SchleFaZ [] () ("The worst movies of all time") is a satirical film series from the German private broadcaster Tele 5 (since 2024 NITRO). In this series, mainly B-movies, which are characterized by particularly bad workmanship or unintentionally funny ideas, are introduced, commented on and presented by Oliver Kalkofe and Peter Rütten. These films themselves are called "Schlefaze".
In 2013, Kalkofe and fellow comedian Peter Rütten created and began hosting the still-running show SchleFaZ on Tele 5, which is loosely based on the format of American TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The name "SchleFaZ" is a pun on "GröFaZ" (; roughly, "Greatest field commander of all time"; the German word Feldherr has no exact English equivalent), a derogatory nickname for Adolf Hitler. The title is also a reference to the former slogan of the German TV-Station Kabel 1, which was "Die besten Filme aller Zeiten" (The best movies of all time).
In it, Kalkofe and Rütten present trash films, introduce them with various background information, after every commercial break comment on the plot so far, and in the end summarize upon it, all within a retro-styled studio decorated in reference to the current film they are commenting on. The show has become an instant surprise hit for Tele 5, being the channel's leading show in ratings (with Kalkofe's other show Kalkofes Mattscheibe Rekalked being second), and during broadcasts of the show on Friday nights, the hashtag #schlefaz regularly enters the German Twitter top ten charts, which has prompted German TV Guides and even Tele 5 themselves to adopt the Twitter hashtag as a semi-official name for the show, also used by show hosts Kalkofe and Rütten themselves. Rütten and Kalkofe made an ironic cameo appearance in the 2015 movie Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and the 2017 movie Sharknado 5: Global Swarming.
Since 2021 a spin-off with the most iconic movies was announced. The series called KulFaZ started in June 2022 with four films and was continued in 2023 with four more films.
On 25 September, Tele 5 announced that it would be discontinuing the format at the end of the year. Kalkofe and Rütten hope for another broadcaster to step in.
"After eleven extremely successful years (...) it is now unfortunately time to say goodbye at the height of success. We are understandably saddened and yet grateful for the many moments of creative madness that we were able to create during this time," Kalkofe and Rütten emphasized in a joint statement. "To our wonderful fans, we promise: The fancy battleship #SchleFaZ will not sink despite everything, but will look for a new home port and continue to sail around the world of bad film live on stage. You Can't Stop the #SchleFaZ!"
After the last movie No. 164 Kalkofe and Rütten presented together with Oliver Schablitzki – Executive Vice President Multichannel from RTL Deutschland -, that the series will continue on NITRO and on Streamingplatform RTL+. The first NITRO-Season ran from 30 August till 1 November 2024.
Start Oliver Kalkofe, together with Tele-5 station manager Kai Blasberg, developed the concept for the series in 2012. Since the Tele München Gruppe owns a large number of B-movies, e.g. of the production company The Asylum, which had already been broadcast on Tele 5, the idea of presenting them as trash television – in deliberate dissociation from the concepts of other broadcasters – matured. Thus, the title of the programme stands in contrast to the Kabel One slogan "The best films of all time".
The films are presented by the presenters during the broadcast and are provided with biting comments which are then cut in between.
Concept During the programme, films are presented which, according to the presenters, are considered particularly bad and therefore deserve special attention. One film is presented per programme and is examined in more detail.
At the beginning of each episode the viewer is prepared for the film by the presenters. Information about the actors, the director and other facts about the film are presented in a humorous way. In addition, a special cocktail is created or presented for each film, whose composition or name has a reference to the film. In connection with this, a drinking game is usually introduced. For example, the audience of the film Sharknado should drink a cocktail every time a flying shark is seen. During the film, pop-ups are used to provide background information on the respective scene or to remind viewers of the drinking game. After the commercial breaks, the presenters ironically discuss particularly prominent scenes of the film. At the end of the film, what has been seen is summarized and a conclusion is given. As the seasons progress, it has become established that Kalkofe is the incorrigible enthusiast who always gives the films an artistic touch, while Rütten plays the constantly pessimistic and disinterested viewer who almost without exception finds the film bad. Yet, the curse "Fickende Hölle!" (literally "Fucking Hell!", but unidiomatic in German) has established itself as Rütten's catchphrase.
