M

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

M is regarded as a landmark of world cinema, with Lang's precise, almost clinical filmmaking and Peter Lorre's performance drawing virtually unanimous admiration across decades of critical reassessment. The rare gripe from contemporary reviewers concerned pacing — a handful of repetitious scenes and slow passages that slightly diluted the tension — but that caveat has done little to diminish the film's towering reputation among audiences and critics alike.