CANNIBAL GIRLS (1973) review

Cannibal Girls (1973) (1st viewing) d. Reitman, Ivan

“They do EXACTLY what you think they do!” Before he acquired the golden touch with smart, snappy winners like Stripes, Meatballs and Ghostbusters, director Reitman toiled on this uneven horror comedy, featuring future SCTV stars Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin as a groovy guitarist and his whinging gal pal who spend a romantic getaway at a remote and mysterious bed & breakfast. Because it never quite commits to a specific course (and because much of the dialogue was reputedly improvised), the comic bits never really catch fire and the loosey goosey ramblings leave the chills out in the cold. On the plus side, the titular trio of crunchin’ munchin’ Bonnie Nelson, Randall Carpenter, and sexymama brunette Mira Pawluk keeps interests alive whenever they’re onscreen doing their disrobing n’ disemboweling thing, and there is a certain freakish attraction to seeing the American Pie franchise veteran sporting an impossibly lush white-guy ’fro and ’stache. (The unrecognizable Levy’s voice even seems dubbed at times.) In the end, this is more curiosity piece than forgotten gem, a glimpse at better things to come.

Fool's Views (7/2 – 7/15)

Greetings, boils and ghouls, lycans and geraniums,

This entry covers a frantic two-week period that not only included the 23 flickers examined below (5 of which being last-minute submissions for Elvira’s Horror Hunt), but also the closing of a certain critically acclaimed / commercially successful theatrical endeavor plus three days spent among the kaiju faithful at G-Fest XIX. The pell-mell pace continues into the recording of said Views, as I am poised on the brink of yet another plunge into the cinematic abyss in the form of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada.

Those of you who follow these blithe and blithering ramblings with any regularity at all observed an incredibly fertile Foolish period last April whilst I was in attendance at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival . Over the course of 13 days, I viddied 53 films, interviewed a slew of filmmakers of various international stripe, and I gotta admit, I thought I was pretty hot stuff. But a glance at the Fantasia schedule indicates that a much higher and more dangerous wave awaits any and all would-be Great Kahunas of the Moving Image.

With over 150 features on the docket (and nearly as many shorts) over a 22-day period, this will be an endurance test unlike any other. The good/bad news is that it may prove impossible to actually see every item on the menu, since many screen only once and there are at least two, sometimes three cinemas operating at all times. The press room screening laptops will allow me to keep a higher pace than the average festivalgoer, but there are only so many hours in the day and only so many synapses available for burning. Choices will have to be made. Stay tuned, as it’s about to get keeee-razzzzzy up in here.

However, before that, we’ve got some ground to cover, so sit back and strap in.

As always feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!