Taxidermia (2005)

81% of critics liked it
(47 reviews)
77% of users liked it
(5,589 ratings)

A strange young man takes his family's long tradition of bizarre behavior to new heights (or depths) in this wildly perverse and explicit horror comedy from director György Pálfi. Kálmán Balatony (Gergo Trócsányi) is a grotesquely fat gentleman who was fathered by an angry hospital orderly getting… More A strange young man takes his family's long tradition of bizarre behavior to new heights (or depths) in this wildly perverse and explicit horror comedy from director György Pálfi. Kálmán Balatony (Gergo Trócsányi) is a grotesquely fat gentleman who was fathered by an angry hospital orderly getting revenge on his boss by having sex with his wife. While the embittered husband killed the orderly when he was caught in the act, Kálmán was born as a result of the wife's indiscretion, and when he grows to adulthood he earns a modest fame as a competitive eating champion. At an eating contest, Kálmán meets a female competitor, the freakish Gizi (Adél Stanczel), and the two fall in love. Kálmán and Gizi marry, and she gives birth to a son, Lajos (Marc Bischoff), who grows up to be just as skinny as his parents are fat. Lajos studies taxidermy and takes up preserving animals as a career when he isn't busy taking care of his elderly and increasingly massive father. Lajos also raises a handful of unusually large house cats, and when they begin to turn on their master, Lajos uses his talents to keep them around the house without the danger of their bothering anyone. Taxidermia received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 31 min.
Directed By: György Pálfi
Written By: György Pálfi, Zsofia Ruttkay
Genres: Drama, Horror, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Feb 3, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Mar 23, 2010
Studio: Regent Releasing

Critic Reviews

Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Taxidermia sets a benchmark for body horror in the cinema.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Taxidermia is a brilliant, often grotesquely bizarre allegory on life in Hungary from World War II to the present, a surrealist fantasy exploring the limits of the body and its desires and altogether a darkly funny comedy.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
And now a word of advice from your friendly film critic: If you go to see the Hungarian black comedy Taxidermia, don't plan to eat afterward.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Produces nightmarish horror and formal beauty in a surreal, Central European blend.
Ed Gonzalez, Village Voice
All this helps to shape Pálfi's crudely bombastic but impressive philosophical view of the body as landscape and art, a source of personal discovery, wonder, and annihilation.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Visually dazzling and outlandishly obscene.
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis
The gluttonous middle section of the film is by far its most successful.
Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com
The film will bring to mind the arty films of visionaries such as Werner Herzog, Takashi Miike, Andrzej Zulawski, and Terry Gilliam all rolled into one.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Surreal, grotesque and bitterly funny Hungarian art horror film ... aspires not to cult status as a torture porn totem but to the highest cinematic art.(It's not that, but give it points for trying.)
Sara Maria Vizcarrondo, Boxoffice Magazine
As sweeping in scope and vision as it is in viscera.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
For those who can handle it, a viewing is an experience not soon forgotten.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Taxidermia is frequently funny, for those who can stomach it.
Chris Cabin, Filmcritic.com
Pálfi's fascination with the body -- its daily excretions and emanations -- borders on obsession
Dan Fainaru, Screen International
To Palfi's credit, he never attempts to titillate. His mind-boggling visual imagination is ably supported by Gergely Poharnok's camera and the art direction.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Those who pride themselves on iron guts will want to trek down to Cinema Village for this surreal, stunty endurance test, occasionally redeemed by a darkly Pythonesque sense of humor.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Visionary Hungarian director Gyorgy Palfi ("Hukkle") creates a grotesque satire that dissects Hungary's nationalist self identity with a pitch black sense of humor and extended gross-out sequences...
Simon Abrams, New York Press
Pálfi's skill at making something as churlishly repulsive as a scene of self-mummification completely mesmerizing is a testament to his unparalleled dedication to imaginary grotesques.
Bill Weber, Slant Magazine
Taxidermia is merely slimy biological vaudeville.
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
Nothing if not an intriguing failure. One does not care about what happens so much as one grows increasingly alarmed at where director Gyorgy Palfi will take his film next.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Greg S

A surrealist take on three generations of bizarre and perverted Hungarians: a horny army soldier (whose penis spouts fire), a competitive eater, and a taxidermist. It's technically well done and ranks high on the "I've never seen THAT before" weird grossout scale,… More
A surrealist take on three generations of bizarre and perverted Hungarians: a horny army soldier (whose penis spouts fire), a competitive eater, and a taxidermist. It's technically well done and ranks high on the "I've never seen THAT before" weird grossout scale, but it lacks a point and, just like its final exhibit, a heart.
Luke B

Disgusting at times but also beautiful in the way it is presented. A great visual style, wonderful lighting and an imaginative series of events leads to a film unlike most others. One scene involves a pop-up book come to life. A whole film should be shot this way as that single moment… More
Disgusting at times but also beautiful in the way it is presented. A great visual style, wonderful lighting and an imaginative series of events leads to a film unlike most others. One scene involves a pop-up book come to life. A whole film should be shot this way as that single moment was fantastic. Another great thing about this film is that you will see things you will never see anywhere else, such as a man shooting fire from his penis and a man having sex with a pig's carcass. This will be hard to stomach for some, and keeps it's comments on humanity buried beneth the surface. If you want to see some great vomiting sequences I suggest you watch Taxidermia. Foul, gross and weird, just like life. Well maybe a bit fouler, grosser and weirder than life.
Gordon A

Bizarre visceral story of three ages of man which has some wonderful visual flourishes backed up with great sound. The middle story is laced with a dark humour but I'm not quite sure of the point of it all.
Saskia D

Sick, disturbing and brilliant.
John M

"Taxidermia" follows three generations of some odd men in Hungary. It is a sub-real movie that is extremely well-made; great camera angles, style, acting, music, and effects, however, it is pretty disturbing and gross. Really good film, visually beautiful, stylish, bizarre… More
"Taxidermia" follows three generations of some odd men in Hungary. It is a sub-real movie that is extremely well-made; great camera angles, style, acting, music, and effects, however, it is pretty disturbing and gross. Really good film, visually beautiful, stylish, bizarre and disturbing.
Patrick D

Brilliant, really. I mean the cinematography was amazing, it's filthy and gritty look were almost beautiful. The story didn't hold back, and if it did, well a lot slipped through. This film makes no apologies, it's grotesque and it knows it and that's what it wants… More
Brilliant, really. I mean the cinematography was amazing, it's filthy and gritty look were almost beautiful. The story didn't hold back, and if it did, well a lot slipped through. This film makes no apologies, it's grotesque and it knows it and that's what it wants to be. Try to take your fucking eyes off of this once it starts.
Christopher B

What a wonderful movie. Blood, guts and vomiting are some of the things you can anxiously look forward to when you pop this sucker in. The plot is involving 3 generations of losers in Hungary and the bleak existences they call lives. Kind of like an artier and gorier episode of… More
What a wonderful movie. Blood, guts and vomiting are some of the things you can anxiously look forward to when you pop this sucker in. The plot is involving 3 generations of losers in Hungary and the bleak existences they call lives. Kind of like an artier and gorier episode of Bottom. Highly recommended to fans of the bizarre and gross... like me.. (wait did I just call myself bizarre and gross! Damn!)