Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a musical from 1993. That movie is "Cannibal! The Musical".
Now, I've been wanting to see this film for a long time. And it's not just because it was put out by Troma, but more so of what I've heard of and read online about it. For starters, I know this movie is based off a true story about Alfred Packer, who was the only person ever convicted of cannibalism. And this movie is essentially a comedy version of his story of what happened during his trip in Colorado. Which sounds really interesting, and the fact that it's also a musical is definitely another interesting aspect to it.
Another thing I know about this movie is that this was the very first thing ever made by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Yes, the very same guys who would later create "South Park", this is their very first outing. And considering I've already seen their two other films, both being the "South Park" movie from 1999 and "Team America: World Police", this is the only other one that I haven't seen yet. So, I'm really kinda excited to see how they handled themselves the first time around.
Now I could also bring up the production history of this movie, but I'm gonna save most of that for later when I get to reviewing it. Right now, I just really want to watch this thing that badly. I'm really hoping for it to be good, and I'm hoping that it is, but the only way I'm gonna find out is if I shut up and I push play, and, damn it, I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, guys, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Cannibal! The Musical".
1 minute later
So, guys, this movie has already made a massive lie. The opening text screen said that it edited out all of the violent scenes for your viewing pleasure. And guess what happened? I just saw some guy's arm get violently ripped off and is being used against him as a weapon. Oh, and also, some other guy's neck is being chewed off and is bleeding profusely. So yeah, this movie lied already. However, I have a feeling that it's more than likely going to benefit this movie tremendously. Call it a hunch if you will.
17 minutes later
I'd just like to point this out, guys. Frenchy's two henchman here have the most fakest mustaches out of any movie that I've ever seen. And what's even more funny about it is that Frenchy himself actually has some natural facial hair. I don't know why I find that funny, guys, I just really do for some reason.
7 minutes later
I'm gonna say, guys, the songs in this movie, at least so far anyway, have been surprisingly catchy. This song in particular is no exception. I know you guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, but I'm really digging this song here. And the singing's not too bad either. So yeah, I can safely say that the songs have been pretty good so far.
9 minutes later
Wow, this is somehow the most passionate-sounding song of the entire movie. And it's about a horse too! Granted, I'm not exactly a fan of love songs, but this one's actually halfway decent. I really wasn't expecting that at all.
5 minutes later
OK, I was gonna ask on whether or not the "Indians" in this movie are actually Chinese or Japanese, but now I can safely confirm that, just based on the fact that their teepee tents are based off the flag of Japan, that they are indeed Japanese. So at least that answers that question.
20 minutes later
So this is the cyclops I've been hearing about for most of this entire movie...interesting. Granted, I wasn't really expecting it to wear a fur coat and a hat, but I was sorta expecting him to have one eye. And yeah, he totally does have one eye. So, go figure.
2 minutes later
You know, out of all the songs I was expecting from this movie, one of them singing about building a snowman wasn't exactly one of them. But hey, if anything, at least it presents a new theory that someone over at Disney heard this song and decided to implement it for "Frozen", further proving Disney's own lack of creativity. At least, that's just my own theory anyway, so you can take that for what it's worth.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Cannibal! The Musical". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK.
Before I get into the review, I need to let you guys in on something first. Now as I mentioned way early on, I had seen the two other movies which had been created by both Matt Stone and Trey Parker, both the 1999 "South Park" movie, or as it's better known as "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", and "Team America: World Police". Now admittedly, it has been a really long time since I last watched the 1999 "South Park" movie so I can't really say much on it. And as for "Team America: World Police", while I admit to enjoying that movie, I also have to say that it was...kinda overrated. That, plus some of the humor in that film wasn't as funny as it should've been. Now part of the reason why is because I had seen a lot of the clips of the movie on YouTube way back when, and I certainly found them really funny back then. But watching it in full, the film didn't exactly win me over. And I have no real plans to watch it again anytime soon.
So why go into all that first instead of talking about this movie? Well, in case you didn't pick up on it, I'll tell you guys why. See, I haven't really been a fan of Matt and Trey's stuff for a long time, and that obviously includes "South Park". Mostly modern "South Park" anyway, and that's mainly because a lot of the humor that they've been doing for the show nowadays is mainly about what's topical at the time. And it comes off as both really dated and really forced, which is mainly the reason why I haven't been a fan of "South Park" in a long time. Now there are a couple of exceptions, such as the "South Park" video games like "The Stick of Truth" and the "The Fractured But Whole". Both are really solid games, so it's not like I'm completely ignoring "South Park" entirely. That being said, it doesn't really give me much of an excuse to go and watch the show anymore. Most of it comes from clips on YouTube, and I mostly try to avoid the modern stuff as much as I can.
Which *finally* brings me into talking about "Cannibal! The Musical". Because this movie shows, to me, that Matt and Trey were at the top of their game when it comes to making a comedy. There's nothing here that I would say, in terms of humor, is anything topical or trendy that they had to make a movie or special just centered around that subject. This movie is it's own original piece. Well, I say that in a very loose sort of way, because this movie is still based off a true story. They just took creative liberties and did their own thing with it. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, the humor in this movie is really solid and funny. There's not a bunch of references to other media except for one that references an old sitcom called "Mister Ed", a show that centered around a talking horse. Beyond that, every joke here is mostly original. While they don't all exactly land, most of it is still really funny and I definitely got a few laughs out of it, too.
