Canada has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in horror films. We want to introduce you to a horror film that involves people you normally associate with comedy.
Cannibal Girls is an early work for director Ivan Reitman and stars soon-to-be SCTV veterans Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin. Martin also was in Black Christmas, a horror film directed by Bob Clark of Porky's fame.
Levy and Martin play a young couple — Clifford Sturges and Gloria Wellaby — taking a trip to a small town. They haven't known each other long. Cliff says he knew her 2 weeks; Gloria said they've known each other for a month. He wants to have sex with her on this trip; she isn't as eager to be that physical so soon.
Farnhamville, Ontario is a small town with some unusual characters. Then there are the cannibal girls who work in a restaurant recommended by the motel proprietor.
The young couple are led to believe that the saga of the cannibal girls is a long-ago story. That isn't the case as the young couple soon finds out.
Cannibal Girls has enough gore and blood for a horror film (for its time circa 1973) but also have a few twists along the way that it feels like a regular film that is a bit more scary than normal.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
The film celebrates being Canadian and has a feel similar to small towns in rural Ontario.
Reitman co-wrote the screenplay with his film partner Dan Goldberg. Reitman and Goldberg were also responsible for The Columbus of Sex, a film known mostly for the obscenity charges that was brought in Ontario.
Canadian film review: Ginger Snaps
The film isn't as well-crafted as Black Christmas (1974), being a bit more raw. The plot is above-average for the genre. Seeing Levy and Martin trying not to be funny is fun to watch. Cannibal Girls is definitely a film to see in a class learning about how to make a film. Like our Ginger Snaps review from last Halloween, Cannibal Girls is a horror film that can be appreciated as a film by those who aren't too much into horror films.
video credit: YouTube/Media Graveyard
photo credit: Cannibal Girls
Comments