Color, 1979, 96m. / Directed by Ruggero Deodato / Starring Robert Kerman, Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi / Grindhouse (US R0 NTSC) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9) / DD2.0, Alan Young (Italy R2 PAL), Opening (France R2 PAL) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9), EC Entertainment (Holland R0 NTSC), Vipco (UK R2 PAL) / WS (1.85:1)
The film begins cleverly with
Though prosecuted in its native country on the grounds of obscenity, Cannibal Holocaust appeared on video briefly in the UK before being banned as a video nasty and was never legally released in America at all (apart from a fleeting grindhouse stint in larger cities). Most horror fans first came into contact with this through shoddy Venezuelan bootleg tapes, then through the Japanese laserdisc which distractingly fogged out all of the frontal nudity (a large chunk of the running time in this case). EC Entertainment presented the first legitimate, uncensored version on DVD and laserdisc, letterboxed to replicate the film’s 1.85:1 exhibition; the framing sequences were shot hard-matted at that aspect ratio, while the found 16mm footage was filmed full frame and matted off on all prints. The theatrical trailer on EC’s version includes a few glimpses of the unmatted footage, though the framing variations probably don't make much difference given the film's haphazard visual composition. Ortolani's score is isolated on the analog tracks (probably lifted from the Lucertola Media CD), and Deodato appears for
However, all of these options pale in comparison to the mammoth two-disc set from Grindhouse, a five-year labor of love that finally answers many nagging questions about this very troublesome film. The film itself is presented in an anamorphic transfer with a stereo remix or the original mono (similar to their earlier job on Cannibal Ferox), with the film itself playable both in its full-strength version and an “animal cruelty free” cut when you’re not in the mood to watch turtle butchery. The transfer looks excellent, though progressive scan die-hards will note that it’s flagged as interlaced; be sure to adjust your player off of progressive playback to avoid blurry motion problems if you see ’em. Deodato and Kerman appear for a full-length audio commentary as well as a selected video commentary (a la Mallrats); it’s hardly in the same combative territory as the hilarious dueling commentaries from Cannibal Ferox, but Deodato exhibits some of the same defensive techniques used by Lenzi to justify all the critter-killing. Meanwhile Kerman comes off as a jovial and well-grounded guy who was happy to do his job, the second for Deodato after the ridiculous Concorde Affair. The first disc also contains the familiar international trailer, the Italian version with different text cards, Grindhouse’s slightly adapted reissue trailer, the German
The second disc contains the full one-hour documentary from the Italian DVD, with optional English subtitles. Deodato, the great Ortolani, actor Barbareschi, and cinematographer Sergio d’Offizi are on hand to talk about their experiences on the film, interspersed with behind-the-scenes footage and tons of rare photos and ad art. Kerman pops up again in “Robert Kerman Exposed,” a half-hour chat dating from the same 2000 session used for his commentary; he’s candid about the film as well as his prolific porn career at the same time under the name Richard Bolla (including his big claim to fame, the one guy who actually does the title character in Debbie Does Dallas). Ortolani also returns for a 5-minute bonus interview about the film. However, the real gem here is “Alan Yates Uncovered,” a 51-minute interview with York (who continued acting in mainstream American films under the name Carl Gabriel York). He’s frank and funny about his work in the film, from the unlikely circumstances of his hiring to his arrival on the Amazon (heralded by a prosthetic leg floating on the way in the river). His accounts of both the harrowing rape scene and his uncomfortable sex scene with his female co-star are amazing anecdotes, and every minute of this piece is time very well spent. Other extras on the second disc include a massive still gallery containing behind-the-scenes shots, promotional photographs, and tons of artwork, a Necrophagia music video directed by Jim Van Bebber, and a trailer reel for other Grindhouse titles including The Beyond, The Tough Ones, Scum of the Earth, Gone with the Pope, and A Cat in the Brain. Easter egg hunters will also find loads of extra goodies here (eight of ’em!) including extra bonus trailers (such as Mr. Kerman’s most popular title), an entire hidden featurette, and other tasty treats. Bon appetit!
