‘Eating Miss Campbell’ Is an Outrageous Troma-Produced Cannibal Comedy [Horror-On-Sea 2023 Review]
David Gelmini
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Writer and director Liam Regan, who previously helmed My Bloody Banjo, returns with Eating Miss Campbell, an outrageous new Troma-produced high school horror comedy that originally premiered at FrightFest last year before being screened at Horror-on-Sea. There have not been a whole lot of high school-themed cannibal films, so Eating Miss Campbell certainly stands out from the crowd in this regard.
Lyndsey Craine stars as Beth Conner, a smart and introverted high school student who has a habit of breaking the fourth wall. The film opens with Beth monologuing to the audience about how she tried to commit suicide before describing how her life has apparently been the subject of multiple straight-to-video horror films. Wanting to stand out from the crowd, Beth tries everything from demonic possession to self-mutilation, before again attempting suicide (“Down the road, not across the street”) while discussing the subject matter for Eating Miss Campbell, a film that tackles everything from cannibalism to mass shootings in a satirical and often nonsensical way.
Horror fans will already be familiar with Craine’s work, including her turn in the Dread release Book of Monsters. Her performance throughout Eating Miss Campbell as a troubled teen who clearly wants more from life than being a character within a horror film is certainly one of the highlights of the film. She gives her role everything she has and successfully has us relating to Beth, despite some of the questionable decisions the character makes.
Beth soon forms a bond with an American teacher named Miss Campbell (who was played by Lala Barlow in an amusingly absurd performance), who introduces her student to the taste of human flesh, as the pair soon begin to literally devour anybody they decide deserves to be eaten. Beth’s newfound appetite for human flesh eventually culminates in an eating contest, with hilariously gross results.
Real-life couple James Hamer-Morton and Charlie Bond also appear, respectively, as Beth’s father and stepmother. Bond’s exaggerated portrayal of a conservative upper-class English lady and Hamer-Morton’s equally dedicated performance as a clearly lonely man who loves his new wife more than his daughter are bound to leave viewers in stitches. The Human Centipede 2 star Laurence R. Harvey also plays the school’s vile headmaster, Clyde Toulon, who literally worships Harvey Weinstein as a god.
Although Eating Miss Campbell takes place in the UK, it was clearly intended to lampoon American culture, in a way which will no doubt be familiar to Troma fans. And apparently, the production team never got the memo about the film taking place in the UK, because we see traditional yellow school buses delivering and picking up students from Beth’s school. But regardless of how it approaches its subject matter and its occasional inaccuracies, the offbeat humor and the unabashed social commentary will no doubt prevent your attention from wandering elsewhere.
Because this is a Troma production, nothing is ever taken seriously, and there are moments when you probably will not know if you are supposed to laugh or have a genuine emotional reaction. For instance, the way in which Beth’s family and teachers react to her eating other students as though she simply misbehaved in the vein of not doing her homework or skipping class is unquestionably funny. But some more shocking scenes involving revelations about certain characters are played in a semi-comedic and partly-serious manner. That creates uncertainty about what to feel when they unfold.
And with this being a Troma production, Lloyd Kaufman naturally makes an appearance. Whether or not you laugh at the way in which the studio’s iconic co-founder brandishes a gun and shouts Alec Baldwin’s name will probably depend on if you’re a Troma fan.
Despite its occasionally inconsistent tone, the strong meta-humor and the dedicated central performances in Eating Miss Campbell helped to keep viewers invested right until the end, with Craine, in particular, delivering a powerhouse portrayal of a tortured and introverted teen who initially resents but gradually comes to embrace her role as a protagonist in a horror movie. It may not be perfect, but this is still a gloriously offbeat, well-acted, and sometimes downright hilarious tale of a decidedly weird teenage girl who develops a taste for human flesh.
Summary
Eating Miss Campbell might just be one of the best high school cannibal movies ever to have been produced.
