Thursday, October 13, 2005

Fudge, Packer?

Alfred Packer is the only person convicted of canninalism in America. Long before South Park or Jesus and Santa fighting over the meaning of Christmas, Trey Parker was a college student. And he used Packer's story as the basis of the heartfelt Cannibal, the Musical. You can read more about it over here. Produced as a student film, it received a Troma release.

I had the pleasure of seeing the original stage production at Dad's Garage. Based on the Movie, it featured better acting and better singing. After the success of South Park, Troma rereleased Cannibal on DVD. In the extras are some Dad's Garage clips.

It's not a great movie, but I highly recommend the DVD for the commentary track. Basically, Parker, Matt Stone, and a few of their friends who were also in the movie, gather around a giant pile of alcohol. As the movie progresses, the pile gets smaller and the comments become less coherent. Funny stuff. We also learn that Parker really wrote this to get back at the fiance who dumped him. Her name was Liane, which is also the name of Packer's horse. This backstory adds new meaning to Ode to Liane.
She'll never know what she meant to me.
Whenever I was with her I was always as gentle as I could be.
And now I don't know why, but she's gone away.
And I'll just have to stand on my own two legs.

Your eyes, your smile
Made my little life worthwhile.
There's was nothing I couldn't do
When I was on top of you.

I'd pull her hair, and she'd know to stop.
And when she'd look behind her, I'd always be there.
And now I don't know why, but she,
she's gone.
And all I can do is try to carry on.

Your eyes, your smile
Made my little life worthwhile.
The sky was a lot more blue,
When I was on top of you.
When I was on top of you.


Favorite song to play at work would have to be Hang the Bastards.

Hang the Bastard mp3
Hang the bastard, hang him high.
Hoist his body to the sky.
It's as nice as a day can be.
Won't you come to the hanging with me?

Hang the bastard, hang him high.
Hoist his body to the sky.
It's as nice as a day can be.
Won't you come to the hanging with me?

Hang the bastard, hang him well.
Send his sorry soul to hell.
When his neckbone snaps we'll know.
When the cannibal won't be killing anymore.

His face will turn red,
Then purple, then blue.
We'll watch from up here
To get a good view.
And when his eyes bug out we'll know,
It's the end of him
And the end of the show!

So hang the bastard, hang him with cheer.
We'll make some hot dogs
And drink a few beers.
And when his tongue rolls out we'll know,
It's the end of the show
And we all can go home!

But not till we hang the bastard, hang him here.
The most exciting thing this town has seen in years.
When his body stops jerking we'll know,
It's the end of him, it's the end of him,
It's the end of him,
And the end of the show.

[Cowbell solo]

So hang the bastard, hang him high.
Kiss his guilty butt goodbye.
It's as nice as a day can be.
Won't you come to the hanging with me?

His veins will pop out all over his head.
We'll tickle his armpits to make sure he's dead.
And when his tongue rolls out we'll know,
It's the end of him and we all can go home!

But not till we
Hang the bastard, hang him high.

Hoist his body to the sky.
When his body stops jerking we'll know,
It's the end of him, it's the end of him,
It's the end of him!
And the end of the show!

Hooray!

2 Comments:

Blogger Ahistoricality said...

I'm a big fan of Sweeney Todd, but I don't know about this. Never was a big South Park fan, so maybe it's a stylistic thing.

10/14/2005 01:57:00 AM  
Blogger bill said...

Other than occasional vulgar language, it isn't much like South Park. It's mostly an homage-slash-parody of Oklahoma. What you get out of it is that Trey Parker really loves musicals. Something he would go on to demonstrate in South Park. And South Park the movie, in addition to being one of the most important movies in recent years, is probably the best clasical musical in decades.

As far as Cannibal goes, it's a student film. The stage production grabbed the best elements of the story and ditched the dead weight. But it's worth watching for the commentary. The DVD was released after the SP movie, so flush with success Parker and Stone sit around, get drunk, and review all the horrible decisions they made making their first movie.

I like commentary tracks for the production comments and most of this one ridicules itself.

soquoted staff

10/14/2005 07:51:00 AM  

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