Planet der Kannibalen (2001)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Hans-Christoph Blumenberg

Writer:

Hans-Christoph Blumenberg (writer)

Genre:

Crime | Sci-Fi | Comedy | Mystery

Plot:

A futuristic television station sets out to hire newly arrived alien cannibals for a game show.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Cannibal | Germany | Television Show

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Minh-Khai Phan-Thi	...	Emma Trost
Florian Lukas	...	Adam Singer
Vadim Glowna	...	Kannibale Oskar Wagenknecht
Barbara Auer	...	Heike Hasselhoff
Heikko Deutschmann	...	Hanno Jungbluth
Nina Petri	...	Vera Frostenthal
Matthias Fuchs	...	Dienstag
Peter Fitz	...	Professor Dr. Dr. Best
Udo Schenk	...	Roberto
Lutz Herkenrath	...	Prof. Ostheim
Hannes Hellmann
Patricia Thielemann
Horst Tomayer	...	Bruno
Fatih Akin	...	Mr. Dark
Gustav-Peter Wöhler	...	Mirko Nebel

Also Known As:

Planet of the Cannibals (Australia) (literal English title)

Runtime:

Australia:91 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

Arte

Curiously enjoyable B grade sci-fi satire.

This is a curiously enjoyable "1950s-style B grade sci-fi thriller" set in Germany in the mid-21st century. Just to add to the 1950s effect, it's shot in glorious old-fashioned black and white.

It seems the government wishes to cut the two TV channels down to one, leading to a "ratings" battle. One station has a quiz show "gold or grave": get the big question wrong and..... The other has a Hannibal Lecter type cannibal, safely behind bars, who answers inane questions from the audience: usually by making suitably threatening displays.

Our heroine works as a market analyst for one of the TV stations, but during a meeting the head of the station is mysteriously assassinated. She flees, only to find that she is blamed for the assassination, as shown clearly on the security camera tape which is shown to the world.

In hiding, she meets the leader of a resistance group. She also meets an astrophysicist who is convinced there are aliens on the loose.

All pretty much normal, isn't it? From there, it all rattles along with various unlikely twists and turns - and no, I'm not about to give the details, suffice to say there is finally a successful resolution of the whole exercise.

Not only does the movie not take itself seriously, it parodies both the 1950s B grade sci-fi film and, through that, the values of popular television programming. All in all, curiously enjoyable if not aspiring to be one of the "greats".