ViewGuide

Created Sep 27, 2009 01:47PM PST • Edited May 27, 2010 10:08PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   You want exploitation at its worst? You want savagery at its best? You want an out of control film that flat out doesn’t give a sh*t? Then you want Cannibal Holocaust.

   Throw away the boogeyman and say bon voyage to jumps and scares as Cannibal Holocaust is a bloody nerve grinder and stomach turner. I have been hearing about this Ruggero Deodato film for the longest time and finally remembered to watch it. Now I will never forget it.

   “A New York anthropologist named Professor Harold Monroe travels to the wild, inhospitable jungles of South America to find out what happened to a documentary film crew that disappeared two months before while filming a documentary about primitive cannibal tribes deep in the rain forest. With the help of two local guides, Professor Monroe encounters two tribes, the Yacumo and the Yanomamo. While under the hospitality of the latter tribe, he finds the remains of the crew and several reels of their undeveloped film. Upon returning to New York City, Professor Monroe views the film in detail, featuring the director Alan Yates, his girlfriend Faye Daniels, and cameramen Jack Anders and Mark Tomaso. After a few days of traveling, the film details how the crew staged all the footage for their documentary by terrorizing and torturing the natives. Despite Monroe’s objections, the television studio Pan American still wishes to air the footage as a legitimate documentary. In order to change their minds, Monroe shows the station’s executives the film’s final reels, so they could see first hand how the crew’s fate came to be. "

   - courtesy of imdb.com

   While I feel the film is perfect and accomplished what it set out to do, I can’t really say that I enjoyed watching it. How can you say you enjoyed watching rape, torture, and the killing of wild animals? While the rapes and torture scenes were staged and acted out, the death scenes involving animals were not! Now I’m not an animal activist or anything like that and I can certainly appreciate the balls on Deodato to capture that on film but my God, it is nasty. This isn’t your Friday night horror movie, this is shock value through and through.

   Some may not know this but the entire Cannibal Holocaust film was Deodato’s way of taking a crack at the filmmakers of Mondo films. What are Mondo films? They’re pretty much like a more “educational” Faces of Death in which the filmmakers focus on many different cultures throughout the world and their ways of life (but mostly death). Since some of the “death scene” footage shown in Mondo films are staged (much like Faces of Death), it is obvious that they are only doing it in order to achieve better ratings. Deodato uses several examples of this in Holocaust. Now the big question is, did people really think they were watching these actors and filmmakers die? The answer is yes, they did.

   Ruggero Deodato was arrested shortly after Holocaust’s release for being accused of murdering the actors in the movie. Thankfully, the crew showed up in court and Deodato was released but this was just the beginnning of the problem. Deodato and other crew members, as well as a production company representative were all fined and the film was banned in its home country of Italy. Soon after, several countries and locations banned the movie due to its extremely graphic violence and animal cruelty. While some countries permitted the film later on after heavy editing, there are still many that haven’t lifted their ban and may never.

   While these bans may have caused low numbers of viewers, the heresay and rumors about the film are legendary. Since it’s not a movie you’re going to find at your local Wal-Mart and it’s not something you’ll ever find on cable television, the only way to watch it is to buy it from an outrageously priced video store or try your luck out on the net. This too, has kept the number of viewers rather low. Personally though, I think it’s a good thing. I feel the hype and rumors about the film helps add to the effect when you finally sit down to watch it because it did for me. As I sat down this morning with my plate of chicken and chili, I knew I had to eat fast before I saw cannibals chewing on red chunks of meat. Sure enough, I wasn’t fast enough and I had to force the rest of my food down unwillingly.

   If you’re looking for a “scary movie” you’re barking up the wrong tree. If you want to be offended, grossed out, and in awe at how brutal and cruel people can be to each other, then watch Cannibal Holocaust.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   The acting was essential and helped add to the realistic tone of the movie. While the special effects were gut twisting, the chaotic and unforgiving behavior of the slain film crew was very reminscient to that of Krug, Weasel, Junior, and Sadie of the original Last House on the Left. These people would intrude on the peaceful native tribes and just start shooting them, beating them, and rape their women with no feelings of remorse. The only difference between the film crew and Krug’s gang was that the crew was doing most of it so they could get paid more money whereas Krug and his gang did it because they had nothing better to do, which is a bit more disturbing.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    This is the original “documentary” style horror film which would later be followed by movies like The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project. The approach worked excellently since we first follow the film crew that discovers the slain crew’s footage. At this time, the native tribes had been harassed, abused, and some killed. It’s pretty understandable that they seem a little hostile to this film crew at first and it takes them a lot of getting used to before they accept him. For the first half of the film you think that these natives are just bloodthirsty creatures looking to kill the first thing they see. Then as the lost footage is shown, we understand their actions. They’re simply reacting to the horrible treatment that was done to them. How can you blame a dog for biting someone when it is chained and beaten for days on end?

    The musical score goes from heavenly and angelic to monotone and dark. It helps heighten the senses in a few scenes involving violence.

    The dialogue is very realistic with maybe a small handful of lines that sound scripted.

    The visuals are both beautiful and horrifying. The shots establishing New York City and the jungle are very beautiful sort of send a message saying “People are all the same no matter where you go. They can be just as cruel in large, populated cities as they could be in isolated jungles”. At least that’s what I felt like it was trying to say.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Obscene 5.0

    Not for the feint of heart or those with weak stomachs! Animal lovers beware! Do not let little Timmy and Jane watch this!

    The violence is off the charts. Sure films like SAW and Audition show some disturbing footage but that is mere child’s play compared to this stuff. Genitals being sliced, a woman’s body impaled on a large stick, several decapitations, not to the mention the offensive and extremely graphic “turtle” scene in which a real turtle is killed and hacked…then cooked and eaten.

    There is one graphic sex scene involving two crew members but there are several rape scenes involving both the crew members and natives.

17. Sex Explicit 5.0

18. Violence Monstrous 5.0

19. Rudeness Vile 5.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    While these native tribes are considered unintelligent and primitive by most, they certainly know what mistreatment is and they, much like any other person with a brain, don’t take kindly to it.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0