Color, 1977, 88 mins. / Directed by Ruggero Deodato / Starring Massimo Foschi, Me Me Lai, Ivan Rassimov / Music by Ubaldo Continiello / Cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi / Produced by Giorgio Carlo Rossi / Media Blasters (US R0 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)
While searching for oil in the remote area of Mindanao, a quartet of explorers crashes their plane near an abandoned jungle camp and realize the area is inhabited by cannibalistic natives. Led by anthropologist Rolf (giallo regular Ivan Rassimov) and Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi), they find their number dwindling thanks to hungry locals and deadly booby traps. After a disastrous attempt to sail away to safety, Robert and Rolf are separated, leaving the latter in the hands of the primitive tribe who strip him naked, hoist him in the air by ropes so he can fly like a bird, and then toss him into a homemade underground cage so the cannibal kids can pee on his head. Really. The loveliest of the cannibal women (sexploitation favorite Me Me Lai) takes pit on Robert and helps him escape, but their flight to freedom contains several unexpected complications.
Though Umberto Lenzi's Man from Deep River is usually cited as the first real Italian cannibal film, this is the one that really kicked off the trend worldwide. Even in cut form it enjoyed a wide release and a decent gross-out reputation thanks to frequent reissues from AIP, and relatively speaking, it's still one of the best made of its ilk. The skillful scope photography, atmospheric score, and earnest performances make this a gripping study of survival, while
Though Jungle Holocaust has circulated on home video almost since the format's incarnation, uncut editions have been few and far between. Many store shelves contained copies of the notorious Lettuce VHS edition, titled Cannibal, which excised some of the more graphic imagery involving Foschi's manhood and a bunch of curious cannibal guys. Working with an infernally difficult title to reconstruct, Media Blasters' DVD can legitimately be considered the only complete,
When four arrogant American filmmakers disappear without a trace in the Amazon jungle, an expedition/rescue team led by Professor Monroe (Kerman) follows their bloody footsteps to find the lost documentarians. After some tasteless animal atrocity footage and several false leads, the team stumbles upon "The Tree
People," a tribe given to such charming practices as raping and killing a woman with a stone dildo as punishment for adultery. Thanks to a gesture of trust involving skinnydipping, the team is provided with the canisters of film shot by the missing crew, and we switch back to New York City where the footage is screened for appalled financiers. Finally everyone can see firsthand what really happened to cocky director Alan Yates (Yorke) and his three friends, who encountered a horror far beyond what they could have imagined.
Radically ahead of its time and still unbearable to watch for many viewers, Cannibal Holocaust marks the apex (or nadir, depending on your viewpoint) of the Italian cannibal movie subgenre which flourished through the '70s and early '80s. While most cannibal films can be dismissed thanks to their kitschy play-do special effects and laughable dialogue, this film is a far more challenging and dangerous animal than, say, Cannibal Ferox, which sticks firmly to its pulp origins and aspires to little beyond drive-in amusement. Deodato's grim worldview and unremitting nastiness make for a very rough ride whose viciousness remains potent and startling.
an innocuous opening act filled with the usual endearing traits of Italian exploitation cinema: erratic dubbing, uneven pacing, and minimal location shooting in the Big Apple to pass this off as an elaborate international production. However, the main footage of the lost crew is a whole different story - raw, handheld 16mm images shot from two cameras by a quartet of filmmakers s they callously tromp through the jungle, committing sexual and violent acts against the "little mud people" and even offing an animal or two in the process. The actual onscreen killing of animals is completely indefensible, of course, though unlike its utterly gratuitous presence in other films of its ilk, the verisimilitude of these sequences causes the viewer to then question the reality of everything else onscreen. The special effects, particularly the notorious image of a woman vertically impaled on a sharp pole, are so gritty and realistically handled that many viewers have taken the found footage as reality. Deodato intentionally blurs the line between cinema and actual mondo documentary filmmaking with great skill, brutally tearing viewers' preconceptions about Mondo Cane-style practices to shreds. You want to see brutality? Here it is, folks, in its ugly, all too human glory, and rarely will you see a subgenre simultaneously celebrating and devouring itself at the same time with such ferocity. Indeed, viewers who think they've seen it all will find this to be the closest thing to a genuine emotional "holocaust" ever captured in a fictional film. Love it or hate it, this is an important, vital work in both the horror and mondo genres; no other film has more horrifically captured the feeling of being lost in the middle of the wilderness, surrounded by forces whose only intent is to track you down and kill you. The last fifteen minutes, made even more wrenching by Riz Ortolani's rhapsodic music score, have yet to be topped for sheer gut-punch nihilism.
