Cannibal (2006)

Wonderful character development!

Better Late Then Never

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Blistering performances.

When i first read about this film on the unearthed films coming soon page i was interested to say the least. The description said and i quote" Make Salo 120 days of Sodom look tame in comparison". That being said i was more nervous than anything during my first viewing, thats a bold statement and to back it up is a task in and of itself. Anyways i did my homework and the film was based on the Armin Weiwes case, the cannibal who found a willing victim. Anyways i had to sit through this film three times to fully get a grasp on just what it was that bothered me. I can say it wasn't the gore, or even the homosexual content although on most blogs referring this film that was one of the biggest complaints.anyways what really got me above all things was how realistic everything was and not just effective special effects. The film was cast perfectly. Carsten Frank was frighteningly believable as Armin, He had this incredibly dark way about him you could almost believe he was a real deviant. The actor as the victim he came off as a very slow and easily suggestible with the same sense of deviancy as the latter. The two really feed off each other...no pun intended. All this cycles an incredibly troubling court ship complete with a scene of homosexuality that could only be topped by hard core gay porn, honestly having seen Dora's other work and seeing what they did in those i wouldn't be surprised if Carsten Frank and the other actor actually had sex. This all leads to some absolutely vicious series of gore scenes including castration, gutting and finally cannibalism. Personally the castration scene made me curl into a ball. Finally the actual death scene has to be the most disturbing part. The way the body was being carried, everything seemed to be in place, there was small puddles of chunky vomit, bowels were voided...all in detail. All in all this film once really taken in and processed is so much more than whats taken at face value. It felt to me almost like and mind you this is all based on actual events, i was watching some perverse tragedy, there was something not only grotesque, but dark, sad,and perverse. Couple that with the minimalist piano score, which is almost become Hallmark to extreme German cinema.If you like horror films think twice about this film, however if you are a gore hound, or have a serious interest in true crime stories than go ahead. Be forewarned.

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!

The first thing I noticed is how beautifully shot this film is. Seriously, it looks excellent(to quote Alex Delarge, "like it was done up in Hollywood"), and I'm surprised that an independent film of this nature could achieve that. It's also the only film distributed by Unearthed Films that doesn't clearly look like a set(such as the Guinea Pig movies, which were clearly shot on sets). I was also quite surprised how much it was able to accomplish without the use of dialog throughout the first half-hour, and the beautifully artistic, haunting, and minimalistic score throughout. I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble getting over how aesthetically pleasing this film is. The cinematography should've won some awards, and I bet if it was about an orphan trying to cope with life, it would've.Anyway, when the talking started, I was shocked to hear how feminine Armin's voice was, but that soon came to pass. Something I found quite interesting about the second act was how it depicted The Flesh as the one in control, as opposed to Armin. The eerie role reversal of power worked on many psychological levels, and actually gave off a more disturbing air than the infamous gore did, especially when Armin was gutting his carcass. To think that the slab of ribs that Armin toys with was once the dominate one in their brief relationship really gave me something to think about.Now, you're probably wondering how I felt about the gore. Well, I found the effects to be top notch, and was quite surprised to find that absolutely nothing was left to the imagination. However, the weirdest thing is: none of the bloodshed I saw really got under my skin. Not even the castration(which I blame on the fact that I've seen the rare mondo flick, The Last Savage, which has a penile castration that would give the Pain Olympics a run for its money). Also, I thought that the emphasis on gore made the third act drag quite a bit. Do we really need to spend 20 minutes on seeing a guy's carcass get cut up? This part felt less like a gripping gore film, and more like a how-to video on how to gut corpses. But like I said, some of it does actually add a layer of uneasiness when put in context with the film's prior events. Still, they should've spent a little less time on this.All in all, this is a hard film to rate, as it's less like a film, and more like an experience. Do I recommend it? Only to those with strong stomachs, and/or those curious about the Armin Meiwes case. It's a well-made film, and is rewarding in its own special way, but I can see 95% of viewers turning this off the moment The Flesh's penis starts to bleed.

Strong stuff. A man who craves sweet human flesh meets another man who wants to be devoured. "Cannibal" details their blood-soaked courtship. Director Marian Dora's craft is not coy. He portrays this unusual relationship with sensitivity and in explicit detail. Innards are pulled from bodies. Penises are removed in bloody close-up. Bodily fluids soak the screen. We are never left in any doubt that the relationship we are witnessing is consenting. This is what makes what we are watching so strange and interesting. Although the two participants are hesitant to proceed with their fantasy at first, watching their inhibitions erode is part of this movie's grotesque charm. Dora's style is pure art-house with unconventional exposure, strange angles, and a disturbing soundscape. The special make-up effects are convincing, as are the central performances. Not easily forgotten, this is audacious, courageous film-making with a unique, European perspective. It is a breath of fresh air and stunningly revolting at times. Is that not what horror should be?