| Cover Art |
 |
| Credits |
Director:
Trey Parker
Starring: Matt Stone,
Juan Schwartz, Toddy Walters
Screenplay: Trey Parker
Music: Trey Parker and
Rich Sanders
Tagline:"All
singing! All dancing! All flesh eating!!"
Country: USA |
Alfred Packer is the only person in the US who
has been tried for cannibalism so it's obviously
the perfect subject matter for a musical, a rootin
tootin Oklahoma style, gore filled musical at that!
Matt Stone and Trey Parker will be known by many
as one half of the South Park team where they
have also shown their prowess as songwriters,
who could forget Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat
Bitch. Some of the songs in Cannibal! The Musical
are fabulous but never quite match the ingenuity
of Uncle Fucka from the South Park Movie or America
Fuck Yeah and Everyone has Aids from Team
America. There's even a moment
when it sounds like Cartman is joining in on a
songs chorus
The film is told in flashback while Packer is
incarcerated and awaiting trial. Trey Parker plays
Packer who leads a group of Utah prospectors to
search for gold in Breckinridge, Colorado. The
omens are not good as they travel the country,
a black cat, mad hermits and bear traps all cross
their path. Soon Packers' horse Liane, his only
friend, runs away leading to the hilarious I miss
my horse fireside lament "When I was on
top of you."
They meet a tribe of Indians who help them, but
despite all warnings continue their quest. One
of the group is shot after a dispute over a song
about a snowman and Packer carries him around
like a rotting packed lunch. Then gradually as
madness descends the preacher kills the rest of
the group but at least now he and Packer have
enough meat to last. Packer is the only survivor
after he gives Shannon Bell, the preacher played
by Ian Hardin, a cleaver in the face, a stick
in the eye and an axe in the stomach. He lives
off the dead bodies for weeks, trapped in the
snow but as soon as he is saved he is arrested.
The film starts off at a quick pace with some
good gags but does lose its way, much like Packer
and company, during the middle of the film. The
gore bookends the film but you do get a bizarre
Indian with a squirting eye for your pleasure
in between. Its all very silly but does retain
a certain charm. You can certainly see what attracted
Lloyd Kaufman to the project. |