And since this movie is obviously a musical, let's talk about the songs next. Most of the songs in this movie are very catchy and the style of music is also kinda expandable. Now what I mean by that is that I was expecting most of the music to feel very timely, such as most of it being folk music. And while there are some songs in here that are like that, there's also a couple of songs that I wasn't exactly expecting. One of them was the song that Alfred was singing earlier about his horse. It's a love song that I would say is something akin to what Barry Manilow might sing. Which is a comparison that I didn't think I would ever make, but there you go. The other song is sung by Pry, the woman reporter that's talking to Alfred. Her song is very reminiscent to a Disney song from the 90's. Now admittedly, that song is probably the weakest song of the entire film, but I will say that the singer is really good at singing. So, it's sort of a give and take situation there. But overall, the songs in this movie are very good.
Now as for the writing itself, it's what I already surmised for you guys at the start of this thing. And I will say, again, aside from some jokes that don't exactly land, the movie itself is really funny most of the time as you get to see the whole journey through Alfred's perspective on what happened during his trip in Colorado. Basically, our band of miners, along with Alfred, are on a journey to Breckenridge to get the last remaining bit of gold that's hiding there before it's all gone. And along the way, they gotta contend with Frenchy and his two henchmen, along with the harsh environments of Colorado itself. I'm gonna try not to spoil it too much, even though there's not much to spoil here given that it's based on a true story, but let's just say that it doesn't end too well for a lot of our heroes here on this journey.
Character wise, there's not much depth to them. The only exception to all this is Alfred Packer, since he's the main character in all this. In fact, without spoiling too much here, it's less about him getting to Breckenridge and more about him finding his horse after it goes missing later on in the movie. Everyone else, like I said, there isn't really much to them. A couple of examples, one of them wants to use the gold to build a church while another one just wants to get laid since he's never a had girlfriend before. It's those kinds of motivations that don't leave room for depth. However, I'm willing to give it a pass on this, mainly because this is the kind of movie that's not really aiming to take itself too seriously to begin with. That, plus the characters themselves are rather likable, despite the lack of depth. So it's just something that you have to take for what it's worth here.
Now let's talk about the acting. So something I sorta left out at the beginning is that I wouldn't talk more about the production history until later on, and I can start doing that now. As I mentioned before, this was the very first thing Matt Stone and Trey Parker ever worked on. And this film was made while Trey Parker was attending school, so most of the actors in this movie consisted of his school mates, including Matt Stone. Trey Parker plays our main character, while Stone plays one of the miners. Now I'm also going to take a guess here and say that the extra actors that they got here were possibly their friends and family helping out, too. Not totally sure about the latter, but that's just my guess, really. Setting that aside, the acting here, at least from our main cast is actually pretty good. Everyone here turned in a rather decent showing. And I can tell that everyone that was involved in this movie had a blast working on it. So, as much as I would like to tell you that a couple minor actors kinda sucked, I can't exactly do that here, because it still looked like they were having a blast also. So yeah, overall, the performances here are pretty good for the most part.
Special effects, though, range on being kind of a mixed bag. Now this movie was obviously filmed on a really low budget. A budget that consisted of $125,000. Which is nothing to scoff at, mind you, since they did make due with what they had to work with. The biggest positives I can give are the blood and gore effects. These are some really good blood and gore effects for low budget standards. What's interesting, though, is that they are only prevalent at the beginning of the movie and the last third or so. So it's kinda spaced out, but they're still totally worth it when you finally get to see it in action. That being said, prop work here is sort of a mixed bag. I mentioned the fake mustaches on Frenchy's henchman from earlier, and there's also a couple of dead people that looked like obvious dummies. That said, I will say the costuming here is pretty good, and seems like it would be accurate during the 1870's. So at least there's that.
Camerawork here is pretty good. Most of it was shot with a 16mm camera, which isn't really new for low budget movies, but it still looks impressive. Lighting here is great, and that's mainly because a lot of this movie was shot outdoors in Colorado. So I would expect the lighting here to be really good. Sound-mix here is also really good. And I've already touched upon the music, so I won't go too much into it again, though I will say the score is also pretty good, too. So yeah, technical stuff here is perfectly fine for low budget standards.
Overall, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Cannibal! The Musical"? Most certainly, yes. If you're a fan of anything that was made by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, then I would absolutely say go check it out. If you're looking for a physical copy of this movie, it should be available on Troma's website, since they do have a listing of all of their movies for sale. Speaking of which, if you're a Troma fan, I would also recommend it as well. As for myself, I really did enjoy this movie. Now I wouldn't exactly call it the best film I've seen from Troma, but I would say it's probably one of Mart and Trey's better movies than say "Team America: World Police". Again, I can't say anything much about the "South Park" movie from 99. I'll probably have to track it down again at some point and give it another watch. But yeah, this movie is definitely worth recommending to you guys. And that's always awesome to say. Now...you know what? I'm gonna go and watch another low budget movie that had both the blood and gore and was also, sort of, a musical. I'm gonna go and watch "Dead & Breakfast" again. I really love the music in that movie and I kinda want to hear it again now, so that's what I'm gonna go do next.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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