Cannibal! The Musical Review
Are you familiar with a little show called South Park? If you are and are disappointed that there hasn’t been a new season in the past year I have some good news for you! Recently Degausser Video has restored and released their first film on blu-ray, the aptly named Cannibal! The Musical. Released in 1993, and written and directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone during their tenure at University of Colorado at Boulder; Cannibal The Musical follows the misadventures of a group of gold rush enthusiasts making their way across the Utah border to Breckenridge, in Colorado territory (as they call it) because they heard there was a lot of gold there and want to get there first. The story is framed in an interesting way with one of the enthusiasts being up for execution for eating his fellow travelers and the story is told through flashbacks leaving the question of whether he is in fact guilty or not to be answered by the end of the film.
It’s a pretty simple premise, which is taken to let’s say… interesting places surrounding cannibalism. It’s pretty apparent that this film is their first on screen work as even the music is nowhere near the caliber of later musical efforts such as Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics and South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut. While I am a big fan of South Park, Team America World Police and even their lesser known film Basketball I didn't find myself enjoying this film as much as I thought I would. The film isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen and like I said, it was their first effort so I am not knocking them too hard for it; at least it is a coherent story and has some payoffs throughout from things set up earlier.
The music is also not as catchy or memorable as other work they’ve done, I only really remember one song if i am being honest, which is the one that this film is memed on called “Shpadoinkle.” The funniest moment for me which would not go over in a new film mind you is when they come across a group of Japanese people masquerading as Native Americans, and since someone from Utah would have no idea about Japanese people it’s pretty hilarious to see them try to comprehend this”strange tribe” and their unique ways. Outside of that though I cannot think of anything else that actually made me laugh out loud.
Overall I wouldn’t say I’m worse off for watching the film but I doubt I'd ever want to own it other than to just say I have Trey and Matt's first film. Which is unfortunate because I have been wanting to see this film for at least a decade and it fell short of even my very low expectations for their first effort. If you’re curious though i’d say it isn’t a complete wash to give it a watch, just don’t expect much.
