Cannibal Girls!

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my good buddy, Jonny, who invited me to The Bloor Cinema last Thursday here in Toronto for a screening of the digitally remastered horror classic Cannibal Girls, starring Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin and...his dad, Allan Price!

Ok, chances are you've never heard of it. That's not too surprising, considering it a thirty-eight year old movie, (I think - my math's a bit rusty), and never got beyond a few theatres in its initial run. It's great claim to fame, you could say, is that it launched a shitload of prominent Hollywood careers, namely the aforementioned Levy and Martin in their first starring roles, (this is before SCTV, people).
Perhaps the biggest name though would be Ivan Reitman, father of Jason, but more importantly, Meatballs, Ghostbusters, Stripes and many more. Another big name, who I did not know about prior, is Earl Pomerantz, who proved he's a much better writer than actor. Earl, for those of you who don't know, went on to huge success as a TV writer in Hollywood. The man created the frickin' Cosby Show! How's that for your resume?

Anyway, the first, and only time I saw this movie was way back in the early 80s when I was a wee lad and my brother and I caught it on CityTV. The first scene has full-frontal nudity so, for two prepubescents such as ourselves, it was like finding the holy grail. Unfortunately, the idea of cannabilism didn't sit too well with me back then, (I'm all for it now), and a few, shall we say, graphic scenes scared me off after about twenty minutes.

Good thing I have friends in high places, though, cuz this little gem deserves an audience, not so much for the scares, (of which there are one or two - sort of), but the laughs, which are plentiful - and I dare say, much better than most of the shit released today for this often-maligned audience.

The gala was followed by a short Q&A with Allan Price and Alan Gordon, (another unfortunate victim). All in all a very enjoyable evening. Thanks, Jonny.

The film is soon to be released on DVD. If you're a fan of b-horror, independent film, or just any of the names on the bill and want to check out some of their earliest work, I urge you to fire up the bong and give it a go. I can guarantee it'll be better than at least the last four or five SAWs or Final Destinations.

D.A.