You have to love a title like Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. As campy, B-movies go, it's not that bad. There are a few high points, like when Adrienne Barbeau (as Dr. Kurtz) is explaining to Shannon Tweed (Dr. Hunt) why she had gone over the edge and joined the cannibalistic women in the Avocado Jungle: "I couldn't take it anymore... I'd been on the talk show circuit for six months... you don't know what it's like, having to face David Letterman with a book about male insensitivity."

This movie is full of totally implausible scenarios, but nobody is expected to believe this stuff, not even for a second. The Avocado Jungle of Death is right there in southern California, and it's full of "lost tribes": the Piranha Women, the Barricuda Women and the Donahues. The Donahues are a tribe of men (to use the term loosely) who apparently spend most of their time making potholders, tablecloths, quilts and other soft goods as gifts to appease the cannibal women in the jungle into not having them for dinner. Whenever they see anyone outside of their own (male) tribe, they bow down and ritualistically chant "Donahue, Alan Alda, Mark Harmon, Walter Mondale". Walter Mondale? Anyway... you get the idea.

Bill Maher is even more likable and funny in this movie than he is "Politically Incorrect", which is to say "not very". This movie was J.F. Lawton's first major film as writer and director, and his next screenplay was for "Pretty Woman" with Julia Roberts. What a difference...!

click here for another take on this movie - apparently she liked it better than I did

click here to order Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death on DVD

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988, Phantom Productions) (out of 4)
written and directed by J.F. Lawton
produced by Gary W. Goldstein
director of photography: Robert Knouse
edited by King Louis and King Wilder
Shannon Tweed as Dr. Margo Hunt
Bill Maher as Jim
Karen Mistal as Bunny
Adrienne Barbeau as Dr. Kurtz

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