Cannibal! The Musical is making its debut on Blu-ray from Refuse Films. Shot on 16mm film and edited on video, Cannibal! The Musical is presented in high definition for the first time on Blu-ray.
Written and directed by Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park), this release is limited to only 3,000 units, playable worldwide and includes an exclusive slipcover featuring the original 1997 key art.
Brand new special features include new audio commentary, cast interviews, never-before-seen deleted scenes approved by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, over three hours of raw BTS footage, the UK cut of Alferd Packer: The Musical, plus hours of archival material.
Producer Jason McHugh confirms that the original 16mm footage of Cannibal! The Musical was lost somewhere in Colorado in the late 90s. Refuse Films uncovered the original Betacam master tape from the Troma archives in New York.
Cannibal! The Musical has been blown up from the original master tape and manually remastered without AI technology. The new and exclusive Refuse Films high-definition transfer is approved by Cannibal! The Musical’s director of photography, Robert Muratore, and remastered by Mark Brindle of UK post-production company Maniac Films.
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Refuse Films is also excited to announce the launch of its new boutique Blu-ray sub-label, the TromArchive Collection. This label intends to release 50 years of Tromatic excess from Troma’s film archives to the Blu-ray format.
In addition to the world Blu-ray premiere of Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical (1993), Series 1 of the TromArchive Collection, features special editions of Troma Team classics The Toxic Avenger (1984) and Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD (1990), both titles directed by Troma co-founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz.
Each TromArchive Collection Blu-ray title is limited to 3,000 units, playable worldwide and features an exclusive slipcover featuring original Tromatic poster art and new sleeve designs by renowned graphic illustrator Mila K.
edit: Cannibal! The Musical is also being released by Vinegar Syndrome.
They’re a small boutique Blu-ray distributor that was set up by the director of a couple of comedy horror films, apparently to initially publish his films. He knows the folks at Troma, so has clearly been able to get the licence for a limited run. What happens after that is unclear as their own films have yet to sell out. It may be the licence is only for that run or, like other such distributors they cover their costs with a fancier limited edition and then move to a standard edition afterwards. There seems to have been a lot of work put into the restoration of Cannibal! The Musical and I don’t see the limited run doing much more than covering the costs. So there is some hope.
I’ll have a nose around and see what I turn up.
Makes sense, thanks for the insight. Agreed on the effort needed to restore Cannibal not lining up with the limited nature. Bummer about the film getting lost, but that explains why it’s been DVD-only for so long.
I did some digging and Vinegar Syndrome are putting out a different version too. That might explain why numbers are limited.