Cannibal! The Musical

If you have never sat all the way through a Troma film or have never found anything about "South Park" to be funny, then do not bother to watch "Cannibal! The Musical," because you are not going to enjoy it. Matt Stone is around in 1993 when this film was made (but not released to mass consumption until 1996), but Trey Parker gets the primary credit for not only writing the script and songs, but also directing and starring as Alfred Packer (and the Cow Bell Guy).In 1873 Packer and five prospectors were snowbound, lost and hungry in the San Juans of Colorado. Only Packer returned alive and when the other bodies were discovered it was clear they had been eaten. Parker was eventually convicted of murder and not cannibalism, although Colorado lore likes to claim he was "the only man in U.S. history ever convicted of cannibalism." At the University of Colorado at the grill at the Student Union is named the Alferd Packer Grill (the spelling of Packer's first name is but one of several points of dispute in the story).Parker and Stone were students at Colorado and so it is not surprising that Parker would turn Packer story into a musical. The film was originally entitled "Alfred Packer: The Musical", but Troma's owner Lloyd Kaufman argued for the name change because while Packer is a legendary figure in Colorado, his cannibalistic claim of fame is little known outside of the state.Actually, there is not as much cannibalism as you would think in this movie, and there are certainly enough songs. The latter is the bigger complaint, because the songs are the best part of the film and the funniest parts as well. The humor outside of the songs is just not that ambitious: the best bits are the Nihonjin "Indians" being played by Japanese (with "Nihonjin" being Japanese for "Japanese") and the debate as to whether "The Trapper Song" was in F sharp major or E flat minor (as the relative major of F sharp with the relative minor being three half-tones down). And if you do not know that the lead characer is going to be offered fudge at some point, you have just not been thinking ahead. The good news is that when you get to the "Finger Food" extras you can go back and do the songs, not only as they appear in the film but also as performed in a live version of "Cannibal! The Musical" by the Dad's Garage Theater Copany.As he proved in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut," Parker can master the nuances of the musical forms identified with both Broadway and popular song. It is hard not to think of Curly opening "Oklahoma" when Parker as Packer shows up and starts singing:The sky is blue and all the leaves are green.The sun's as warm as a baked potato.I think I know precisely what I mean,When I say it's a shpadoinkle day.My favorite song has to be "Ode to Liane" (a.k.a. "When I Was on Top of You"), which Packer ostensibly sings to his horse, but which Parker apparently wrote to revenge himself on an ex-girlfriend who obviously did not know what sort of person she had dumped (she also contributes to her own demise by doing the choreography for the big finale and dancing in it as well). I also like "This Side of Me," sung by reporter Polly Pry (Toddy Walters), which is a sweet little song about a woman's forgotten side, until one little line in the final chorus skews it a wee bit. The "Trapper Song" and the big finale, "Hang the Bastard!" are the big productive numbers, relatively speaking. It really is much more of a Cowboy musical than a cannibal music (notice the lowercase "c" for "cannibal") and once you understand that you can stop closing your eyes in anticipation of the eating of human flesh.As you would expect the DVD is loaded with extras that exaggerate the importance of this film, including Parker, Stone and several other cast members who gather together to get drunk while watching the movie. But if you can take a three-minute trailer as a joke for film class and then raise enough money to actually make a movie that gets sold to Troma, home of "The Toxic Avenger," that is your basic American success story. It was because of this movie that Parker and Stone were able to go to Hollywood and eventually end up doing be "South Park" and thereby corrupting a much larger segment of America's youth than are ever going to stumble on this movie. Finally, if you are looking for some sort of profound and deep meaning to all of this, I would refer you to the lyrics of "Let's Build a Snowman! Part I," which evince a sense of relativism that usually found in the current post-modernism tradition:Sometimes, the world is black.And tears run from your eyes.And maybe we'll all get really sick.And maybe we'll all die.So...Let's build a snowman!We can make him our best friend.We can name him Tom or we can name him George!We can make him tall, or we can make him not so tall.Snowman!

Although I'm a fan of streaming movies (such as through Netflix or Amazon), a lot of times that isn't enough. I find that I need to have the extra features that come with DVDs and BluRays, and boy howdy does this movie come with special features. As for the movie it self? Weeeeeell you have to remember that this is TROMA, the industry leader in indy B cinema. This is also the first feature length film Matt Stone and Trey Parker ever made; literally, they made this while in college. Regardless though, you can still see some of the beginnings of there mad genius on display here as well as there ability to make catchy ear worms that would help them conquer Broadway with "The Book of Mormon." The special features are a real but give me mixed feelings. The main reason for this is that a lot of the special features from the old DVD do not make it onto this one, with the exception of the infamous Drunken Director's Commentary. On the one hand I liked it because it meant my original copy of Cannibal! still had worth in my collection, but that also means that this is not what you would call the "definitive" edition of Cannibal! That being said I still love this movie and this DVD and have zero regrets to my purchase. If your a fan of TROMA, or any of Matt and Trey's other works (South Park, Orgazmo, Book of Mormon, etc.) or if your just a fan of low budget cinema that has a lot of heart to it, I would highly recommend you pick up this film.Shpadoinkle!

