Why so much hype?

A different way of telling a story

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

New couple Clifford Sturges (Eugene Levy) and Gloria Wellaby (Andrea Martin) are driving their troublesome car when it breaks down near the small town of Farnhamville. They are told about the legend of 3 cannibal women luring men to their deaths. They stay at the house in the urban legend hosted by the Reverend and his three female followers.With Levy and Martin, I assumed that this is a spoof or at least a horror comedy. I'm not sure if there is any comedic intent and I don't know what is suppose to be funny. There is actually a very effective section as the old woman recounts the cannibal girls legend. I love these beautiful women luring the two nerds especially. It's effective horror and works great as a story. There are interesting ways to go with that dynamic. Levy and Martin don't really fit and they aren't going with their strengths anyways. After a certain point, the movie left me scratching my head.

You'd think it'd be basically impossible to make a boring film when you've got Eugene Levy with a (pretty frickin' amazing) afro, Andrea Martin, the director of Ghostbusters, and a premise involving a trio of sexy cannibals, but what do you know, somehow they found a way.Even though it's listed as a horror comedy, it's mostly just horror, with only a vague comedic sensibility. And even in the moments where the intentional comedy is clearer, it's surprisingly not very funny considering the director and screenwriter's comedic chops as evidenced by other films like Meatballs and Stripes. The tagline "These girls do exactly what you think they do!" is actually funnier than anything in the movie.But man, that afro...

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 From what I read, the movie was originally made in 1971 as a cheap quickie by producers Reitman and Goldberg, largely depending on improvisation.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.