Blog Monster Movie Monday: Cannibal Campout
Cannibal Campout (1988)
Starring: Jon McBride, Amy Chludzinski, and Richard Marcus
Directed by: Tom Fisher and Jon McBride
Written by: John Rayl
Distribution Production Company: Intercoast Video (1988), Camp Motion Pictures (2007)
Ok, let’s get some things out of the way. Cannibal Campground is a B-Movie. If you consider that Troma Entertainment puts out B-Movies and actually put money into them, then Cannibal Campground has to be a B-Minus-Movie or a C-Movie. That means there are some things we can take for granted, so I want to get those out of the way. Yes, the acting is bad. Yes, the plot is thin. Yes, the special effects aren’t special or effective. Yes, the cinematography is a guy (Tom Fisher) running around with a handheld video camera. These guys were clearly in their teens or early twenties and made this movie with no money. A lot of people would react to that saying, “Well, I could have done it.” But I don’t think most of us could.
The story follows four friends who take a break from college for a weekend camping trip. Unfortunately, the woods they chose to camp are near where a family recently disappeared leaving behind only splatters of blood. Believing the stories to be urban legend, the four friends find themselves at the mercy of three brothers, raised as cannibals because their mother warned them that fast food and processed food is filled with chemicals and unhealthy. What follows is splattery death. McBride and Fisher go all out and, without a production company hovering over them, were able to go for an extremely disgusting and disturbing scene near the end.
Ok, so the acting ain’t great, but McBride’s cast of friends do a heartfelt job. Most of these guys are not actors and won’t act in anything else, the exceptions being McBride and Richard Marcus. And I think it’s clear they had a lot of fun making Cannibal Campout, which makes it fun to watch.
Ok, so the plot is thin. But considering no budget and that they had to film this “guerilla” style (a New Jersey forest ranger stumbled on the set during a scene when Chludzinski was being chased with a knife), you can assume they just wrote around what they had available. You can imagine them sitting around a table (or campfire?) discussing plot ideas saying, “Man, it’d be cool if we could do this, but we can’t.” The plot, really, is not any worse than some of the Friday the 13th sequels.
The special effects aren’t great, but are fairly effective, really. It looks like Halloween costume make-up, but they did a good job just going for the effect.
There are two aspects of the film that I really appreciate. First, Fisher does a wonderful job as cinematographer. I read some reviews where viewers complained, “It looks like it was shot on a camcorder!” Well, it was. The fact that Fisher was able to shoot multiple angles and gives us pretty steady shots is impressive. Also, the fact that they took a big stack of VHS tapes and was able to splice the scenes together in a fairly seamless movie is amazing. They even shot a flashback sequence with an effect to show it’s a flashback.
I also found the soundtrack effective. Yeah, the sing-along in the car was kind of cheesy (although not too bad). The score, however, was effective in creating the mood, especially necessary since they shot the film during the day, unable to use a nighttime setting to help create a creepy mood.
Some reviews declaring this the worst film ever accused it of swiping from other films, although clearly these references are homages. Like the friend who decides to go and try and scare the four who’s carrying a hockey mask, a reference to the three cannibals as “the guys from Deliverance,” and when the cannibal that wears a flight mask throughout the films has it removed briefly we see his deformed face, looking a lot like a Toxic Avenger mask. Horror fans referencing horror movies.
Now, I’m not going to say it’s a great film. It is a B-Film, so all the problems with B-Films are there. If you don’t like B-Movies, don’t watch this film. If you like your gore works high priced, don’t watch this film. But B-Movies can be a lot of fun, if you accept what you are watching, and Cannibal Campout is a B-Movie masterpiece.
Starring: Jon McBride, Amy Chludzinski, and Richard Marcus
Directed by: Tom Fisher and Jon McBride
Written by: John Rayl
Distribution Production Company: Intercoast Video (1988), Camp Motion Pictures (2007)
Ok, let’s get some things out of the way. Cannibal Campground is a B-Movie. If you consider that Troma Entertainment puts out B-Movies and actually put money into them, then Cannibal Campground has to be a B-Minus-Movie or a C-Movie. That means there are some things we can take for granted, so I want to get those out of the way. Yes, the acting is bad. Yes, the plot is thin. Yes, the special effects aren’t special or effective. Yes, the cinematography is a guy (Tom Fisher) running around with a handheld video camera. These guys were clearly in their teens or early twenties and made this movie with no money. A lot of people would react to that saying, “Well, I could have done it.” But I don’t think most of us could.
The story follows four friends who take a break from college for a weekend camping trip. Unfortunately, the woods they chose to camp are near where a family recently disappeared leaving behind only splatters of blood. Believing the stories to be urban legend, the four friends find themselves at the mercy of three brothers, raised as cannibals because their mother warned them that fast food and processed food is filled with chemicals and unhealthy. What follows is splattery death. McBride and Fisher go all out and, without a production company hovering over them, were able to go for an extremely disgusting and disturbing scene near the end.
Ok, so the acting ain’t great, but McBride’s cast of friends do a heartfelt job. Most of these guys are not actors and won’t act in anything else, the exceptions being McBride and Richard Marcus. And I think it’s clear they had a lot of fun making Cannibal Campout, which makes it fun to watch.
Ok, so the plot is thin. But considering no budget and that they had to film this “guerilla” style (a New Jersey forest ranger stumbled on the set during a scene when Chludzinski was being chased with a knife), you can assume they just wrote around what they had available. You can imagine them sitting around a table (or campfire?) discussing plot ideas saying, “Man, it’d be cool if we could do this, but we can’t.” The plot, really, is not any worse than some of the Friday the 13th sequels.
The special effects aren’t great, but are fairly effective, really. It looks like Halloween costume make-up, but they did a good job just going for the effect.
There are two aspects of the film that I really appreciate. First, Fisher does a wonderful job as cinematographer. I read some reviews where viewers complained, “It looks like it was shot on a camcorder!” Well, it was. The fact that Fisher was able to shoot multiple angles and gives us pretty steady shots is impressive. Also, the fact that they took a big stack of VHS tapes and was able to splice the scenes together in a fairly seamless movie is amazing. They even shot a flashback sequence with an effect to show it’s a flashback.
I also found the soundtrack effective. Yeah, the sing-along in the car was kind of cheesy (although not too bad). The score, however, was effective in creating the mood, especially necessary since they shot the film during the day, unable to use a nighttime setting to help create a creepy mood.
Some reviews declaring this the worst film ever accused it of swiping from other films, although clearly these references are homages. Like the friend who decides to go and try and scare the four who’s carrying a hockey mask, a reference to the three cannibals as “the guys from Deliverance,” and when the cannibal that wears a flight mask throughout the films has it removed briefly we see his deformed face, looking a lot like a Toxic Avenger mask. Horror fans referencing horror movies.
Now, I’m not going to say it’s a great film. It is a B-Film, so all the problems with B-Films are there. If you don’t like B-Movies, don’t watch this film. If you like your gore works high priced, don’t watch this film. But B-Movies can be a lot of fun, if you accept what you are watching, and Cannibal Campout is a B-Movie masterpiece.
posted by Bodog at 4:59 PM
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