Cannibal Girls

I watched this film because of some SCTV skits featuring Bruno the Hunchback that were based on Eugene Levy's experience with this film. The Bruno character is called Bunker for some reason here. The acting through this film is horrible, including Andrea Martin and Eugene Levy, but it's their early work so it's understandable. The film-making is often inept, such as when the three victims are playing Monopoly and the microphone is visible at the top of the screen for about three minutes. The males in the film, including Levy, are some of the dorkiest guys I have ever seen in my life. That Levy is the leading man indicates how bad some of the others must be. One guy even has fur on his arms, I swear. Anyway, it's a laughable film that gets very tedious after the first 45 minutes or so once you realize it's going nowhere.

New couple Clifford Sturges (Eugene Levy) and Gloria Wellaby (Andrea Martin) are driving their troublesome car when it breaks down near the small town of Farnhamville. They are told about the legend of 3 cannibal women luring men to their deaths. They stay at the house in the urban legend hosted by the Reverend and his three female followers. With Levy and Martin, I assumed that this is a spoof or at least a horror comedy. I'm not sure if there is any comedic intent and I don't know what is suppose to be funny. There is actually a very effective section as the old woman recounts the cannibal girls legend. I love these beautiful women luring the two nerds especially. It's effective horror and works great as a story. There are interesting ways to go with that dynamic. Levy and Martin don't really fit and they aren't going with their strengths anyways. After a certain point, the movie left me scratching my head.

Guess Charles Manson and his "cult" inspired the movie. What you get is some "reverend" and his cult craving for some blood and flesh, all shot in nice B-movie trash style of the 70s. The story: a young couple (like two years later Brand and Janet in Rocky Horror Picture Show) get in trouble with a lunatic master and his adepts. What we get are a few "gore" (tame for today's hardened eyes and souls) effects here and there and some beautiful * 70s ladies who could all be hired from some Boney M or ABBA performance dance group, and some poor guys and gals getting themselves killed and served for food. Tasty for the lover of bad taste. Everyone else - avoid.

I saw this movie on it's original release at the Ypsi-Ann drive-in theater, now long gone, replaced by a strip mall on Washtenaw Avenue in the vacuous semi-urban wasteland betwixt Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Michigan. When I saw the title on the marquee cruising by in my rusted black '56 Buick Super I just knew we had to see it and WE HAD TO SEE IT STONED. I wasn't disappointed - except I thought there would be more gory sex... of course I don't remember much, and it's no wonder, given the steamy windows and righteous clouds of smoke and gropes and throbs of randy teens in crowded car. I do remember thinking it was made by hippie freaks, just like us. This was before VCRs and DVDs and once it was gone you figured it was gone forever - no way this could make it back to broadcast TV, even on the late-late show. And to think technology exists to drag this out of it's crypt to yank our psychic triggers...

I am BEGGING someone to release this hard to find little horror/cult gem on DVD. I would love to hear what Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin think now about having done this fun little schlocker. This film is very hard to find but it is definitely worth the search. It's a strange little film but if you can look past the bad acting, the holes in the storyline, and the inexplicable lack of gore that you would expect from any movie with the word Cannibal in the title it's actually a fun little flick. The 'gimmick' in this one is the "warning bell" which warns the viewer that a 'disturbing' scene is approaching (very William Castle like!). Still, there is just something intriguing about this cute little horror flick...check it out for yourself and you'll see what I mean!