A 1989 B-Movie starring Bill Maher, Shannon Tweed, Karen Mistal, and Adrienne Barbeau.
America's avocado supply is threatened when tribes of cannibal women who live in the Avocado Jungle (located east of San Bernardino) begin stalking and killing (and eating) men who come into the jungle to harvest avocados... and it's getting dangerously close to the Super Bowl.
Facing the crisis of a Super Bowl without guacamole dip, the U.S. Government commissions ultra-feminist professor Dr. Margo Hunt (Tweed) to infiltrate the jungle and negotiate with the tribe. She takes along her airheaded student Bunny (Mistal), and hires male-chauvinist adventurer Jim (Maher)—the only man brave enough to enter the Avocado Jungle of Death—to be their guide.
Along the way they encounter the Donahews (the only male tribe that the Cannibal Women allow to live in the Avocado Jungle); the Piranha Women, led by former feminist professor Dr. Kurtz (Barbeau); and the Barracuda Women, a rival tribe at war with the Piranha Women over whether men should be eaten with guacamole dip or clam dip.
This movie contains examples of the following tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: It's essentially a B-Movie version of Heart of Darkness and its best-known adaptation Apocalypse Now.
- Attempted Rape: The Donahews try to gang-rape Bunny soon after Jim introduces them to beer.
- Cannibal Tribe: The Piranha Women and the Barracuda Women.
- Covers Always Lie: The VHS cover shows Tweed, Barbeau, and another woman (mostly likely Vicky Varner, who played the leader of the Barracuda women according to IMDB). However, the Barracuda women are only minor characters in the movie and didn't get a lot of screen time. For whatever reason, they didn't put Karen Mistal on the cover.
- Distracted by the Sexy: When Kurtz captures Hunt and Bunny she tries to force them to join the Piranha Women... which means having sex with a male victim then eating him (and no, not the way Bunny thinks). Hunt doesn't want to... until she sees the hunky Donahew male picked to be her victim.Dr. Hunt: I refuse to kill another human being in cold blood. However, in deference to your cultural traditions, I would be willing to have sex with him.
Kurtz: Forget it! You want your cake, you'll have to eat it. - The Ditz: Bunny. She wants to become a feminist like her idol Dr. Hunt, but... well...Dr. Hunt: Bunny, Bunny, you don't have to live your life to please me. The important thing is that you're happy. And as for what I've taught you, well, listen, I've always believed that every woman should get as much education and intellectual stimulation as possible, and that she should develop her mental abilities to their utmost potential. But in your case, well, there's just no point.
- The '80s
- Fanservice: The movie opens with two government men coming across topless Piranha Women bathing at a waterfall. It's the only time in the movie where gratuitous nudity takes place.
- Genre Blind: Jim doesn't realize that he's being Stewed Alive by the Piranha Women.
- Government Conspiracy: Kurtz uncovered evidence that the attempt by the U.S. government to "relocate" the Piranha Women was really to force feminists into time-share condos, tricked into eating at sushi bars, and turned into ditzes like Bunny.
- Human Sacrifice: Bunny is asked to sacrifice Jim for her initiation into the Piranha Women.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Naturally.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Jim is able charm Bunny into not sacrificing him by humming her favorite song, Bolero.
- Only Sane Woman: Dr. Hunt. Everyone else is too foolish (Jim), ditzy (Bunny), or driven by cannibalism to count.
- Riddle for the Ages: Bunny has a good one: "I have a lot of fantasies about being tied up and spanked. I suppose it isn't very liberated, is it? What kind of fantasies do feminists have?"
- Sanity Slippage:
- What happened to Kurtz when she realized she just couldn't handle any more televised appearances on David Letterman's show.
- Struggling through the harsh conditions of the avocado jungle, with Jim grating on her nerves, Hunt almost succumbs to the urge to cannibalize Jim. It takes a supreme effort of abiding by her academic standards to keep herself sane.
- Shout-Out:
- Jim is dressed like Indiana Jones and tries (unsuccessfully) to use a bullwhip.
- Dr. Kurtz is named for Colonel William E. Kurtz, who was in turn named for Mr. Kurtz.
- Bunny has a fantasy of (among other things) making love while Bolero is playing.
- Serious Business:
- Guacamole dip.
- Also the intense Publish-or-Perish mentality of career academia: Kurtz's takeover of the Piranha Women was to develop material for a new book.
- Straw Feminist: Both Hunt and Kurtz to a degree, but at least Hunt recognizes the need for academic standards when it comes to cultural anthropology and cannibalism.
- Silly Reason for War: The Piranha Women and Barracuda Women are at war over which is the best dip to eat men with.
- Stewed Alive: Jim is given a bath in a cauldron, as various Piranha Women slice vegetables into the broth.
- Sword Fight: Doctors Hunt and Kurtz get into a very B-Movie one.
- Wretched Hive: San Bernandino.
- Word Salad Title
