Alferd Packer: The Musical (1996)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Trey Parker

Writer:

Trey Parker (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 August 2008 (South Korea)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Horror | Musical | Western

Tagline:

All Singing! All Dancing! All Flesh Eating!

Plot:

The sole survivor of an ill-fated mining expedition tells how his taste for gold was replaced by that of human flesh.

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Japanese | Rocky Mountains | Reporter | Flashback

Cast

Dian Bachar	...	George Noon
Stephen Blackpool	...	Black Cat
Stan Brakhage	...	Noon's Father
Dan Brother	...	Guard #2
Duster	...	Liane
Brad Gordon	...	Mills
Ian Hardin	...	Shannon Bell
Dave Hardin	...	Drummer
Edward Henwood	...	O.D. Loutzenheiser / The Cyclops
Jon Hegel	...	Isreal Swan
Andrew Kemler	...	Preston Nutter
Steve Jackson	...	Sheriff of Lake City
Jessica James Kelly	...	Tiny Tim / Baby Packer
M.K.	...	'The Dropout' (credit only)
Marty Leeper	...	Sheriff of Saguache

Also Known As:

Cannibal! The Musical (USA) (video title)
Canibal! O Musical (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for comic gore/violence and some language.

Runtime:

95 min | UK:97 min (video)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Canada:14A (re-rating) | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Black Canyon, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Gunnison, Colorado, USA

Company:

Avenging Conscience

Trivia:

When Alferd wakes up from the bizarre dream about Frenchy, he screams "IKE!" for no apparent reason. Trey Parker later explained that this was an obscure reference to the film The Legend of Alfred Packer (1980), which was the first biopic about Packer's life. In one scene, Packer also wakes from a dream and screams the exact same words, yet it is never explained why.

Goofs:

Continuity: Right before Packer and the others meet the trappers for the first time, you can clearly see that Leanne is tied up. She is also clearly tied up during the "All We're Asking For" song. Right after she ran away, Noon asks Packer if she was tied up and Packer replies that he never ties her up.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title Card: The film you are about to see was originally released in 1954. Upstaged by the overwhelming popularity of "Oklahoma!", it's short lived theater run was canceled, and "Alfred Packer: The Musical" soon fell into obscurity. The original negative, re-discovered just last year, has been painstakingly restored using state-of-the-art color enhancing and computer reconstruction technology. The film's violent scenes have been edited out for your viewing pleasure.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ned (2003)

Soundtrack:

Trapper Song

"We can make him tall, or we can make him not so tall, SNOWMAN!!"

after the whole South Park phenomenon, i became aware of this film after Troma Team Video picked up the rights for the video release of this, the first film by the crazed duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

the plot involves the somewhat true incidents that led to Alfred Packer being the first person ever convicted of cannibalism in the U.S.

the filmmakers serve up this premise as a demented musical/comedy/horror movie that is so stupid it's hilarious. the best part is that it was intentionally made this way.

the songs deserve special mention as being well written and performed (especially Frenchy's song "I'm a trapping man" being my personal favorite) and are definitely a precursor to the songs that appeared in the South Park movie. the level of gore in this movie is pretty high as well.

if you enjoy well done b-movies, than this movie will quickly earn a place on your top ten B-list. if you have a tough time enjoying movies on a so-stupid-they're-great level, than staying away from this may be a good idea.

and try to quit humming the "Snowman" song long after you watch this, it's impossible...

rating:8 (on a B-movie scale)