The Scary Cannibal

The Happy Cannibal Adventure Das fröhliche Kannibalenabenteuer
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Directed by	Helmut Rommel
Screenplay by	Helmut Rommel
Based on	Forest Cannibals by Sigmund Scharf
Produced by	Helmut Rommel
Starring	Lisa Albrecht Egon von Möller Peter Butzbach Katharina Vogel Volker Partau Emanuel Niederklaus
Music by	Georg Adam
Distributed by	Flingor Studios
Release date	14 October 1967
Running time	129 minutes (uncensored version) 125 minutes (censored version)
Country	Besmenia
Language	Besmenian
Budget	BS 1.2 million
Box office	BS 14.4 million

The Happy Cannibal Adventure (Besmenian: Das Fröhliche Kannibalenabenteuer) is a 1967 Besmenian horror film adapted, produced, and directed by Helmut Rommel, based on the 1935 novel Forest Cannibals by Sigmund Scharf. The film contains many bloody scenes of violence and many moments of shock, as a result of which the film was described as "too crass" at its premiere in 1967. The film was banned in Besmenia itself from February 1968 to March 1999.

Plot

The film is about the two young married couples Tom Meyer, Ursula Meyer and Adam Holzmann, Larissa Holzmann, the four of them are going on a camping holiday in the deep Hanbei forest. Unfortunately, they are lost in the forest and cannot find a way out. When the last leftover foods are gone, Tom goes crazy and commits cannibalism to the others. Only Ursula managed to escape from the Habei forest in the end.

Production

The "Entrance way" to the Hanbei forest. (picture from 2012)

Filming began in May 1966 and ended on January 15, 1967. The scenes in the Hanbei forest were shot in the Summingian forest. The locations in the forest were about 18.5 km away from the Besmenian Border Zone, which was dismantled during the filming.

Ban on film due to conflict over the protection of minors

The Besmenian Youth Commission found that the film contradicted their principles. A Bad Hunt was therefore confiscated in February 1968 and was therefore banned. Rommel himself is said to have tried to bring serveral shortened versions into the cinemas over the years, but without success, and without the consent of the BJK.

End of the Ban in 1999

In March 1999 the ban was lifted. In the same year the film was released on VHS in a censored version of around 4 minutes with an 18+ rating. In 2001, the film was released on DVD. The DVD contained the uncensored version as well as the censored version. The only way to see the film in the original uncensored version is on DVD. The censored version is used for television broadcasts and streaming services.

Leagcy

Despite the over 30 year ban, the film was a great success for Rommel and the actors and developed into a cult film among horror fans.

Trivia

- The first broadcast on Besmenian television was on November 10, 2002 in the night program of BTV.
- On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the film, The Happy Cannibal Adventure was shown again in a restored version in October 2017 in several Besmenian cinemas.
- The Happy Cannibal Adventure was Rommel's first script written by himself.