TATTOO []

Scary sleeper from Germany. In German with English subtitles. Running time: 108 minutes. Not rated (gore, violence, sex, profanity). At the Cinema Village, E. 12th Street and University Place.

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ROBERT Schwentke’s “Tattoo” is a blood- freezing German thriller, a very stylish variation on “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Seven.”

You know Robert Schwentke is a writer-director to watch from the opening sequence – in which a naked, bleeding woman is run over by a bus which then explodes.

This movie is not for the faint of heart.

During a stomach-churning autopsy of the burned corpse, we learn the dead woman bit off and swallowed a finger that leads cops to the ghoulish Gunzel (Joe Bausch), who has a basement full of corpses.

But the real prey in “Tattoo” is a serial killer who is collecting his victim’s tattoos.

Like “Seven,” the film pairs a troubled, cynical cop with a green young recruit.

Minks (Christian Redl) is nicknamed “Killer” and there are rumors he killed the man who ran down his wife in a hit-and-run accident.

The much-younger Schrader (August Diehl), is more interested in going to clubs – and in one he finds Minks’ long-missing daughter (Jasmin Schwiers).

Eventually the partners are drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with a wealthy lawyer (Johan Leysen) who sells tattoos that have been removed, along with skin, from their owners – and are hung on walls like paintings.

The puzzle also includes Maya (Nadeshda Brennicke), a beautiful but mysterious friend of the original victim with whom Schrader falls into a torrid affair.

Some of Swenke’s plot twists are far-fetched, but he and cinematographer Jan Fahse create a parade of arresting images – especially when a rain-drenched T-shirt slowly reveals Brennicke’s full-body tattoos.

“Tattoo” is a wonderfully creepy and genuinely scary movie that draws on Hollywood models to create something that stands on its own.