Italian Cannibal movies

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Enjoy :) .

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Just came across this image on Facebook. Rad, and messed up.

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Link to buy these things? I want to put one on the dash of my car.

Also, guess who just got Primitives? Oh yeah... Pray for me.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Primitives:

Not as bad as you'd think. A little light on gore but makes up for it with the kind of trash you'd expect from a ripoff of the Italo Cannibal pictures. Also of note that it features Nick Alexander (The voice of Al Cliver) providing dubbing for a major character.

Plot depicts a couple of anthropology students -recalling Cannibal Ferox- explore the customs of a savage tribe. Shit hits the fan and they need to escape. Take a shot every time you notice they've stolen something from the Eyetalians. Starring the Indonesian Will Smith Barry Prima and you have actually a pretty fun cannibal flick. At the very least it's leagues above Franco's atrocities in that it's actually competently made and lacks filler and amateur zooms. But it does feature the most awesome rubber snake on a stick effect.

Fun flick. Check it out not just because of it's trashiness but it's fascinating to see one culture imitate another.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Anthropophagous:

A little controversial because no one can seem to agree what genre this film belongs to. Some say Cannibal flick and some say Slasher. I personally think it's both since it features an insane cannibal maniac who we clearly see partially eat two of his victims and his backstory further establishes him as a cannibal and not to mention the end where he attempts to eat his intestines. It's also one of my favorite Eurohorror flicks (with an asterisk)*.

* The beginning is great, the 3rd act is fucking amazing, but the middle kinda' sucks. Same with another favorite of mine Contamination; it opens well, it ends well, but the middle drags.

One of Joe D'amato's best films with impressive cinematography in the 2nd and 3rd act and some great gore. The fetus scene will go down in the history books along with the chestburster scene from Alien or the meathook scene from TCM or the splinter in the eye from Zombie. As far as the ending with George Eastman eating his intestines; I remember watching Anthro and Jungle Holocaust back to back in the day. And Jungle ends somewhat similarly with Massimo Foschi eating the intestines of his pursuer. In Jungle I think it was meant to symbolize his defiance, frustration and insanity, and possibly to frighten his pursuers (and it worked). So, having watched Jungle first and then later Anthro the ending didn't come off as being random but made sense in a way.

True classic of Eurohorror still.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Man From Deep River:

2nd time watching it. 1st time was way back in the day for me (I was about 14 or 15) when I rented an uncut tape from Blockbuster of all places. I didn't like it then and I still don't particularly like it. The production values are reasonably high while the direction is average. Lenzi has never been a great visual director. My problem with it is that it feels unimportant with a story that seems all too familiar.

And then I remembered where I saw this before: Dancing With Wolves... with mild cannibalism and animal snuff.

Best part: Any nude scene featuring Me Me Lai.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Seems like this thread has run its course but there's one more flick I've yet to review in this thread. After this, there's still Bruno Mattei's Land of Death and Jess Franco's Cannibals which I've been unable to get my hands on.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals:

Perhaps the only successful fusion of Porno and Horror or Porno and any other genre. Only other films I can think of that were succesful fusions but not necessarily with Horror are Cafe Flesh and Roger Watkins' Corruption. Hardgore doesn't really succeed like this film and works because it's so unbelievably fucked up in it's execution.

This is also my 2nd favorite of the D'amato Emanuelle pictures. The other one -my personal favorite- being Emanuelle in America. Not a big fan of the other D'amato Emanuelle films but they have their charms for sure, but these two have a really interesting central story that feels complete compared to the others. Though wasn't it Emanuelle Around the World that ended with a woman having a snake shoved up her cunt? I forget.

Plot is the same as Zombi Holocaust minus the zombies and mad doctor subplot, and with added softcore and the divine Laura Gemser. Seriously, it's the same exact film, but it predates Zombi Holocaust. Production Manager Fabrizio De Angelis recently breaking away from D'amato became a producer on his own and found international success with Fulci's masterpiece Zombie. So in true Roger Corman fashion he decided to combine elements of this film and Fulci's and threw in a little bit of mad doctor mayhem.

Funny thing is that both films work if you're in the right mindset. Emanuelle in the Last Cannibals is not particularly well shot aside from the stylish softcore scenes but the gore is up there with the other cannibal pictures, featuring not one, not two, but three scenes of genital mutiliation. Including some nipple feasting that predates Burial Ground but not with as much build up. The acting is well, yeah, let's sidestep that. But the music is perfect porno music by the great Nico Fidenco and -surprise surprise- was largely re-used in Zombi Holocaust. Though, I prefer Zombi Holocaust's version of Make Love on the Wing more.

