Cannibal! The Musical (1993)

The sole survivor of an ill-fated mining expedition tells how his taste for gold was replaced by that of human flesh.

Director:

Trey Parker

Writer:

Trey Parker (screenplay)

Stars:

Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Stephen Blackpool

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dian Bachar	...	George Noon
Stephen Blackpool	...	Black Cat
Stan Brakhage	...	Noon's Father
Dan Brother	...	Guard #2
Duster	...	Liane
Brad Gordon	...	Mills
Ian Hardin	...	Shannon Bell
Dave Hardin	...	Drummer
Edward Henwood	...	O.D. Loutzenheiser / The Cyclops
Jon Hegel	...	Isreal Swan
Andrew Kemler	...	Preston Nutter
Steve Jackson	...	Sheriff of Lake City
Jessica James Kelly	...	Tiny Tim / Baby Packer
M.K.	...	'The Dropout' (credit only)
Martin Leeper	...	Sheriff of Saguache (as Marty Leeper)

Storyline

Alfred Packer was a mountain guide and sole survivor of a party of pioneers that got lost in the mountains in winter. Accused and convicted of murdering and eating his travelling companions, he was to be executed by hanging.The movie begins at his trial, where he pleads his innocence to an unsympathetic audience. Only reporter Polly Pry will listen to his story, which is then related to the viewers in the form of flashbacks. As Packer and his gold-prospecting clients make their way through the forests and mountains, they encounter bemused Japanese Indians, an unimpressed group of mountain men and the brutal Rocky Mountain winter, all of which inspire the travellers to break out into song and dance.

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | alfred packer character | mountain | song | flashback | 

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Taglines:

All Singing! All Dancing! All Flesh Eating!

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Musical | Thriller | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for comic gore/violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Troma

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

30 August 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cannibal! The Musical

Filming Locations:

Lake City, Colorado, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avenging Conscience, Cannibal Films Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 97 min (video)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Trey Parker: [Dickens] The character Tiny Tim from the Charles Dickens novella "A Christmas Carol in Prose" (universally known simply as "A Christmas Carol") appears in the film speaking the character's signature line from the book: "God bless us, everyone." Long stretches of dialogue taken directly from Dickens writings later became a recurring staple of Parker's South Park (1997).

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Goofs

When the men are naked under their blankets and Humphrey remembers the fudge it is sitting just under the blanket on his stomach so the sudden realization of the fudge's existence is forced. The fudge would have to have been taken from his pack and placed there after undressing and laying down and if the characters are so starving it is unlikely he would have waited so long to break into it.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: The film you are about to see was originally released in 1954. Upstaged by the overwhelming popularity of "Oklahoma!", it's short lived theater run was canceled, and "Alfred Packer: The Musical" soon fell into obscurity. The original negative, re-discovered just last year, has been painstakingly restored using state-of-the-art color enhancing and computer reconstruction technology. The film's violent scenes have been edited out for your viewing pleasure.

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Crazy Credits

(At the end of the closing credits) Due to the graphic nature of this film, it should not have been watched by small children.

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Alternate Versions

The film was originally prepared as a three-minute joke "trailer" shown at Trey Parker's college in Colorado. The cast is largely the same, although there is no Polly Prye yet, and most of the scenes in the "trailer" are matched in the final movie, including the songs "Let's Build a Snowman" and "On Top of You." There are also one or two songs not used in the final movie, though. In this version Packer, upon seeing the bodies of his mutilated companions, lets out a loud scream which gradually changes into a musical note, and he starts to sing a funky number. He sings something similar at the end of the trailer too. Although in the final movie, characters played by Matt Stone and Dian Bachar never develop facial hair, this version shows everyone growing at least a moustache, even Matt. This cheap and amusing "trailer" is sometimes actually used as the trailer for the final film [Although the final film does have its own trailer]. The title of the original trailer [And the original cut of the movie] was "Alferd Packer: The Musical," but of course all Troma releases replace the title cards with new ones reading "Cannibal: The Musical." Versions of the original trailer and the final film with both titles are circulating somewhere.

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Connections

Referenced in Safe and Sound Video Remix (2013)

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Soundtracks

Let's Build A Snowman
Music & Lyrics by Trey Parker
Produced by Rich Sanders
Performed by Jon Hegel
Arranged by Franz Roehmann & Beth Clapper
© 1993 by The Avenging Conscience, Inc.

User Reviews

from Fringe Video Fanzine Issue #001

Rejected by every distribution company on the planet, this is a pre South-Park horror / musical, written and directed by Trey Parker. Who else would release a film so stupid, but Lloyd Kaufman, and Michael Herz, and the offbeat Troma Team Studios. This release is adapted from a University of Colorado stage production, and is ultimately very silly and cheap film camp in the Monty Python comedy vein. The subject is Alferd Paker (Juan Schwartz) who while searching for gold and love in the Colorado Territory, he and his companions lost their way and resorted to ...unthinkable horrors, including toe-tapping songs. Alferd Paker was convicted of cannibalism, and shortly after his arrest he tells his tale. In jail, with musical and gory splatter flashbacks, he re-tells the story to a news reporter of how he came to eat his friends. The local townspeople in a big production number sing 'Hang The B****rd' outside his cell window. While the film is low in entertainment, the songs are very addictive, and will have you singing right along. Troma Team DVD's are very enjoyable endeavors in exploitation barker showmanship, and feature interactive items such as: Troma Intelligence tests, and tours of troma studios.