Saturday 18 March 2017

DPP:72. 3 More Cannibal Films


So I figured I would need one more post in order to finish up discussing the Cannibal movies which are a part of the video nasties controversy of the 1980’s.

Cannibal Terror
Cannibal Terror was one of the films to end up on the list of video nasties which was not prosecuted. In fact compared to some of the films on the list this films stay there was rather brief as it was removed from the list in 1985. It was suggested that this film ended up on the list purely because of the word 'cannibal' in its title. A lot of people question how in depth the research in to these films was as Cannibal terror was treated as if it contained the same violence and questionable content as Cannibal Holocaust, and Cannibal Ferox, but it is in fact not even close to the level of violence depicted in those films. 

The plot in brief is that two criminals kidnap a girl and hide out in the house of a friend who lives by trading with the natives in a nearby jungle. The friend's wife is raped by one of them; in return for this she ties him to a tree and leaves him to be eaten by a local cannibal tribe.

The film shares some footage with another film called 'Mondo Cannibale (also known as White Cannibal Queen). While there are many sources which try to suggest that the footage from 'Mondo Cannibale' was borrowed for Cannibal Terror to save money and pad the film out there are more connections than this between the two films. Both films share a number of locations, cast, and even dubbing actors. In this way I view this as similar to the situation with the Spanish version of Dracula, which was filmed on the same sets as the British version, its sort of a way of trying to make the most out of your resources, one would imagine in the case of Cannibal Terror if any of this was done without permission there would have been legal action by now.

The film is full of nudity and has some blood but in comparison to Cannibal Holocaust, and Cannibal Ferox it is more comical than disturbing. In my opinion it is just one of those ‘’me to’’ films which was trying to cash in on what was at the time a popular genre, if it wasn’t banned it would have faded away so quickly that it would barely have made its way on to anybody’s radar. In this way the whole Video Nasties thing proberbly did this film a favour. I have always said that the easiest way to make sure someone watches something is to try to tell them that they cant, after all most people dislike being told what to do in there own personal life.

I would score this film an utterly forgetable 5 out of 5 , only watch this if your a completionist that feels they need to see all of these films.

Deep River Savages
Deep River Savages also known as Man from Deep River is an Italian exploitation movie from Umberto Lenzi the maker of Cannibal Ferox (Which I mentioned last time). It is considered by some to be the start of the whole cannibal movie phenomenon in fact and inspired many of films which followed it.

The plot can briefly be explained as the story of a photographer who is ambushed by a tribe while on a photo assignment in the rain forest. The tribe initially treats him viciously and uses him as a slave. The chief's daughter takes a liking to him, and her mother, who can speak English, helps him to attempt to escape. During his attempt encounters the fiancé of the chief’s daughter and kills him. Soon he is recaptured but the chief’s daughter decides that he will be her next fiancé. He then decides to live with the tribe; helping them to fight against a cannibal tribe that they're at war with

Just like Lenzi’s other film Cannibal Ferox this film largely found its way on to the video nasty list because of its scenes of animal cruelty. Unlike Cannibal Ferox there is not actually that much attention paid to the act of cannibalism. It is not so much a cannibal film as a film which happens to contain a bit of cannibalism in it.

I seemed to enjoy this film more than his latter film Cannibal Ferox, maybe it was the fact that it seemed like a more complete story, the things that happened in it even when they might have been a little gory seemed to exist to further the story as opposed to being there just to appeal to gore hounds. I still hate the whole animal crulty for the sake of a film thing and it seriously makes me want to punch the director in the face, I dont think the film should have been banned or prosecuted but if the director had been done for animal crulty then I would be quiet happy, heck I would love to see some kind of fine slapped in place where any old film that had real animal death or crulty loses a percentage of its profits to charities to help animals but I guess If I carry on talking about this anymore then ill be going really off on a tangent. Id give the film 7.5 , ignoring the above of course.

Cannibal Apocalypse
I want to explain this film but avoid giving to much away so I will start by saying it is not exactly your typical cannibal film in fact the title is in my opinion misleading the Spanish title Virus fits the nature of the film a little better. 

It rests almost between a cannibal movie and a zombie movie. The film starts in Vietnam where prisoners of war have developed a craving for human flesh. The film then goes forwards a decade or two and catches up with the Veterans who are now developing a real taste for flesh. As they bite people a rabies like infection spreads which gives the infected the same desire to eat human flesh. The film is not set in the jungle like the other Cannibal films it has a city setting more akin to the usual zombie fare. There is something I love about this film though maybe it is the fact that it features the acting talent of John Saxon which seems to push it beyond the other films I have been talking about with their largely unknown casts and low production values, every minute he is on screen is a bit of gold. Although this is the film I have talked about the least this is no bearing on my opinion on it. If you can only watch one of these films then make this the one. I would go so far as to give the film a nice solid 8, it is an under discussed film but its really a case of I think the less I say about it the more your likly to enjoy it.


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