5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
To avoid a serious avocado shortage, the U.S. government hires feminist anthropology professor Margo Hunt (Shannon Tweed) to find the man-eating Piranha Women tribe who inhabit the avocado jungle of Southern California. Assisted by chauvinist Jim (Bill Maher) and a dimwitted student named Bunny, Hunt must convince the tribe to move to Malibu condos while simultaneously fending off her rival Dr. Kurtz (Adrienne Barbeau). Meanwhile, Bunny's contemplating joining the Piranha gals -- but she must consume Jim first.
Starring: Shannon Tweed, Adrienne Barbeau, Bill Maher, Karen M. Waldron, Brett StimelyComedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
J.F. Lawton's "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death: (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent British distributors 88 Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original trailer for the film. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The right man for the job
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, J.F. Lawton's Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films.
Excluding a few panoramic shots from the 'jungle' that exhibit some light softness, the film does look quite good in high-definition. Well-lit close-ups typically boast the best depth, but even some of the darker footage looks strong. Shadow definition is pleasing, but there are areas where it is easy to see that some minor improvements can be made. Contrast levels remains stable throughout the entire film. There are no traces of recent degraining corrections. Generally speaking, grain appears well exposed, but ideally it should be better resolved. (Some encoding optimizations definitely could have been made). There are no traces of compromising sharpening adjustments. Colors are stable and appear natural. Saturation could be better, but overall color balance is quite good. Image stability is very excellent. Finally, there are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, stains, or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.
I think that it is quite easy to tell that the film was shot with a fairly small budget. Indeed, for the most part depth and clarity are quite pleasing, but there are some random segments where balance isn't consistent. There is some flatness that emerges in the mid-range and sometimes the dialog also feels a bit distant. My feeling is that these are limitations of the original sound design and only serious remastering work would be able to address them. There are no audio dropouts, pops, background hiss, or digital distortions to report in our review.
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death is a silly but very entertaining low-budget B movie that actually produces some very accurate observations about certain 'truths' the two sexes like to defend. Bill Maher switches into a very convincing idiot-mode, but there are countless examples now that there is a flip side of his identity that is actually quite similar to that of his character. Shannon Tweed of course looks gorgeous without even trying. The technical presentation is quite good, but it is a bit disappointing that 88 Films could not produce some new interviews with some of the cast members. RECOMMENDED.
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