Released: June 1985(USA)
Director: Ruggero Deodato
Unrated
Distributor: Grindhouse Releasing
Run Time: 96 Minutes
Cast:
Robert Kerman: Professor Harold Monroe
Francesca Ciardi: Faye Daniels
Perry Perkanen: Jack Anders
Luca Barbareschi: Mark Tomaso
Carl Gabriel Yorke: Alan Yates
Over the past few years, we have seen some “extreme” horror movies such as A Serbian Film, Martyrs, and Human Centipede. These are the kinds of movies that don’t pull punches with their content. These movies are gut-wrenching, violent, and at times detestable. These aren’t the first ones to do it, though. In fact, the first film to really shock audiences was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Despite the fact that it was in black and white, it was very intense and violent. Now, the real brutal films first started showing up during the 1970s with Wes Craven’s The Last House On The Left, which was released in 1972. The tag line for the film was “It’s only a movie.” It was a rough one to sit through. But in 1978, one of the most notorious films ever made was unleashed on audiences: I Spit on Your Grave. This film was notorious for its graphic depictions of rape and violence. It ended up on the U.K.’s infamous “Video Nasties” list, and was subsequently banned in multiple countries around the world. However, one of the most controversial films ever made was right around the corner: Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust.
Cannibal Holocaust begins on a news story about a group of film-makers who went into the Amazon to make a documentary about the local cannibal tribes that resided there. They had been missing two months when one Professor Harold Monroe decides to go looking for them and see if they’re still alive. After arriving in South America, Monroe hires a local guide to take him through the jungle to find his missing colleagues. After witnessing a brutal rape and murder of a native woman by another native, Monroe discovers the remains of the film makers near the village of one of the tribes. After convincing the tribe’s chief to hand over the footage for the documentary, Monroe heads back to New York to try and unravel what had happened. Watching the “documentary,” Monroe discovers the horrifying truth about the events that lead to the deaths of the film crew. I had watched and reviewed this film about a year ago for a different website of mine. That website is pretty much dead at this point, but I had mentioned some of the grotesque stuff that was in the film. A little history first: When Cannibal Holocaust was released back in 1980 in Italy, it was both praised for it’s cinematography and visuals, while condemned for it’s graphic content. A lot of people really hated this movie, mostly because of one fact: Real animals were killed on screen. The version of the film I had watched was completely uncensored, and had all that crap in there. It was an issue that I certainly had. That’s not to say that the violence and graphic sexual assaults that happened on screen were any less brutal, but it was the animal cruelty that stood out, and made the film particularly notorious.
So, why do I come back to this movie nearly a year after I saw it? About a decade ago, a company called Grindhouse Releasing had celebrated the 25th anniversary of the film by re-releasing it on DVD. What makes this DVD release different from the previous one is the inclusion of the option to watch the film without the animal cruelty. Ruggero Deodato, at some point, had decided that it really wasn’t the best idea to slaughter animals on camera. This is the version that I had just viewed. Is the film as powerful without the animal cruelty? In a word, no. While the film was certainly gut-wrenching, it was also very powerful and made audiences very uncomfortable. Animal rights activists were PISSED, and it’s completely understandable. In my personal opinion, as a person who really loves animals, I really do appreciate the inclusion of this option on the DVD. My initial viewing of the film left certain images burned into my mind for months. Make no mistake: Even without that footage, Cannibal Holocaust is still a very gut-wrenching and gruesome experience. The movie was filmed on location in Colombia, so that allows for some authenticity which Deodato was trying to go for. Some of the backdrops and scenery are amazing.
Cannibal Holocaust is widely considered to be one of the first “found footage” films ever made, and hasn’t been duplicated since. I generally don’t like the sub-genre, but Holocaust was something different. The first half of the movie is Monroe searching for the missing crew and we get to some pretty interesting things. By interesting, I mean some pretty gross things like a decomposing corpse and a brutal rape and murder of a native woman. When Monroe recovers the lost footage, the film takes a different turn and becomes a “film-within-a-film.” This is actually a really cool thing to do, and I loved the way they did it. It made the film more realistic which, surprisingly, added to the controversy surrounding Cannibal Holocaust. Again, here’s a little more history about the film for you: Because of the way it was shot, and as realistic as it appeared, the director and some of the other crew members were nailed with obscenity charges. Because of the way some of the characters were dispatched in the film, Deodato would’ve been hit with murder charges as well, if it wasn’t for the fact that he produced the actors to prove that they were still alive. It’s pretty interesting stuff, actually.
The DVD set that I received in the mail recently is extraordinary. The first disc contains the actual movie, which includes the uncensored version. But for those of us who are sensitive to animal cruelty, there is the option to watch the film without that crap, which I stated above. Personally, I think the version without the animal cruelty makes for a better film and experience. The pacing is better as well. One of the features on the second disc is an interview with Robert Kerman, who played Professor Monroe. It’s a pretty candid interview with Robert basically laying into Deodato as a director and the film for being “savage” as he puts it. He was very much against the animal cruelty that had been occurring, and he made it known to the director and everybody else. Cannibal Holocaust was made as an indictment of the exploitation of the Third World and it’s inhabitants for sensationalism, and it’s illustrated here time and time again, not just with the folks who wanted to let the world see the footage, but also the crew that made it. It’s pretty heavy-handed, to be sure, but it’s still pretty relevant.
After a year had passed since I last saw the film, I can honestly say, that it’s still a vicious, uncompromising, and brutal film that deserves all it’s accolades and it’s criticisms. The people who spoke out against the film are not wrong. This is a film that pushes buttons and doesn’t mince words. Cannibal Holocaust is considered to be the grand-daddy of cannibal horror, and it’s a well-deserved label. It’s also a film that inspired Eli Roth to write and direct his latest flick, The Green Inferno, which was recently released. If you’re a fan of horror movies, Cannibal Holocaust is required viewing, at least once. Because of the recent DVD release, I have to say, that I really, really like Cannibal Holocaust. Not necessarily because of its content, but because of how it was made and how it has managed to continue to shock and disgust audiences even today.