Big Meat Eater
Cast & Crew
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Chris Windsor
Director
Ida Carnevali
Babushka
Sharon Wahl
Nina Wczinski
Howard Taylor
Mayor Carmine Rigatoni
Heather Smith Harper
Secretary
Gillian Neumann
Mrs Campbell
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
1982
Distribution Company
Palace Pictures
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 22m
Synopsis
Director
Chris Windsor
Director
Cast
Ida Carnevali
Babushka
Sharon Wahl
Nina Wczinski
Howard Taylor
Mayor Carmine Rigatoni
Heather Smith Harper
Secretary
Gillian Neumann
Mrs Campbell
Jon Bryden
Ace
Peter Anderson
Alderman Sonny--The Weasel
Kim Stebner
Reliable Brush Man
Shannon Keane
Little Kid
Jay Samwald
Meat Carrier
Neil Macdonald
Meat Carrier
Scott Swanson
Announcer
Helen Lecounte
Belly Dancer
Bente Friemel
Belly Dancer
Elaine Thompson
Belly Dancer
Maurice Depas
Stage Musician
James Bowers
Stage Musician
Shelly Kantrow
Stage Musician
Stephen Dimopoulos
Joseph Wczinski
Georgina Hegedos
Rosa Wczinski
J Douglas Dodd
Performer
Dan Smith
Performer
Shelley Kantrow
Performer
Nels Guluin
Performer
Allen Wold
Performer
Don Clark
Performer
Jack Stafford
Performer
Herb Besson
Performer
David Blinzinger
Performer
Barry Creamer
Performer
Peter Anderson
Crew
Michelle Anfield
Production Assistant
Steve Babuin
Production Assistant
Peter Bentley
Sound Recording
Iain Best
Special Effects
Peter Bomar
Production Assistant
Jim Bridge
Special Effects
Don Cameron
Camera Assistant 2nd Unit (2nd Unit)
George Campbell
Camera Assistant 2nd Unit (2nd Unit)
Carole Carlton
Song Performer ("Atomic Radiation")
Barry Creamer
Song ("Big Meat Eater")
Holly Denney
Song Performer (Background Vocalist)
J Douglas Dodd
Music
J Douglas Dodd
Songs ("Big Meat Eater" "Bagdad Boogie" "Missile Love" "Atomic Radiation" "Bob'S Theme" "Mondo Chemico" "Just Hanging Around" "By The Banks Of The Bonny Burquitlam")
Michael Dorsey
Stunts
Michael Dorsey
Special Effects
Barry Erickson
Song Performer (Background Vocalist)
Barbara Etches
Camera Assistant 2nd Unit (2nd Unit)
Bonnie Ferguson
Song Performer (Background Vocalist)
Ken Fidler
Camera Assistant 2nd Unit (2nd Unit)
Candice Field
Production Assistant
Rae Ford
Wardrobe
Barry P Jones
Sound Rerecording
Laurence Keane
Screenwriter
Laurence Keane
Editor
Laurence Keane
Producer
Laurence Keane
Songs ("Bob'S Theme" "Mondo Chemico")
Helen Lecounte
Choreography
Caroline Lee
Song Performer (Background Vocalist)
Marietta Lozak
Production Assistant
Amanda Martin
Production Assistant
Todd Mcintosh
Makeup
Doug Mckay
Director Of Photography
Cyndi Mellon
Song Performer (Background Vocalist)
Big Miller
Song Performer ("Bagdad Boogie" "Big Meat Eater")
Richard Newman
Song Performer ("Just Hanging Around" "By The Banks Of The Bonny Burquitlam" "Mondo Chemico" "Bob'S Theme")
Haida Paul
Sound Editor
Lilla Pederson
Editor
David Peterson
Song Performer ("Missile Love" "Atomic Radiation")
David Peterson
Songs ("Big Meat Eater" "Bob'S Theme" "Mondo Chemico" "By The Banks Of The Bonny Burquitlam")
Michael Robison
Assistant Editor
Ray Roussel
Music Arranger (Horns)
Phil Savath
Screenwriter
Phil Savath
Song ("Bagdad Boogie")
Paul Sharpe
Sound Department
Marvin Smith
Production Assistant
Lloyd Springer
Production Assistant
Dean Stoker
Stunts
Dean Stoker
Production Manager
Gisele Villeneuve
Screenplay
Gisele Villeneuve
Additional Dialogue
Chris Windsor
Songs ("Bob'S Theme" "Mondo Chemico")
Chris Windsor
Screenwriter
Chris Windsor
Editor
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
1982
Distribution Company
Palace Pictures
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 22m
Articles
Big Meat Eater on DVD
The jarring plot follows and eventually unites two separate story threads, with the first chronicling the misadventures of Turkish boiler attendant Abdullah (Clarence Miller) who murders the town mayor in a fit of occupational pique and winds up in the employ of butcher Bob (the excellent George Dawson), who decides to stash the unfortunate corpse in the freezer. But wait! Hovering above the small town, two aliens set their sights on the butcher's shop since his cold cuts produce a valuable resource called "Balonium." To harvest this product, the aliens bring the mayor back from the dead and arrange the construction of a "Vision of Tomorrowland" exhibit which will actually serve as their home base on Earth.
