Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) And it's not a quality dinner, but something you'd throw into the garbage can right away, also in terms of the cinematic quality we have here. "Cannibal" is a German German-language movie from 2006, so it has its 10th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Marian Dora and he is certainly known to fans of gore and splatter films for his approach to movie making. This 90-minute movie we have here is among his most known works and it deals with the story of Armin Meiwes, a German who was sentenced to life in prison for killing and eating his "victim". I write "victim" because the other guy willingly agreed to what Meiwes did to him. So it is definitely an interesting story that deserves its own movie. But not in the way it was done here. Dora does not focus on quality filmmaking or writing, but only wants to make it as vomit-inducing as possible, for example with the very graphic scene where the protagonist cuts off the other guy's penis. The two lead actors are Carsten Frank and Victor Brandl and admittedly they aren't very memorable at all, especially Frank is entirely forgettable despite playing a character that really could have stayed in your mind with the right actor touching the role. The overall thing looks fairly amateurish I must say from start to finish and this does refer to the physical quality of the movie as well as the pretentious Hansel and Gretel voice-over by German horror film acting legend Manoush, As a whole, this film does not do the subject any justice at all. The filmmaker's attempts to make this something like a romance movie look very clumsy and do not work at all in the face of all the violence depicted graphically in here. And after all, if this is a love story film then it is about the most normal thing in the world, isn't it? But then it goes completely against the idea of being special enough to turn it into a film. There is no other motivation behind these 1.5 hours than to shock as many people as possible. I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs down and a major one indeed.

trashgang I just watched the controversial movie Cannibal. It's a weird story that happened in real life in Germany a few years ago. Due the fact that it was all real this movie was banned as soon it came out. Just before it was retracted from the shelves I was able to buy it in a regular DVD shop over here. Now it is available again with the green cover but heavily cut. I have the yellow cover so it's full uncut. That's the story so far about the release. The movie itself contains for some people too much gay performances. If you knew what happened then you should know that it was between two guys, if you can't stand that go watch some Disney flicks. You know what I mean. But indeed, let's say the first hour is all about the love between the two guys. They are indeed naked all the time and all of their bodies is shown, even in close ups. But it never is erotic, you know what is going to happen after wards. The last half hour the disturbing part starts, and it is indeed disturbing. The movie is slow and contains maybe 20 sentences. The rest is on some weird score, if you know that Alexander Hacke was involved then you should know what to suspect. For those not into alternative music, he's from Einsturzende Neubauten. I can understand why it was banned due the extreme gory performances and the gay performances. Be sure to catch the uncut version, surely not for the squeamish. Eat it!

sonicbrew52 Let me first say that I did my research on this film before I watched it. As a fan of true crime I was enthralled by the comments and reviews of this film which peaked my curiosity so I had to watch it. MISTAKE!!! It is a well-shot, unapologetic, and real look at what probably actually transpired between these two men but for anyone who is not a fan of extreme cinema, I can't see how anyone could recommend this. There has forever been a spot burned into my brain from this movie. The homosexuality didn't bother me as there was only 1 real scene which was hard to watch and after the initial shock of all the wang shots wore off, it was almost as if I was used to seeing it so I didn't even notice it. I was completely uncomfortable the whole time I watched this movie and couldn't wait for it to be over. I then had to watch 30 minutes of the Disney channel to try and get the images out of my head. The gore in this movie is wonderfully done but the scenes of the "penis stump" being licked and tongued was a bit much. The actual castration scene was terrible as well as the camera is right there, up close and personal, so there is nothing left to the imagination. I had to look away during a few scenes due to them being too much to watch. The visuals in this movie are things that no-one should ever see. I can't recommend this movie to anyone and cannot understand how anyone could enjoy this. It's hard to rate this film due to it not being like anything I've seen before and I actually set in silence for about 5 minutes after the credits rolled trying to get a grasp on what I had just witnessed and what I thought about it. I can see how some people would say that this represents what really happened and can applaud the director for his unflinching realism but for anyone that is not of fan of extreme cinema, I would recommend finding a book on the case study instead of watching this. But if your like me and your curiosity gets the best of you, let me warn you. It's not pretty and you will be scarred.

alanmora At a recent horror movie convention I was browsing the dealer's tables and came across this film. The person selling the film saw fit to add a "cautionary label" to it which read "Warning: This is by far the sickest movie you will ever see" Of course copies of the film flew off the shelf. Everyone who passed by the table picked it up. I had read previous reviews on this film and was interested to see it so I quickly purchased my copy as well. When I finally brought it home and viewed it, to say that I was shocked,appalled,and disgusted by what I saw would be a gross understatement BUT I was also very intrigued by what I was viewing because of the way that the film was shot. This is an art-house style depiction of a most heinous and grotesque case. If it were not a true story no one would ever believe it in a million years. A man becomes obsessed with the idea of killing and consuming another man (justifying this at one point by saying that women were too important in the evolution of mankind) he runs advertisements on the internet for a "victim" and unbelievably gets numerous responses which do not pay off for him. Until he meets "The Flesh" a man who is not only a willing participant but who is even more eager and fascinated by the whole idea than the man is. When it gets down to time to actually follow through with the act, what follows is a series of grotesque acts to vile to describe in print. Absolutely NOTHING is left to the imagination and the viewer sees every aspect of what occurred. From the initial first night of sex and intimacy, to the mutual consumption of the Flesh's most personal of private parts, to the eventual disembowelment, decapitation and consumption of the Flesh. When all is said and done, one has to truly wonder, was this a crime? In an attempt to exonerate himself of any wrong doing the Man filmed the acts and it becomes very obvious that the Flesh was not only a willing participant who encouraged the acts but that in some ways he was even more perverse than the Man was as he screams out at him during the course of one of the acts "You can't do it, can you...your too weak!" The viewer is left to answer this question on their own as the trial and ultimate conviction of The Man is not discussed in this film. This helps to preserve this film as a work of art and not an exploitation flick or a cheap "true crime" documentary. This is a powerful film which will be etched in the viewer's mind for a long time to come.