a brief interview. A few stills from the notorious "piranha bait" scene, reportedly never completed, appear as a supplement; it's hard to imagine why this scene has been considered so controversial over the years, since it doesn't look even remotely close in shock value to the other cannibal segments in the film. A subsequent 16:9 reissue from EC looks better but loses a few seconds from the “Road to Hell” sequence. For the more easily offended, the UK disc features a censored and essentially worthless print excising most of the more extreme imagery. An anamorphic Italian DVD contains a one-hour documentary as well as a fine print of the film itself and the trailer, a presentation carried over to the comparable French DVD.
trailer, and the super-rare original American trailer for the film’s X-rated theatrical playdates. Also included is the alternate, slightly longer version of the “Road to Hell” sequence found on earlier versions, plus the shooting script accessible via DVD-Rom. Both discs are designed as decrepit film canisters, a nice designing touch, housed in a flip-open case within another cardboard sleeve. Very nice. The insert booklet contains “In the Belly of the Beast,” a lengthy essay by Chas Balun in his typically effusive style.
After an inauspicious career directing Italian programmers in the '60s and early '70s, the now infamous Ruggero Deodato hit paydirt in 1977 with his first international hit, Ultimo mondo cannibale. Shown in the U.S. as The Last Survivor and also known under its more literal translation, The Last Cannibal World, the film gained far more notoriety among gorehounds as Jungle Holocaust to tie it in more closely with Deodato's second and far more ferocious gut-muncher outing, Cannibal Holocaust. More rooted in the pulp yarn tradition than its volatile companion feature,
Jungle Holocaust is still extremely disreputable by most film standards as it rubs the viewer's nose in animal death scenes (a snake and alligator this time), gory dismemberment and flesh eating, a man's damaged limb consumed by ants, and other charming atrocities. At least this time there's the distance of a traditional narrative to keep the viewer relatively secure, even if the opening does claim the story is based on true events. Uh huh.
exploitation fans should enjoy the high levels of gore effects (with the most unforgettable setpiece saved for the end, which was so effective Lenzi recycled it - along with much of this film's atrocity footage - for his ludicrous Eaten Alive). Thematically it's also less didactic than the '80s cannibal films; there isn't any two-faced moralizing along the lines of who the real savages are. More closely akin to survival epics like Cornel Wilde's underrated The Naked Prey, this is one of the more tolerable Italian cannibal films for those courageous enough to venture onto such morally treacherous grounds.
fully widescreen English edition on any home video format. The image quality has provoked wildly divergent reactions, mainly concerning the fairly dim black levels and some compatibility problems caused by the PAL master, but the film looks far better than any other version. The letterboxing adds a considerable amount of vital information to the sides, while the color fidelity are satisfying. It probably won't win any tech awards anytime soon, though one also needs to keep the original source material and shooting conditions into account; the relatively soft detail levels in some shots have always looked that way. In any case, cannibal movie fans will probably want to snap this up more for the content of the film rather than a ravishing viewing experience, though it looks fine in 16:9 playback. Subsequent Media Blasters/Shriek Show titles blow this one out of the water by comparison, though, so try not to watch this back to back with some of their other Euro horror titles. Extras are where this disc easily excels; Deodato contributes both a video interview and a commentary track (in Italian with optional English subtitles), while Foschi also appears for a frank video interview. Other goodies include an extensive video gallery of posters and lobbies, trailers for this and other Shriek Show titles, and a batch of international color lobby card reproductions (a la Suspiria). The trailer, under the Last Cannibal World title, is especially fascinating as it includes Deodato and crew (dubbed in English) pontificating about the making and importance of the film, intercut with cartoon teeth transitions. Bon appetit!