Originally conceived as a satire of Canadian mores with monster trappings, this peculiar hybrid was the brainchild of three Canadian film students, Laurence Keane, Chris Windsor, and Mike Chechik. Though its style was likened at the time to comedic names like the Firesign Theater and National Lampoon, the end result actually cannily foreshadows the affectionate ribbing and emulation of classic '50s monster movies found in the likes of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and Ed Wood. That said, it's significantly less polished than those later works and suffers from the inevitable consequences of its scattershot approach; while the song and dance routines contrasted with grisly plot twists are undeniably effective, the climactic teen-against-aliens trappings get old long before the final scene. It's not quite as maddening in its random desperation to please as, say, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but we're definitely in the same territory. Most of the participants in front of and behind the camera didn't go much further than this, but they did manage to pull off a curiosity with more than its fair share of pleasurable moments in between its occasional lulls.
Barely released theatrically and shuffled off to very early home video cultdom just long enough to startle a few unprepared rental customers, Big Meat Eater has remained an underground secret for decades and will likely remain so. Nevertheless, the DVD presentation is respectable enough with a watchable if not stellar video presentation (better than the tape but not by much), while the noticeably improved sound mix at least gives some welcome punch to the numerous depraved ditties. Unfortunately there's a dearth of bonus material to give any context to these shenanigans, so unprepared viewers are left completely to their own devices.
For more information about Big Meat Eater, visit Koch Vision. To order Big Meat Eater, go to TCM Shopping.
by Nathaniel Thompson
Big Meat Eater on DVD
Though it seems to have been with us forever, the intentional creation of a "cult film" didn't really exist until the late 1970s with the mass acceptance of midnight movie screenings from coast to coast. As film school geeks got their hands on camera and paid tribute to their favorite genres, resulting in oddball hybrids like J-Men Forever, Forbidden Zone, and on the really obscure side of things, Big Meat Eater, a Canadian sci-fi/musical/monster comedy.
The jarring plot follows and eventually unites two separate story threads, with the first chronicling the misadventures of Turkish boiler attendant Abdullah (Clarence Miller) who murders the town mayor in a fit of occupational pique and winds up in the employ of butcher Bob (the excellent George Dawson), who decides to stash the unfortunate corpse in the freezer. But wait! Hovering above the small town, two aliens set their sights on the butcher's shop since his cold cuts produce a valuable resource called "Balonium." To harvest this product, the aliens bring the mayor back from the dead and arrange the construction of a "Vision of Tomorrowland" exhibit which will actually serve as their home base on Earth.
Originally conceived as a satire of Canadian mores with monster trappings, this peculiar hybrid was the brainchild of three Canadian film students, Laurence Keane, Chris Windsor, and Mike Chechik. Though its style was likened at the time to comedic names like the Firesign Theater and National Lampoon, the end result actually cannily foreshadows the affectionate ribbing and emulation of classic '50s monster movies found in the likes of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and Ed Wood. That said, it's significantly less polished than those later works and suffers from the inevitable consequences of its scattershot approach; while the song and dance routines contrasted with grisly plot twists are undeniably effective, the climactic teen-against-aliens trappings get old long before the final scene. It's not quite as maddening in its random desperation to please as, say, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but we're definitely in the same territory. Most of the participants in front of and behind the camera didn't go much further than this, but they did manage to pull off a curiosity with more than its fair share of pleasurable moments in between its occasional lulls.
Barely released theatrically and shuffled off to very early home video cultdom just long enough to startle a few unprepared rental customers, Big Meat Eater has remained an underground secret for decades and will likely remain so. Nevertheless, the DVD presentation is respectable enough with a watchable if not stellar video presentation (better than the tape but not by much), while the noticeably improved sound mix at least gives some welcome punch to the numerous depraved ditties. Unfortunately there's a dearth of bonus material to give any context to these shenanigans, so unprepared viewers are left completely to their own devices.
For more information about Big Meat Eater, visit Koch Vision. To order Big Meat Eater, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Nathaniel Thompson
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1982
Released in United States 1982