Mondo Cannibale

Deep River Savages is most famous for being the first of the Italian cannibal movies. This sub-genre is pretty notorious and a lot of the films made the video nasty list (films considered obscene by the British authorities in early the 80's). This movie was one of the ones that did and it's not really very surprising on account of several scenes of real animal slaughter and one showing cannibals rape and eat an unfortunate victim. But the cannibal tag is a little misleading in the case of Deep River Savages because the cannibals are fairly minor characters here. It seems though that their brief appearance was the idea that led to the cycle of cannibal movies that would appear in the late 70's / early 80's. More accurately, this film is an Italian version of A Man Called Horse, which had come out a couple of years beforehand. In that one a white man is captured by Native American Indians and has to go through various trials and rituals before finally assimilating into the tribe, Deep River Savages effectively does the same thing but with primitive South East Asian tribes. It also ramps up the exploitation angle.

The story has a photographer working in Thailand who is forced to flee into the jungle after he kills a man in self-defence. He is soon captured by a primitive tribe who eventually take him in as one of their own after various trials and rituals. He falls in love with one of the young women of the tribe; meanwhile an enemy tribe of cannibals prowl menacingly in the periphery.

This one was helmed by Umberto Lenzi who was one of the most prominent directors of the cannibal sub-genre, going on to make films such as Eaten Alive. The two main stars of that one appear in this earlier film too, namely Ivan Rassimov and Me Me Lai. They are pretty good and quite surprisingly their romantic sub-plot is quite extensively developed. This and the culture clash elements make up much more of the movie than the cannibal aspect. This might disappoint a few people who come into this expecting something akin to the likes of Cannibal Holocaust, as despite some legitimately disturbing moments this is far less intense than later entries in the sub-genre. It's not a bad film though and is one well worth checking out if you enjoy Italian exploitation movies. It's certainly one with a fair bit of historical importance for sure.

Ivan Rassimov plays American photographer John Bradley, on vacation in Thailand. He and his guide end up deep in the jungle, where he is abducted by a primitive tribe. They put him into a variety of tortures and trials, until finally accepting him as one of their own. He finds adjusting to this new life to be surprisingly agreeable, especially when he becomes smitten with Maraya (Me Me Lai), the lovely daughter of the tribes' leader.

Considered to the vanguard film in that jungle / cannibal genre popularized by the Italians, this is definitely a trail blazer, but people who've already seen more famous entries in the genre may be caught off guard with this one. It's more of a straight drama (heavily influenced by Elliot Silversteins' Western "A Man Called Horse") with touches of horror than a body munching / body count / exploitation feature. In reality, despite the presence of a hostile cannibal tribe in the film, only one person ever gets turned into a feast.

"Sacrifice!", a.k.a. "The Man from the Deep River", isn't without its gory pleasures, however. It benefits from excellent location shooting and utterly convincing local color. It's wonderfully shot, and scored, and is overall quite appealing and engaging. It's not to all tastes, though, because it includes some brief moments of animal cruelty that will turn off some members of the audience. This, of course, has only become one of the elements that recurs throughout many an Italian jungle adventure.

Rassimov is good as the hero. The intoxicatingly gorgeous Me Me Lai, who went on to appear in "Jungle Holocaust" and "Eaten Alive!" as well, is very easy to watch. (Viewers should be quite content with the amount of female nudity that is present.) The other performances are quite effective.

This is as good a story of both the beauty and savagery of nature as one could see.

Eight out of 10.

Umberto Lenzi's "Paese Del Sesso Selvaggio" (aka "Deep River Savages"/"The Man From Deep River") of 1972 is THE pioneering Italian Cannibal flick, and yet it is not necessarily a typical example for the sub-genre. While this may still be extremely violent for the average cinema fan, it is nowhere near as disturbing and outrageously gory as the Cannibal flicks from the early 80s, such as Ruggero Deodato's masterpiece "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980) or Lenzi's very own "Mangiati Vivi" (1980) and "Cannibal Ferox" (1981). The film is often compared to "Dances With The Wolves", and it is obvious why. "Deep River Savages" is built up more like a traditional adventure movie - with the difference that this one features Cannibals. Cannibalism is not the film's main focus however and the Cannibals actually play a very small role. This film mainly explores a Westerner's assimilation to a savage jungle tribe.

On a trip through the unexplored jungle between Thailand and Burma, English photographer John Bradley (Ivan Rassimov) gets captured by a primitive tribe, who hold him prisoner for a while. After some time, however, Bradley falls in love with the tribe's beauty Maraya (the ravishing Me Me Lai), who is the daughter of the tribe's chief, and becomes assimilated to the tribe... The film features a lot of sleaze, but it is not nearly as shocking or nauseating as the Cannibal films to come. This is therefore probably the most recommendable Cannibal film for the sensitive when it comes to violence (allthough these people are probably best advised to stay away from the genre in general). Like most entries to the genre the film does feature real animal-killings, so Peta-activists and pals won't be fond of it either. I happen to love meat, however, and the scenes add a lot of authenticity to the atmosphere. The great late Ivan Rassimov (he died in 2003) was one of the greats in Italian exploitation cinema, especially in Cannibal Flicks. As always, Rassimov delivers an excellent performance. Me Me Lai is stunningly beautiful, and she fits extremely well in the female lead of Maraya, arguably the most lovable character ever in a Cannibal flick. THE beauty of the sub-genre, Me Me Lai appeared in this film, as well as "Cannibal Ferox" and Deodato's "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale". Apart from the Cannibal flicks, she sadly did not have many memorable roles before she left the film business in the 80s. "Il Paese Del Sesso Selvaggio" is THE pioneering Cannibal flick, and yet it is an adventure film and even a romance more than it is a Horror film about cannibals. While "Cannibal Holocaust" is the only true masterpiece of the sub-genre, this one is also a highly interesting film that no lover of Italian Exploitation-cinema should consider missing. Most of the Cannibal flicks have their own particular qualities, but this one is quite unique. In case you just want to watch two films of the sub-genre, I would personally recommend to make it "Cannibal Holocaust" and this one.

This is a earlier film directed by Umberto Lenzi in 1972. This is also considered to be the first of a series of many cannibal films. Although, this film dosen't necessarily focus on the cannibalism but more on character development and story.

Basically, a man goes into the amazon and is captured by a vicious tribe. It isn't until he kills one of their own that he is excepted into the tribe.

I just saw this movie and I thought it was a decent film. Nothing to spectacular but enjoyable nonetheless. The main problems with this film is it tends to drag at many points and the gore is very limited. Another problem with this film is (just like almost all other cannibal films) the fact that they have real animals being slaughtered. Just like in my review of Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox, I just don't understand the use in killing animals on the screen for shock value.

Altogether, this isn't a bad film but nowhere near as good as some of Lenzi's later work. 6/10 stars

This is often credited as "the first cannibal horror film", although it has less to do with cannibalism than with Italian shockumentaries such as "Mondo Cane". Viewing it is an often repellent but altogether fascinating experience - one that you will not soon forget. Umberto Lenzi's direction, which is a curious mix of skill and amateurishness, combined with the location shooting, give it a documentary-like feel that compensates for the thin and sloppily set-up plot. (***)