Les aventures de Klaus aux commandes du chariot élévateur

Well, on one hand it's kind of sad that this has to be the closest thing to a cult movie us Germans have produced during the last decades, but then again, it *is* funny as hell and raises more attention about the dangers of fork-lifts then all the Jaws-movie combined ever did about the dangers of shark-bites.

Which is a good thing, I guess, since fork lifters are gruesome killing-machines disguised as everyday tools - especially the titular fork lifter shown in this film. Who would have thought?

Another interesting trivia about this movie is the narrator, Egon Hoegen: For decades, this guy narrated the educational TV-show "Der siebte Sinn" ("The seventh sense") about the safety and regulations of everyday public driving. So, most Germans are familiar with his distinct voice, which makes his dry remarks after each brutal accident even more hilarious. This is not the first time, Hoegen used his distinct voice for the sake of comedy; he also narrated the propaganda-pieces in the German dub of "Starship Troopers", giving them an even crazier, authoritative feel.

Given it's short length (about 10 minutes, including end credits), I really don't see a reason why you shouldn't give this film a chance. Maybe it will even receive a fan-dub one day, so English-speaking audiences will also benefit from the insightful informations provided here.

I guess you can watch it online somewhere, but there once also was a really, really nice DVD of this movie, which compensated the relative short length of the main feature by a sheer abundance of bonus-features, easter eggs and background-information. And it was cheap as hell! Try to get that one!

We watched this on vocational school (logistics line) yesterday and everyone laughed like hell.

We were expecting a boring, typical 70-80's educational video with an old dusty narrator in the background, and that's how it pretty much started. Then, after few gory details what not to do, everyone's interest rose up and most of the class started laughing in tears.

Everything in this video matches up, the music, actors, the setting - every part just makes this a great educational video, which really makes you learn what not to do with a forklift.

I just wish all of 'em videos were like this.

I was definitely close to soiling myself last night when I saw this at the Florida Film Festival. Klaus was the highlight of the shorts program I attended. It is shot like the video you might be forced to watch when you are first hired at a company (complete with cheesy music) and shows everything that can go wrong as a forklift driver. You honestly won't think it can possibly get any better, but each situation manages to top the previous one. I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but it was bloody as hell and extremely violent, but funny enough so you know not to be offended. If there is any way to get this on video or DVD, please let me know.

At first I thought I was watching one of those cheesy 70's documentaries which used bore us all at school, with its boring educational information. However, this short film starts to get extremely gory, and does it with such ease, as the blood and guts blend in easily, all of which should be taken tongue in cheek. The delivery of the actors is great, seeing their surprised and shocked faces after being impaled, or sliced in half by a metal sheet. By all means see this short film, it's a dark comedy, with lashings of evil dead style gore, to make it something fresh for our viewing pleasure.

As a huge fan of short films, I only recently had the opportunity to see this on Channel4 (a UK channel that shows programmes that other channels don't think are commercial enough) - the beginning was intriguing as I was about to change channels, but then became curious to watch what looked like a work safety parody.

Gory though it is, it's the unfortunate situations that continue to make you laugh till the very end.

If you're a fan of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste and Braindead, you'll feel at home. Those that have 10 minutes to spare should spend it watching this. Highly recommended.