Cannibal Holocaust

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Ruggero Deodato

Starring: Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi, Salvatore Basile

From: F.D. Cinematografica

Yes, I have seen this before; finally I watched it again so I can give it a public review. It's still shocking 36 years later. I explain what I thought of this shocker below:

Oh, how do I rate this movie... the thing is, I have seen it once before, albeit years ago, and back then I wasn't quite sure about it either. I guess I'll never be able to fully make up my mind. I will try to explain why I am giving this a 3 star rating. I don't need to do much explaining on how this is still one of the most notorious motion pictures ever made or how it can be considered the grandfather of the found footage genre, so let me get to the nitty gritty.

A lot of complaints can be made about the movie. The story is pretty silly, with several moments that made me go, “Hey, wait a minute now...”, as this is exploitation the portrayal of “the natives” is less than enlightened and even without the whole “hey, they're cannibals!” thing, I am pretty sure that's not how the isolated tribes of Brazil really act. Then there's the animal cruelty... I am definitely not a vegan and not ridiculously militant about “animal rights” like some people are. Yet, I don't need to see animals get killed on the screen... from the snake and spider to the pig, the monkey, the coati and... oh, the poor tortoise; that is the worst because they linger on it for a few minutes and it's just gross. I say it wasn't needed as the themes of the movie (especially how awful that documentary crew was) were expressed without all that shock footage. Furthermore, the first half is not as good as the second half, where we finally see the found footage and there's the debate over if the footage should be broadcast or not... even though Chaco was a wacky amusing character.

Yet, I can still say that this is fine. Deodato sought to criticize the media for how they act and how they stage certain things, and that certainly presented well in the film. That documentary crew, they are quite repugnant so you don't feel bad when they get a just punishment. I had forgotten that this movie had the most awkward sex scene ever following a decidedly non-sexy moment. Then again, I had forgotten such things as:

* The giant '79 Dracula billboard in New York City you see in the beginning.
* Professor Monroe being played by a porn actor who was one of the stars of Debbie Does Dallas.
* Lamberto Bava being one of the assistant directors.

However, I did remember The Green Inferno stuff, so I knew where Eli Roth got the title for his incredibly divisive cannibal movie... which I suppose I should watch one of these days.

Anyhow: the second half of the movie is horrifying in a variety of ways. The deaths are still disturbingly effective and feel authentic. The obscenity charges that the filmmakers faced was a bunch of crap but the acted charges of murder due to people thinking the deaths were legit... that is something else entirely. After watching the movie, those effects look so real it is not so preposterous to think it actually happened. It is quite the feat for a movie to fool people to that much a degree.

More so than usual, I can perfectly understand any rating that people give this. I can see how some would despise this and others would think of it as a masterpiece. It certainly is incredibly influential even now and its denunciation against the media is sadly more relevant now than ever. While the animal killing is greatly regrettable (something even Deodato recognizes now), otherwise I can appreciate this for what it is and note how it does successfully present its message and mention such things as the nice score from the typically reliable Riz Ortolani.

It is a benefit to film fans like us that for only a few bucks this can be rented from Amazon Instant in its unedited form. It was the version Grindhouse Releasing put out, where at the beginning they put up a disclaimer noting this was unedited, but said they did not agree with everything in the movie and they were glad the “bygone era of extreme irresponsibility” is a thing of the past. It's hard to disagree as dangerous filmmaking-while raw and full of genuineness-is ultimately not worth the hassle when you do irresponsible things and you have such a blowback like this movie received.