Life Among the Cannibals

Ignore the misleading title; nobody gets eaten in Life Among the Cannibals.  They get dismembered by a vigilante serial killer who despises anti-social behavior instead. 

Things are not going well for Jasper James (Kieran Mulroney).  Jasper's band split up soon after they arrived in LA.  Now he works as a personal assistant for the meanest drunken has-been in town.  Vince Vincent (Wings Hauser) used to be the star of The B-Team until an incident involving his surgically enhanced chin brought about his retirement.  Vince has become an embittered recluse drinking vodka for breakfast and sending signed photocopies of his ass to fans. 

Just as crazy is Rachel (Juliet Landau), Jasper's ex-girlfriend who is hell-bent on making his life a misery.  Jasper thinks he can escape by moving away.  He answers an ad for a single occupant in an old Victorian house.  The rent is affordable and the landlords, Francis and Betty, are really nice.  What's the catch? Jasper wonders.  It arrives in the hulking form of his neighbor Troy, who likes to play loud industrial music now and again.  Troy could be the subject of Tom Waits song about suburban paranoia, 'What's he Building?'  Troy lives alone, likes his power tools and sure puts out a lot of rubbish in black bin liners.  Jasper foolishly complains about the noise and finds himself on Troy's hit-list. 

Daryl Haney's wickedly funny script has some inspired touches.  When a violent thug goes missing the local newspaper covers the story with the headline NO LEADS IN DISAPPEARANCE OF ASSHOLE.  The opening credits for The B-Team, a spoof of yes, The A-Team introduce the characters, the most prominent of whom is Adolph, a Hitler lookalike right down to his Nazi uniform.  A sensitive singer-songwriter pours out her heart to the bored patrons of a cafe/bar in a song with the chorus, “I guess I'll go kill myself with a nine millimeter gun,” then leaves the stage and shoots herself.  Haney also acts in the film, playing Troy as a combination of redneck psycho and sensitive man-child.  Troy's feelings are genuinely hurt when people are rude to him.  Though not as hurt as the people who insult him end up being.

Life Among the Cannibals was directed by Harry Bromley-Davenport, whose 1983 sci-fi movie Xtro left this writer feeling like he had just been abducted by aliens.  Sadly unavailable on DVD, there's a few VHS copies of Life Among the Cannibals scattered around on Amazon and E-bay.  Any fans of Joe Dante's The Burbs or the cult TV show Dexter should find something to enjoy here. 

Kevin S