Die Rache der Kannibalen

This is one of the better cannibal boom films out there. Umberto Lenzi does a great job with the directing of this movie.

Bong it up and burn it down.

There are so many versions of this movie floating around that I have absolutely no idea what was cut from the version I saw, and what wasn't. All I know is that it was the recent Grindhouse Releasing version.

I expected absolutely nothing from this movie, other than completely amateurish nonsense in the vein of an updated Hershell Gordon Lewis. I was shocked to find that Cannibal Ferox really isn't a bad movie at all. The storyline, acting and production values were as solid as you could expect from such a multi-lingual low budget exploitation flick, especially considering the amount of outdoor location shooting, and Grindhouse have done a really good job with the remastering. Lorraine De Selle is great, trying to take the whole thing seriously while Giovanni Lombardo Radice chews the scenery around her with leering, bog-eyed abandon. Zora Kerova looks like she wandered in from the set of Friday 13th Part II, all blond curls and pert tits, and suffers the consequences. The whole New York subplot stinks of running-time-filler and could be totally done away with.

The gore is minimal but effective – a blink and you'll miss it latex castration and a rather more shocking breast-on-hook impalement. The much criticized animal cruelty really isn't as bad as everyone tries to make out – usually consisting of little more than Discovery Channel style documentary footage of animals chasing and killing each other. On the few occasions in which people actively kill animals, they do so quickly and efficiently, and there's no sense that the animals are suffering, or no more than they would in the average abattoir. It's interesting that when animals are butchered for your viewing pleasure in Italian exploitation movies it's banned in a dozen countries, but when Coppola does it (far less humanely) in Apocalypse Now, it's art.

This was my first journey into the Cannibal genre, and if I can get my hands on Cannibal Holocaust, it won't be my last. Ferox is a fun, trashy, low budget, exploitation fest that is far more enjoyable than some of the big-budget mainstream dross that I've had to endure (Constantine anyone?).

I just finished watching this movie, and it actually wasn't bad. The acting was a little cheesy and the plot was at first corny but it eventually picked up and became what it was supposed to be, a gory hard to watch cannibal movie. I didn't enjoy or was not happy with the animal deaths, but the movie was supposed to be shocking and hard to watch, and that is definitely what those scenes were. It had very good gore effects for 1981. The brain eating, the stomach eating, the hooked girl, and the other scenes of cannibalism were gross and pretty hard to watch. I guess I'm a gorehound, but most movies never really deliver on gore in my opinion. This one did, and that was all ready enough for it to be good. I also like the idea that the cannibals are not the real bad guys, and that we are. If you are a fan of horror movies, especially low budget exploitation horror, then this movie is for you. If you have a weak stomach then do not see this. Still haven't seen cannibal holocaust or any other Italian cannibal film sadly, so I don't have anything to compare this to.

In Brooklyn, in New York City, the drug dealer Mike Logan (John Morghen) steals US$ 100,000.00 from his suppliers and flees to Colombia. The police detectives seek out the touristic guide Myrna Stenn (Meg Fleming), who shared her apartment with Mike.

Meanwhile, the anthropologist Gloria Davis (Lorraine De Selle) travels on vacation to Paraguaya, in Colombia, with her brother Rudolph "Rudy" Davis (Bryan Redford) and her friend Pat Johnson (Zora Kerowa) expecting to find the town of Manioca to prove her thesis that cannibalism does not exist. However, their Jeep breaks down in a lonely road and they need to walk. They meet the Americans Mike Logan and his friend Joseph "Joe" Costolani (Walter Lloyd) that is wounded and Mike tells that the local Indians have eaten their guide Portuguese and they join the trio of friends.

Soon the promiscuous Pat stays with Mike and Joe tells the truth about Mike to Rudy and Gloria and how cruel he had been with the Indians, torturing elders, women and children. Rudy and Gloria feel that they are in danger but there is no place to hide from the young cannibals that are returning to their hamlet.

"Cannibal Ferox" is another brutal Italian film of cannibalism extremely realistic. The story is not bad and the special effects are very impressive; however, the cruelty with live animals is unbearable and does not add any value to the movie. I do not know what viewers could or expect to see in a B-movie with the title "Cannibal Ferox". I saw this film on a Brazilian DVD and the quality of the image is only reasonable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Cannibal Ferox"

You can't take it seriously. It's really silly, poorly acted and really cheesey in parts. But it does have a hefty bucket load of blood to keep gorehounds like my good self happy. Make sure to see it uncut, because to be honest, there isn't much else going for it(!) I just wish they left the animals alone in these films. But keep your eyes out for the highlights; the unfortunate John Morghen, who has his manhood sliced clean off and eaten by one of the Cannibals. This film is not as bad as it is supposed to be, though.

Otherwise a good Cannibal flick, better than the rest of them, but naturally nowhere near as good as Deodato's masterpiece - Cannibal Holocaust, which sits safely on it's throne.