The sky is blue and all the leaves are green ... The sun's as warm as a baked potato...From the creators of South Park, "Cannibal : the musical", is a real gem.Buy this movie now... Buy it.

That's all I'm asking for! That's all I'm asking for! A bluray release for this wonderful masterpiece.

Always loved this outlandish musical comedy. Not for everyone but fans of Troma or South Park will get it. Dvd package was great...decent picture quality and awesome 2 disc set with cool special features.

This is one of the best cult classics you'll ever see. Watch it.

Cannibal! The Musical is an extraordinarily veracious piece of viewing pleasure from the creators of South Park. Filled with many sing-a-long songs for the whole family*, it gives musicals a great name. The plot is quite daringly clever as it keeps you attached to the magnificent dialogue and jokes betwixt feverishly addicting musical scenes. The romance in the film is also heart-felt, forcing tears to slide down the cheeks of anyone who watches the scene where Alfred Packer professes his recently departed love, whilst reminiscing wonderful memories of joint happiness together.If you're willing to join Trey Parker in this "Whoa-It's-Like-I'm-Actually-Venturing-Along-With-Alfred-Packer" kind of film, then put on your "I H8 Trapperz" shirt and hop along for the ride.*(kids under 15 shouldn't really sing-a-long per se, let alone watch the film, and if your family consists of only 15 year olds and younger, then I can only wonder how you obtained the film and how you're a family of 15 year olds and younger)

As always, no problems with shipping from Amazon. As for the movie, simply put- if you were looking for it you'll probably love it. If you stumbled across it, it might not be your cup of tea. This movie is from the creators of "South Park". Honestly the humor in South Park has a broader appeal than the humor in this movie, and South Park is considered to be only for a select few itself. By no means am I saying that it isn't funny. I loved it, but I wouldn't think you were devoid of a sense of humor if it didn't appeal to you.This movie is a must buy IF you are one of the following:You love Troma moviesYou loved BaseketballYou are a die-hard South Park fan and must own everything they makeYou appreciate watching no-budget movies and the art of making something with nothingYou are dying of curiosity.If not, you may want to move along.

This DVD release is pretty sparse on bonus features - but it does contain my personal favourite cut of the film (includes the ‘you’re doomed’ voice over callback over the shot the black cat, for example). The dvd was region free.The film itself is one of my favourites, you can see conventions of theme and humour that would later go into South Park, Team America etc. Fully recommend

When Trey Parker made Cannibal the Musical, he was still a student. However, the film has developed a loyal and vocal fan-base who see past it's flaws and self-indulgence whilst other people just seem puzzled by the whole thing. The subject matter, a musical based around the real life cannibalism trial of 19th century US prospector Alferd Packer, doesn't really help there.Trey Parker, along with college buddy Matt Stone who is also present here, went on to become the creators of South Park and movies such as Orgazmo and Team America. The film's popularity grew with the pair's profile which is partly why it enjoys the cult status it does today. The actual quality of the product is good for the youth and inexperience of its creators, and creatively there's a consistency here and the uniqueness of the product makes it rather special. The music is very well written and the tunes surprisingly catchy, and the general air of silliness is endearing rather than annoying thanks. There's a lot of glimpses of the partnership that would spawn one of the longest-running animated sitcoms of all time, and there's loads to enjoy in this film. There are those who cannot see past its flaws, but if you're a fan of the humour (and music!) of Parker and Stone, you'll love this film. For others, if you're not attracted by the absurdity of the concept, it's probably not for you!

I had been waiting for ever to see this "masterpeice." Rocky Horror of the 90's and rejected from every company except the great Troma due to it being "unwatchable," Cannibal appeared as a lost classic. If you're looking for gore, you've got it, within the first five minutes that is. The movie then carries on as enjoyable but constant musical interludes that are vaguely suggestive of beastiality and "Spadoinkle" doings can drain the veiwer. Don't get me wrong, the dvd offers pretty decent features and the dialouge can reach a toned down Trey Parker humour but it did not reach the high expectations I had put forth. Songs about cannabalism while those singing eat themselves and others in a very cheesy b-grade way would have impressed me further. All in all, it was good movie but don't expect it to blow you away, it's more of a tease. A selfish little tease.

Classic cult film, it's cheesy special effects and musical numbers shouldn't deter people who love South Park... or Trey Parker's other films... or Troma styles movies... or cannibal flesh eating attics

If you love Matt Stone and Trey Parker then you should have this already in your collection along with all their other work! People always seem unsure when I tell them the title but its not disgusting all the way through and the gory bits are so comedy! Definitely one of my favourite films!