Cowboy! Indian! Horse! Cult Belgian stop motion animation Panique Au Village (A Town Called Panic in English) has become required viewing in the Twitch house, the lady-friend and I confusing party guests by popping in the TV series DVD whenever we have guests over and in less-than-their-full-capacities. It is one of the most surreal, most hysterically funny things I have ever come across and I have been anxiously awaiting the feature film version from the day I first heard it was coming.
What is it? Well, first take those plastic Cowboy and Indian toys you played with as a child. Second, assume that Cowboy and Indian are stupid and emotionally about six years old. Third, put them in a brightly colored house, where they live with their friend, Horse - by comparison the intelligent one of the trio. Then leave them to run wild. Trying to explain Panique beyond that is a chump's game and I'm not even going to try - this is something you have to experience.
With the feature due in Belgian theaters in the first half of 2009, I've been anxiously checking the official site for updates for months now and today my patience was rewarded with the first full trailer. This is the same reel that the sales outfit was showing in Berlin - it involves tractor-theft and parachuting cows - and while there are no subtitles on the released version, you really don't need them. The lunacy comes through more than clearly enough.
Check the trailer and seven clips from the TV show below the break!
Theatrical Trailer
TV Clip One
TV Clip Two
TV Clip Three
TV Clip Four
TV Clip Five
TV Clip Six
TV Clip Seven
I love it. Didn't catch a breeze of what they were saying, and that just made it all the more funnier. I look forward to this....
Oh ! Yes Excellent ! I've been currently and regularly visiting a little exhibition on this movie at the Anima festival in Brussels this week, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week ...
Typically I'm from the Dutch speaking part of good old little Belgium and I hadn't even heard of any of this untill you guys mentioned this on Twitch (I suppose the series aired on the french speaking TV). Well, I forgive myself because I just don't watch any TV at all ...
This is gonna be truly great :)
By the way : indeed translation of the high-speed french dialogue is not essential because of the visuals and rythm ... but the dialogue in the trailer is obviously all about cows being cut in half, having to glue them together ... planning counter-attack, "cow-droppings" ... you get the picture ...
Todd, i love the attention you're paying this. It's one of the best things ever...
The trailer was fucking fantastic