Alternate versions

The film was originally prepared as a three-minute joke "trailer" shown at Trey Parker's college in Colorado. The cast is largely the same, although there is no Polly Prye yet, and most of the scenes in the "trailer" are matched in the final movie, including the songs "Let's Build a Snowman" and "On Top of You." There are also one or two songs not used in the final movie, though. In this version Packer, upon seeing the bodies of his mutilated companions, lets out a loud scream which gradually changes into a musical note, and he starts to sing a funky number. He sings something similar at the end of the trailer too. Although in the final movie, characters played by Matt Stone and Dian Bachar never develop facial hair, this version shows everyone growing at least a moustache, even Matt. This cheap and amusing "trailer" is sometimes actually used as the trailer for the final film [Although the final film does have its own trailer]. The title of the original trailer [And the original cut of the movie] was "Alferd Packer: The Musical," but of course all Troma releases replace the title cards with new ones reading "Cannibal: The Musical." Versions of the original trailer and the final film with both titles are circulating somewhere.

In the Troma release there is a quick shot of a black cat right before Packer loses his horse in the night. This was not in Parker's original release (fall 1993) in Boulder, CO at the Flatirons Theatre.

The movie was altered, some would say drastically, between release to cable channels and its DVD release. The former, only really available on bootleg VHS, has a much different audio mix, with fewer sound effects/comments, and some sound effects altered. It also includes the "Don't Be Stupid" song, which is nowhere to be found on the Cannibal disc.