Cannibal Girls (1973)

the audience applauded

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Ever wondered what the first ventures into the movie making industry of the director of "Ghostbusters" and "Evolution" look like? Well, here's your chance but don't be too startled. Like so many other acclaimed directors (Brian DePalma, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola…), Ivan Reitman began his career as the young and enthusiast creator of grainy, amateurish and zero-budgeted horror movies that he presumably doesn't like to get remembered of nowadays. However, the name of the director (and possibly that of lead star Eugene Levy) is likely to be the sole reason why "Cannibal Girls" still enjoys some sort of modest cult reputation even to this day, as the film itself is unimaginably bad. Somewhat entertaining, maybe, but bad nevertheless. A young couple – Levy posing as a nearly unrecognizable hippie – pass through a remote and snowy Canadian region and naturally their car breaks down. They decide to spend the weekend and listen to the locals' stories about the old town restaurant that used to be run by a trio of cannibalistic girls. But that was a long time ago and now the restaurant allegedly became a fancy tourist attraction where all visitors simply must pay a visit. Needless to say the owners still cherish their appetite for human flesh and seemingly the rest of the town developed the taste as well. "Cannibal Girls" truly is a horribly inept movie from every viewpoint. The screenplay is as incoherent as can be, the stupid dialogs quickly begin to work on your nerves, the intentional funny parts are embarrassingly NOT funny, the acting (particularly Andrea Martin as this whiny girl Gloria) is infuriating and the few gory massacres are so damn tacky they wouldn't even upset a squeamish granny. There are some really bizarre and confusing plot twists near the end that'll make you lose interest entirely. At barely 80 minutes of running time, "Cannibal Girls" is a short and insignificant film but I must admit I was glad it was over.

its a horror thriller type with some character comedy but its not a comedy its creepy bloody and the girls are not dead they are possessed...The story which might kindly be described as "loose" tells of Cliff and Gloria a couple who've only been dating for two weeks but are already taking winter road trips together to strange, snowy Southern town. Arriving in one such place they run across an old lady who tells them the strange legend of the three beautiful girls who once lived in a nearby farmhouse and who regularly lured guests to the house, kept them waiting around for a few days, and then cooked them up for dinner.

There is an explanation to the disjointed and jumbled storyline. From what I read, the movie was originally made in 1971 as a cheap quickie by producers Reitman and Goldberg, largely depending on improvisation. On seeing the completed footage, they felt that they could get a good distribution deal if they made some alterations... which took about two years to complete!So it's no wonder that with all this make-it-up-as-we-go-along for two years that the finished product makes little sense - and moves awfully slow as it tries to figure out what to do with itself. It seems to have been intended as a horror comedy, but it doesn't work as such. The comedy, apart from a couple of moments that induce small smirks, is not only bad in itself, it's delivered with almost no energy. Levy and Martin show nothing of the zaniness they brought out later in their careers.The horror moments are marginally better; the crudeness of the production does give a few of these moments an effective grittiness. There are some other moments that could have also worked had they not been spoiled by some terrible acting (voice and posing) by the actors.I suspect you might have guessed already that this is a bad movie, considering how the movie has never received a video release or is readily available on cable or TV (at least in the U.S.) despite its association with Levy, Martin, and Reitman. Don't expect a DVD release of it any time soon - even MGM (which now owns the A.I.P. catalog) isn't *that* desperate!

David Cronenberg said he was the first man to make a horror film in Canada, but I think this was made first. (unless it wasn't considered a horror film). SCTV's Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin star as couple who goes to a small town filled with strange people who turns out to be cannibals. The film is low on horror and dead on comedy. American International Pictures didn't know what to do with this film, so they tacked in a door bell sound to warn the viewers of all the shock scenes. (would be shock scenes is more like it). Siskel & Ebert gave this film "The Dog of the Week" back in 1980. Reitman second directional effort is a misfire to horror fans, but it's an intresting film looking back at it now.