An essential part of the Eyetalian Cannibal Hierarchy and for shits 'n giggles here's my top 5 Cannibal movies:

1: Cannibal Holocaust. There's no debate. I can't even review it because it's not only the mother of all cannibal films, it's the Citizen Kane. One of the greatest Horror/Exploitation films ever made. There is no comparison.

2: Mountain of the Cannibal God. As a legit film it's better than Ferox and has some genuinely good acting and build up. Not to mention some fun Eurotrash moments on top of that.

3: Cannibal Ferox. The perfect pulp goofy sleazy OTT violent cannibal film. When you imagine a typical exploitation cannibal flick this is the kind of picture you would expect.

4: Massacre in Dinosaur Valley. Another one owing more to pulp comic book tropes and being a great guilty pleasure.

5: Anthropophagus. Cannibal/Slasher picture, maybe the only Cannibal/Slasher but I can't neglect it due to just how well made it is. It's probably one of D'amato's best films from a cinematography perspective. And the payoff is great for a slasher picture. It would be in my top 5 for Slasher films as well.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Emmanuelle And The Last Cannibals might actually be my favorite of the Black Emmanuelle movies simply because it's so... wacky. I mean, a smoking monkey? WTF?

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Emanuelle in America is my personal favorite. I still enjoy the hell out of Last Cannibals but America is so beautifully fucked up in a way that I can talk about it and dissect it for hours. First and foremost who was the audience for America? The only thing I can think of is that D'amato threw in a controversial element that could be easily edited out of the film for select markets. But it's so much more fun to think of it as an art porno picture exploring humanity's dark side.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Emanuelle in America is my personal favorite. I still enjoy the hell out of Last Cannibals but America is so beautifully fucked up in a way that I can talk about it and dissect it for hours. First and foremost who was the audience for America? The only thing I can think of is that D'amato threw in a controversial element that could be easily edited out of the film for select markets. But it's so much more fun to think of it as an art porno picture exploring humanity's dark side.

It's probably a bit of both. I haven't watched it in years so it's not all that fresh in my mind but I remember it, for the most part, being beautifully shot like most of his stuff, but yeah, the whole 'dark angle' that it takes (intentionally avoiding spoilers here just in case) definitely comes out of left field and you do have to question why he chose to do this and for whom he intended it.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

You know, I'm re-watching Mattei's Cannibal World again. I noticed this time that a major character is dubbed by the guy who dubbed the gay professor from Pieces, the professor who re-awakens the zombie plague in Zombi 4, and probably a dozen other Italo genre films. He dubs two characters. Including a brief scene with a priest, and they try to hide the fact that it's the same guy providing the dubbing by having him do a really bad French accent.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Ha, that sounds awesome. I don't think I've seen Cannibal World. I know I have it, but I don't think I've watched it. Cannibal Holocaust The Beginning was bad enough...

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Cannibal World was released as Cannibal Holocaust: The Beginning though. Land of Death is the other one where he rips off Predator and CH.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Cannibal World was released as Cannibal Holocaust: The Beginning though. Land of Death is the other one where he rips off Predator and CH.

Well then I have seen it and don't remember much about it obviously. I know I haven't seen the Predator rip off though...

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Jess Franco's Devil Hunter:

The other cannibal flick by everyone's favorite perverted hack Jess Franco. Surprisingly, this is better than White Cannibal Queen. The location actually looks like a jungle, the natives are not wearing watches, not to mention they actually look like natives as opposed to Europeans in face paint, the music is decent to good, the dubbing is decent, and the nudity is infinitely more agreeable.

But like White Cannibal Queen the pacing is abominably slow and Franco poured a ton of Vaseline on the lens while filming. The story is less comprehensible than the other film and it features far fewer scenes of cannibalism. But it is exploitative and trashy enough to get some enjoyment, moreso if watching with friends who are good at riffing.

Definitely better than White Cannibal Queen by not by much.

[Scott Intellectual Carrot Find all posts View Profile Close Scott]

It was the Grindhouse Ferox disc that popped my Italian cannibal movie cherry as well.

Me too. I want to say this was also the first exploitation dvd I purchased, though I'd seen plenty in the VHS days. And my first encounter with a boutique dvd label, the presentation of this sleazy gory classic sent me searching for more. At the time it filled all my needs, I didn't think that I really needed to own or see any more cannibal films. But I did, and slowly over the years I acquired damn near most of them. There is something about FEROX that puts it above all others save CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, but that movie isn't very fun and a little too self important, IMO. My personal High water mark for the genre is JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, a genuinely good movie with enough to genre trappings to fill both needs. Story and acting wise it's head and shoulders above CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST but I understand why that movie is revered. I just don't entirely agree with the praise.

For straight fun I watch MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY the most. Along with CUT AND RUN. They're both easier to watch, almost breezy fun.