MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Gris Grimly
Starring: David Backus, Dustin Loreque, Vince Buckley, Bud Campbell, Shanna Fleischeiker, D.W. Frydendall
"Cannibal Flesh Riot!" Video
"[Cannibal Flesh Riot!] is a cinematic representation of rock and roll, EC horror comics, drunken philosophy and a barnyard ho down." —Gris Grimly
Cannibal Flesh Riot! is a short (running time: 29 minutes, Festival Cut; 34 minutes, Director's Cut), low-budget film (approximately $6,000) from Mad Creator Productions but I must admit I was totally blown away—it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before! Visually stunning, full of offbeat humor and always original, Cannibal Flesh Riot! also boasts an excellent musical score.
Billed as "a black comedy about food," the film takes place in a creepy graveyard where we meet Stash and Hub, two redneck ghouls out for a night of total debauchery, which in this case involves grave robbing, necrophilia and cannibalism. So they overpower the caretaker and then set out to find the recently dug grave of a fresh corpse. However, they soon get more than they bargained for as the situation turns into a comic nightmare. Throughout it all, these misfits, who look like demented refugees from a Samuel Beckett play, engage in long bouts of hilarious, existential dialogue (such as an amusing discussion about the use and misuse of condiments).
What really impressed me most about Cannibal Flesh Riot! was the atmosphere, it's beautifully shot, especially when you consider the miniscule budget (and even includes some amazing stop-motion animation!). The directorial debut for highly talented and prolific author/illustrator Gris Grimly, Cannibal Flesh Riot! boasts a wide variety of influences, including German Expressionism, EC Horror Comics, Universal horror movies of the 1930s, B-movies from the '50s and even the outrageously schlocky films of Ed Wood Jr. I found out after watching Cannibal Flesh Riot! that the project began as a concept to combine Gris' art with music composed by Peter Sandorff, the ex-guitarist of the internationally renowned psychobilly band, the Nekromantix.
Bottom line: If you are a horror movie fan or an aspiring filmmaker and want to see the right way to make a quality film on a low-budget, I suggest you check out Cannibal Flesh Riot! I'm looking for more great things in the future from Gris Grimly and Mad Creator Productions. For more information about Cannibal Flesh Riot or to order a copy of the film, visit Mad Creator Productions.