In 13 German cinemas (as of February 2014) the SchleFaZ series will be shown on the big screen simultaneously with the TV broadcast. The summer episodes of the 3rd season were simultaneously broadcast on Joiz Germany. First films of the series were released on DVD in June 2015.
After the 11th spring season Tele 5 announced the end of SchleFaZ.
Costumes
One of the mayer points of SchleFaz are the on point breaks after the ads with the costumation of Oli and Peter in the dress of the main actors/actresses.
Airing data (Tele 5) Most of the Drinking Game are word plays and/or rhyme in German and therefore make little or no sense in English. So often the link goes to the disambiguation side of a word.
The Cocktail was not translated because of the word play.
Season 1 No.(Sum) Nr.(Season) German Film Title (Literally translated title) Original Movie Title [imdb link] Release Cocktail Drinking Game Airing date 1 1 Supershark Super Shark 2011 Shark Shooter Schluckspecht (Bloody Mary @ Blue Lagoon) every epic shark close-up 2013-07-26 2 2 Der Mann mit der Kugelpeitsche ♣ (The Man with the Bullet Whip) Il mio nome è Shanghai Joe 1973 Chinese Mouthkick every time, the 'yellow' (Chinese main actor) hero jumps or flies 2013-08-02 3 3 The Throne of Fire Il trono di fuoco 1983 Onan, der Hotel Bar Barbar jeder Vernunft At that time we did not see any good hooks.Proposal today: Whenever Princess Valkari accuses her brave protector and climber Siegfried of betraying her and wanting to kill her 2013-08-09 4 4 Piranhas II – Die Rache der Killerfische (Piranhas II – The Revenge of the Killer Fish) Killer Fish 1979 Cai-Piranha for each victim 2013-08-16 5 5 Cherry 2000 Cherry 2000 1987 Cherry Cherry Lady every action scene gets us a drink 2013-08-23 6 6 Hasse deinen Nächsten (Hate your Neighbor) Odia il prossimo tuo 1968 Shot in the Pants – 2013-08-30 7 7 Battlefield Earth – Kampf um die Erde (Battlefield Earth – Fight for the Earth) Battlefield Earth 2000 Beer every laugh is toasted 2013-09-06 8 8 Perry Rhodan – SOS aus dem Weltall (Perry Rhodan – SOS from Outer Space) ...4...3...2...1...Morte 1967 Perry Rhodan Perioden Plum Punch every time, there's a scary noise or when someone does "science" 2013-09-13 9 9 Orcs – Sie kommen, um uns alle zu töten (Orcs – They come to kill us all) Orcs! 2011 Bloody Mordor whenever the word "orcs" is spoken 2013-09-27 10 10 Frogs Frogs 1972 Everglades Surprise every time, a frog is visible in the film (for each missed frog a double shot as a penalty) 2013-10-04 11 11 Sumuru – Die Tochter des Satans (Sumuru – The Daughter of Satan) The Million Eyes of Sumuru 1967 Original Sumuru Schlüpferschließer (Mumu-Tsu) every time, men's dignity is destroyed by a woman 2013-10-11 12 12 Mega Piranha Mega Piranha 2010 Orinoco-Knockout (Mega-Cai-Piranha) every time, a Piranha jumps 2013-10-18
♣ also: Knochenbrecher im Wilden Westen (Bone Breaker in the Wild West)
