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Natives ate my friends.
Review: My first exposure to the subgenre of cannibal exploitation films
occurred in the 8th grade. It was a VHS rental and I can't even
remember the name of the movie, but I think it was Cannibal ferox
because I seem to recall the tagline, "Make Them Die
Slowly." I don't remember it being a good movie and I pretty
much forgot about it.
Then last year on one of my favorite computer forums, a fellow
geek posted about buying a copy of Cannibal Holocaust on
eBay. Other geeks quickly posted questions of "What the hell is
Cannibal Holocaust?" My first stop, of course, was IMDb
and the whole subgenre came flooding back to me and my interest was
renewed.
In my recent DVD Mega-Purchase in November, I
wasn't able to locate Cannibal Holocaust, but I did pick up
two others. I want to watch these three seminal cannibal films in
chronological order, so this afternoon I watched Jungle Holocaust
(1977), then I plan on getting and watching Cannibal
Holocaust (1980), and then finally watching Cannibal ferox
(1981). And I'll throw Zombi Holocaust (1980) in there
too.
Jungle Holocaust centers around a researcher (Massimo
Foschi) that is
captured by a native tribe of cannibals. The researcher is tortured,
held hostage and kept as a future meal for the tribe. From
this plot, we are treated to (obviously fake) scenes of cannibalism,
(some real and some fake) scenes of animal torture and killing, and
a bit of softcore sex.
Overall, I would consider this film to be an unpleasant
experience because it is a collection of unpleasant events. Not only
are the scenes graphic (whether real or fake), they are made worse by the
fact that the actors are covered in the dirt, sweat
and filth from a tropical jungle.
The unpleasantness is further accentuated by the grainy and noisy
nature of the
film. This also takes away from the one lone star amongst the blur
of tribesman, Me Me Lai, who plays a female cannibal. One problem
with her casting is that she has breast implants, which obviously
doesn't make any sense for a native in a remote jungle.
Okay, so Jungle Holocaust was a bit of a letdown. Director Ruggero Deodato did not
capitalize on the fear of being eaten alive or the horror of
potentially being skinned and roasted over a fire pit. The story and
gore was not as jarring as it could have been and the whole
production lacked that certain something. However, the success of Jungle
Holocaust did allow Deodato to make Cannibal Holocaust,
which I am dying to see but will probably be ultimately disappointed
with as well.
Film Note: The DVD title is Jungle Holocaust,
but the film contained within it is titled, Last Cannibal World.
Learn more: IMDb
DVD version viewed: Jungle Holocaust
(Ruggero Deodato Collection) (Shriek Show, UPC 631595011296)
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