version but instead suffered from a dull vibe that lacked vivacity.

At least performances seemed pretty good. Usually dubs like this provide terrible voice acting, but the work heard here felt fairly convincing. I’d still opt for the original German but at least the English reworking held up nicely.

A few extras appear here, and we encounter an audio commentary from film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, the krimi genre, production elements, influences, and their view of the flick.

Six films into this “Terror in the Fog” set, it becomes inevitable that Lyons and Rigby repeat some info from prior chats. Nonetheless, they offer their usual lively chemistry and make this an enjoyable discussion.

We can watch the movie with or without a seven-minute, 42-second introduction in which film historian Tim Lucas gives us some basics about the production. Lucas provides a concise overview.

In addition to the movie’s trailer, we get an audio essay called Terror in the Fog. It runs alongside the movie and offers notes from Lucas and film historian Stephen Bissette.

We get a non-screen-specific affair that offers a global look at those involved with the “Terror in the Fog” films as well as various aspects of the six films in this package. This ends a bit before the movie concludes, but it fills most of the flick’s running time.

Inevitably, Lucas and Bissette touch on territory heard in the prior commentaries. Still, they tie up the whole set in an appealing way, so while this turns into the least useful of the package’s tracks, it nonetheless merits a listen.

A sly thriller in the Agatha Christie vein, I can’t claim The Racetrack Murders stands out as especially creative or fresh. However, it maintains such a loose and sly semi-satire that it becomes a largely delightful escapade. The Blu-ray comes with pretty good picture, dated audio and a few useful bonus features. Murders winds up as an enjoyable little thriller/romp.

Note that as of June 2025, this Blu-ray for The Racetrack Murders comes only as part of a six-film collection called “Terror in the Fog”. It also includes fellow West German 1960s flicks The Curse of the Yellow Snake, The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, The Mad Executioners/The Phantom of Soho and The Monster of London City.