The U.S. Government is concerned about a nefarious foreign plot to cut off the nations supply of avocados. This will lead to a guacamole crisis which will be the prelude to complete societal collapse.
As everyone knows almost all of America’s avocados come from the savage unexplored jungles of southern California.
Those jungles are the home of the much-feared Piranha Women who eat their men after mating with them.
The Government sends a feminist ethnographer, Dr Kurtz (Adrienne Barbeau), to persuade the Piranha Women to move to a government reservation. Actually it’s a condo in Malibu.
But Dr Kurtz has vanished.
The U.S. Army sent a Special Forces team to rescue her but they were wiped out. The Army has decided that more drastic action is needed. They are going to send a Women’s Studies professor this time. They have selected Dr Margo Hunt (Shannon Tweed). She’s well qualified for the mission, being cute and blonde.
One of her students, Bunny (Karen Mistal), insists on going along. Bunny is a Valley Girl but she’s keen.
They will need a guide. Jim (Bill Maher) gets the job because he’s cheap. He’s also Margo’s ex-boyfriend, well sort of.
They set off downriver, braving the typical southern California hazards such as hippos.
They will discover that there’s something much more vital than avocados at stake.
In their tent at night Margo and Bunny get into some girl talk, confiding their hopes and dreams to each. Margo dreams of a world of equality and respect between the sexes. Bunny dreams of finding a man who will tie her up and spank her.
A common problem with low-budget movies (and this one is very low-budget) is pacing but that’s no problem here. There’s also the tendency to rely purely on goofy ideas but writer J.F. Lawton (who went on to write Pretty Woman) understands that you need actual gags as well and they have to be funny. And he wrote a genuinely very funny script.
I like Shannon Tweed and consider her to be underrated as an actress but the big revelation here is that she’s so good at comedy. She has a wonderfully sly deadpan comic delivery.
Bill Maher and Karen Mistal have totally different approaches to comedy but the three leads work together extremely well.
Adrienne Barbeau makes a good scary villainess - when ethnographers go bad they go really bad.
There’s satire here but it’s directed at just about everyone and everything. Men get mocked, and so do feminists. And Valley Girls. And the military. And academics. But it’s actually rather good-natured. For all his posturing Jim is a pretty nice guy. For all her feminist seriousness Margo is a nice lady. And maybe Bunny is a bimbo but she’s cute and sweet.
This is also a rom-com. When male and female characters snipe at each constantly we suspect that they’re crazy in love with each other.
And then the movie throws in a couple of unexpected twists at the end. It’s as if J.F. Lawton (who directed the picture as well as writing it) decided not to be predictable and to surprise us a little. I approve of that and I think the ending is perfect.
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death is very funny in a fairly clever way. It’s a much better movie than you expect it to be and it’s highly recommended.
Full Moon’s Blu-Ray presentation is excellent.
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