"Actor: Andrew Kemler"

• Cannibal the Musical | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Alferd Packer was the only man in the United States ever convicted of cannibalism--what better hero for fellow Coloradan and future South Park creator Trey Parker to celebrate in music? Blue-eyed and boyish Parker was still in college when he wrote, directed, composed the songs for and took the starring role as the innocent young Packer in this film, giving a gee-whiz performance as an ambitious pioneer who joins an ill-fated trek west that ends up stranded in the mountains. At times resembling a perverse community theatre parody of Rodgers and Hammerstein ("My heart's as full as a baked po-ta-to!"), Parker bounces back and forth between cheery production numbers and goony songs ("Let's build a snowman", sings one starving-mad hiker) and grotesque gore (bloody body parts, festering sores, human hors d'oeuvres). It lacks in style and consistency and the juvenile gags and fart jokes wear thin over the course of a feature film, but Parker's sheer energy and inventiveness carry the overlong picture to a rousing conclusion. Regular Parker collaborators Matt Stone and Dian Bachar co-star in this tuneful barbecue. --Sean Axmaker

• Orgazmo | DVD | (20/03/2000) from £12.78   |  Saving you £3.20 (32.69%)   |  RRP £12.99

  South Park co-creator Trey Parker goes straight for the gross-out humour in this live-action farce set in the adult-movie industry. Parker stars as an innocent Mormon kid who gets sucked into the world of pornographic film-making and becomes an international sensation as the stud superhero Orgazmo, all the while hiding his secret life from his milk-fed fiancée. It's practically a one-man show for Parker, who directs, writes, stars, and even performs the self-penned theme song as frontman for his rock band, and perhaps he should have spread the responsibilities a little. As an actor he's surprisingly appealing--his dazed grin and bleached white surfer-dude hair give him an engaging air of innocence. Paired with long-time crony Dian Bachar, the diminutive actor who plays his superhero sidekick Chodo Boy, they bring a Hardy Boys naiveté to the rude world of mobbed-up producers and jaded adult film stars. But the film is only fitfully funny, with vulgar jokes that are often more disgusting than humorous and clumsy comic timing sabotaging promising scenes. Only rarely does it reach the heights of his hilarious cut-out cartoon series South Park, but when he delivers he does so with the carefully cultivated tasteless excess his fans have come to know and love. Matt Stone co-stars as a clueless photographer while the real-life adult film star Ron Jeremy appears as a gross gangster henchman. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com