South Park's Creators Made A Gruesome Western That Fans Have To Check Out

In 1992, when Trey Parker and Matt Stone were in their early 20s and attending the University of Colorado at Boulder, they famously assembled a very crudely animated (and gleefully profane) Christmas special called "The Spirit of Christmas." It featured a violent battle royale between Frosty the Snowman and Jesus Christ, as witnessed by a quartet of foul-mouthed youngsters. That led to Parker and Stone putting together a 3-minute live-action short, a fake trailer for a jokey flick called "Alferd Packer: The Musical." Alferd Packer, as many may know, is one of only four people in American history to be convicted for the crime of cannibalism. He confessed to having to eat his fellow comrades to survive while they were lost in the Colorado mountains in 1874. "Alferd Packer: The Musical" was a gloriously tasteless riff on Packer's crimes. 

Reactions to the fake trailer were so positive that Parker and Stone were inspired to raise a modest amount of money — only $125,000 — and make an actual feature out of it. Parker wrote, directed, and starred in the film, penning songs with Rich Sanders. Stone co-starred and produced. "Alferd Packer" was shot in the actual hills and parks of Colorado throughout a few weekends and during Parker's Spring Break. The courtroom scenes, for some authenticity, were shot in the actual courthouse where Packer was tried in 1873. The Old West sets were actually just the buildings at Buckskin Joe, a Western theme park in Canyon City, Colorado. Parker and Stone didn't require a lot. 

The finished feature version of "Alferd Packer: The Musical" debuted in Boulder, Colorado, on Halloween of 1993. Eventually, Parker and Stone brought their finished film to the notorious New Jersey schlock house Troma, and it finally received semi-wide distribution in 1996. It was re-titled "Cannibal! The Musical." 

It's wild, and cheap ... and actually pretty great. 

Although "Cannibal! The Musical" centers on Alferd Packer, the actual cannibalism is kept to a disappointing minimum. The film does indeed open with a dramatic "recreation" of Packer's cannibalism as envisioned by a prosecuting attorney, and audiences see Packer (Parker, credited as Juan Schwartz) gleefully slicing up and devouring a series of screaming, bleeding victims. More notable are the legitimately catchy musical numbers, including the "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"-like opening song "Shpadoinkle." The opening riff of "Shpadoinkle" was eventually used as the music for the vanity card of Parker's and Stone's production company, Braniff. One may also find themselves humming the obnoxious "Let's Build a Snowman" upon exit, finding it's a superior song to "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" from "Frozen."

There is also an undercurrent of bitterness to "Cannibal!" that Parker has admitted was quite deliberate. Parker had only recently broken up with his fiancée who had discovered an affair she was having shortly before their planned wedding date. Parker decided to name Alferd Packer's horse Lianne after her (and the character of Cartman's mom on "South Park"). There were several conversations about how Alferd was in love with his horse, and how the horse was now disloyal by running off with another rider. Alferd couldn't believe it. Parker talks all about his breakup on the film's DVD commentary track (billed as the "Drunken Director's Commentary"), which ends abruptly when he becomes too drunk and decides to leave the recording studio. 

"Cannibal! The Musical" was likely picked up by Troma in 1996 because Matt Stone and Trey Parker were achieving a level of underground fame thanks to their 1995 redux of "The Spirit of Christmas." Thanks to that short, Stone and Parker were now minor celebrities, and Troma was wise to bank off their new status. 

For those of us who were in college in the mid-1990s, we remember the rise of "The Spirit of Christmas" well, as it was one of the earliest video shorts to be swapped around the internet. The 1995 animated short was (relatively) slicker than the 1992 version, but just as crass, and now featured a fight between Santa Claus and Jesus. "The Spirit of Christmas" was being passed around Hollywood on bootleg VHS cassettes by some big stars (including George Clooney), and it allowed Stone and Parker to pitch it as a series. "South Park" was picked up by Comedy Central in 1996 and first aired in 1997. The rest is history. 

Initially, Troma didn't distribute "Cannibal!" very far and wide, but the company gave Parker's film a massive push on VHS and DVD when "South Park" began to air. The proliferation of the new home video editions allowed "Cannibal!" to finally be discovered by a cult audience, mostly college kids, who would gather to watch it in groups. Prints of the film began to make rounds on the midnight movie circuit, and it became a legitimate underground hit. College students began re-adapting the film to the stage, and small unauthorized productions began getting performed regularly. The actual grosses on the film are difficult to track, but one can comfortably assume it earned back its $125,000 budget. 

Is "Cannibal!" great art? Not exactly. It's cheap and jejune, relying on sophomoric humor. Like many comedies of a former generation, some of its gags have aged very poorly. But the film does provide a rush of crass surreality that, I think, many college kids crave. It's still out there, now available to stream on Prime Video and on Peacock. It's definitely worth a look.