It’s a strange film Cannibal Girls. Despite having an extreme lack of gore (well…for a film with “cannibal” in the title anyway), and considering the typically bad 70s acting, it still manages to be pretty entertaining.
The film has a very interesting feature labeled “warning bell mode” in which a literal warning bell is sounded just before a “disturbing scene” is about to take place. There is something incredibly William Castle about this gimmick. And similar to the effects William Castle’s effects and gimmicks would have on a modern audience, this “warning bell” does nothing except induce laughter. If anything, for a modern audience at least, it helps to draw attention from what is essentially a bad film. It almost makes the whole thing seem like a complete farce – which is good, because if the film took itself seriously its flaws would just drag it down.
With Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin heading up the cast the film has horror comedy written all over it. Levy and Martin improvised several of their scenes, namely when either bickering or lusting for each other, and the two bounce off of each other very well. And what they sometimes lack in acting credibility, they certainly make up for in banter. The humour also comes from the titular cannibal girls, who constantly have one innuendo followed by another about meat and eating and…well you get the idea.
There are some scenes, unfortunately, that just go on for far to long. Even Levy and Martin, who admittedly start off as very funny, do start to get a bit boring as unnecessary amounts of time start to pass by. Even at a short 85 minutes the film feels like it drags on. Subplots about a gruff local cop, a bunch of young tough guys, and the girls’ hunchback-like servant don’t go anywhere. In fact, you could quite easily cut the whole film down to about an hour (maybe even less) and not lose any of the good stuff.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There are some funny moments, and for the most part Levy and Martin make a good comic pairing, but the film just drags on too much to be a good ride. Even the “warning bell” gimmick, which adds great entertainment value, isn’t enough to save the film completely.
