1989 | Color | 1 Hr 27 Min | Comedy | PG-13 | Full Moon Features
Writer: J.F. Lawton
Stars:
Shannon Tweed
Bill Maher
Karen M. Waldron
Assisted by chauvinist Jim (Maher) and a dimwitted student named Bunny, Hunt must convince the tribe to move to Malibu condos while simultaneously fending off her rival Dr. Kurtz (Barbeau). Meanwhile, Bunny's contemplating joining the Piranha gals...but she must consume Jim first.
J.F. Lawton and best bud Bill Maher spin a welled balanced story about feminism that is widely under-appreciated. Bunny: "I've been thinking about changing my major from Home Economics to Feminist Studies, but I wasn't sure if you had any feminist cooking classes."
Like I was saying Lawton wrote a good script and framed up this movie very well intended to be a spoof on the 80's adventure movies. And how odd is that when you look at his resume and see tiles like Pretty Women, Chain Reaction, and Under Siege to his writing credits. Yes, he also wrote Blankman and if you have the balls to tell me that it was a better movie than this one your crazy! Not only is the story strong but he gathered up a great cast as well. I know Maher, Tweed, and Barbeau would much rather put this past them but they lite up the screen making the hour and a half run time seem like a breeze.
The theme of Cannibal Women is a very compelling story and still, amazies me that it tackled a movement from way back in 1989 that is still a problem today! Why do we still have feminist's out there? Sure the plot makes little to no sense but it never takes its self-serious enough to make you care. Filmed primarily in the avocado groves maintained by the University of California at Riverside the backdrop does give you the feel of a jungle even if there was an odd placed shot of a tiger just sitting out to be petted. So I'm going out on a limb her by saying California has a tiger running wild kind of problem?
This movie oozes 80's style as well from Bill Mahr's Indian Jones look complete with a bullwhip to Karen Waldron's totally valley girl look with the hot pink and white high heels. Also, Waldron must have been hired for the 80's babe aspect and comic relief pulling off both rather well. Kind of surprised to read she only really did Return of the Killer Tomatoes just before this (Must have a veggie fetish) and Space Cowboys before doing mainly TV of course one of those shows being Baywatch.
Horror fans are going to watch this movie just to watch Adrienne Barbeau who was still hot off the market after Swamp Thing. But beware this is PG-13 after all so the boobs are held to a minimum and we get little to no gore. Not your average Full Moon flair but this was at a time where Paramount Pictures was behind Charles Band and his company. The most blood we get is at the beginning and it looks pretty fake, to be honest. Again the best part of the movie is the crazy concept and maybe the tile as well.
The Blu-Ray is pretty bare bones with the Orginal Trailer along with a few Full Moon Trailers. It looks great a defiant upgrade from the DVD that was a full frame transfer. I get it with the whole cast and crew now being big stars an audio commentary would have been out of the budget. So if your looking for something a little different that will take you back to the hair days of 1989 this is a great place to start. Never gets to serious stays fun and spreads a message that most big budget movies should!
Just a quick shout out to Packy at Nerfed Llama who during the month of May is celebrating Full Moon Features. I decide it was time to rip the cellophane off a few movies and pop them in myself. So be sure to check out his site this month!
As for Bunny and her licorice rope, I give Avocado...
 |
| 3 Bloody Brains out of 5 |
No comments:
Post a Comment