Season 2 No.(Sum) Nr.(Season) German Film Title (Literally translated title) Original Movie Name [imdb link] Release Cocktail Drinking Game Airing date 13 1 Sharknado – Genug gesagt! (Sharknado – Enough said!) Sharknado 2013 Hai Tai Haiopai every time, a shark flies 2014-01-10 14 2 Blacula Blacula 1972 Bloody Blacky every bite of a vampire 2014-02-07 15 3 Titanic 2 – Die Rückkehr (Titanic II – The Return) Titanic II 2010 Iceberg Surprise every bad CGI scene 2014-03-07 16 4 Die sieben Männer der Sumuru (The seven Men of Sumuru) The Girl from Rio 1969 Summa Sumuru Clit Sprizz every time, a person is tortured 2014-04-04 17 5 Monster des Grauens greifen an! (Horror Monsters attack!) Gezora, Ganime, Kamēba: Kessen! Nankai no Daikaijū 1970 Echs’ on the Beach every time, a monster roars or makes any kind of noise 2014-05-02 18 6 Die schwarzen Zombies von Sugar Hill (The Black Zombies of Sugar Hill) Sugar Hill 1974 Voodoo Würgens every new Zombie 2014-06-06 19 7 Zwiebel-Jack räumt auf (Onion Jack is cleaning up) Cipolla Colt 1975 Long Onion Ice Tea; Zwie-Bellini; Zwiebel-Bowle every time, Onion-Jack bites into an onion or drinks onion juice 2014-07-11 20 8 Camel Spiders – Angriff der Monsterspinnen (Camel Spiders – Attack of the Monster Spiders) Camel Spiders 2011 Solifugae Solifugaa every time, a spider or a person is killed 2014-08-01 21 9 Sharknado 2 Sharknado 2: The Second One 2014 Hai Tai Zwaiopai every time, of a cameo appearance 2014-11-21 22 10 Flotte Teens und heiße Jeans (Hot Teens and Hot Jeans) La liceale 1975 Happy Hymen Virgin Buster – 2014-11-28 23 11 Airplane vs. Volcano Airplane vs. Volcano 2014 Lava Lava Liver Burner, Kerosin Sprizzz every time... you want/need a drink (drink at your own will) 2014-12-05 24 12 Dracula jagt Frankenstein (Dracula hunts Frankenstein) Los Monstruos del Terror 1970 Team Dracula: Vamp-EierlikörTeam Frankenstein: Franken-Steinhäger every time, a helpless woman screams 2014-12-12
Season 3 Part of the 3. Season was the special on 29 February 2016 'Tag der Untoten' ("Day of the Undead") with the movies Vampirella and Blacula.
No.(Sum) Nr.(Season) German Film Title (Literally translated title) Original Movie Name [imdb link] Release Cocktail Drinking Game Airing date 25 1 Der Hammer (The Hammer) No Holds Barred 1989 Alk Hogan every time, Hulk Hogan wears a new, horrible outfit 2015-06-19 26 2 Battle of Los Angeles Battle of Los Angeles 2011 L-Alien Ass Kicker every time, anybody mentions the name "Arnstead" 2015-06-26 27 3 Pudelnackt in Oberbayern (Poodle naked in Upper Bavaria) Pudelnackt in Oberbayern 1969 Bajuwarisches Blankbusen bier every time, a naked breast appears 2015-07-03 28 4 Xanadu Xanadu 1980 Olivia-Newton-John-Tra-Volta-Tü-Ta-Taa every time, somebody dance or sing 2015-07-10 29 5 Mega Python vs. Gatoroid Mega Python vs. Gatoroid 2011 Team Python: Mega Pythons Spei-Ing CircusTeam Gator: Batida de Croco Team Python: every time, somebody is prey of a python Team Gator: every time, somebody is prey of an alligator 2015-07-17 30 6 Der Dampfhammer von Send-Ling (Send-Ling's Steam Hammer) Wú Zhāo Shèng Yǒu Zhāo 1979 Kung Fuzzius Screw Driver every time, the ape of the hero appears 2015-07-24 31 7 Supersonic Man Supersonic Man 1979 Vodka Sonic / Super-Power-Pussy-Punch every time, the hero discovers a new super power 2015-07-31 32 8 Thor – Der Allmächtige (Thor – The Almighty) Almighty Thor 2011 Balla-Balla-Walhalla-Wurst-Wasser-Woousa – 2015-08-07 33 9 Double Trouble – Warte, bis mein Bruder kommt (Double Trouble – Wait for my Brothers arrival) Double Trouble 1992 Doppel-Moppel-Mucki-Schlucki every time, an actor/actress appears, which is more famous than the two main actors 2015-08-14 34 10 Vampirella Vampirella 1996 Blut-Tooth every time, Vampirellas huge decollete is visible 2015-08-21 35 11 Roboter der Sterne