Río de la muerte, río del amor

Umberto Lenzi was a diverse director, having made Giallo films, Italian crime films and some of the most notorious cannibal flicks, not to mention a whole host of other films with various sub-genres of horror. Deep River Savages is the film that is often given credit for kicking off the whole cannibal tradition, and it's also a member of the British 'Video Nasty' list, which lead to it's banning in the eighties. It's odd that this film should be on that list; however, as it's debatable as to whether or not it's even a horror film. Sure, it features some gore; but this is more like an early version of Dances with Wolves than its more bloodthirsty cannibal film cousins. The film follows Ivan Rassimov; a man who, after accidentally killing another man in a bar, finds himself in the Amazon jungle, where he is taken captive by a bunch of savages. After enduring various tortures, he finds himself the object of affection for a dim-witted female member of the tribe, and when she chooses him as her husband; he soon realises that despite being bloodthirsty savages; these guys aren't all that bad...

Ivan Rassimov is one of my favourite cult Italian actors, and he does well in this film as his rugged appearance fits the feel of the movie very well and this makes him believable in the lead role. His performance gives the film credibility; something which is lacking in a lot of these types of films. He is joined by his Last Cannibal World and Eaten Alive co-star Me Me Lai, whose appearance again helps the movie and the pair do actually bode quite well on screen together. Umberto Lenzi's direction is assured as usual, and he does a good job of ensuring that the location fits the tone of the movie at all times. The jungle setting is well realised, and the shots the savages' village look great. The film is, like Kevin Coaster's highly rated nineties film, more than a little bit cheesy; and this isn't helped by Ivan Rassimov's voice-over. If it wasn't for the fact that I've seen 1957's 'Run of the Arrow', I would imply that Kevin Costner stole ideas from Umberto Lenzi. Of course, Dances with Wolves was about an Indian tribe; but there isn't a lot of difference. Still, I'd take Ivan Rassimov and cannibals before Kevin Costner and Indians any day! Overall, this isn't one of the 'great' Italian cannibal films...but it's not bad either.

This, Umberto Lenzi´s first cannibal movie, is by far the best of the three he made. Not as gory as Eaten Alive or Cannibal Ferox (well, is any movie really as gory?), but with a better plot and acting. Ivan Rassimov, who is awful in Eaten Alive, is really not bad in this one. Actually, cannibals are really not that important to the plot. This appears to be more of a "Man called Horse" rip-off, Rassimov is captured by some tribe somewhere in Asia and has to go through some harrowing tests to be accepted, later he encounters some cannibals. I don´t recall seeing a better directed Lenzi film, although if you´ve seen a few of his films you´ll know this ain´t no masterpiece. I read in an interview that this is his favorite of the three cannibal flicks he made. Unfortunately there is a bit much real life animal cruelty, which will upset some. Nice score, though.

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.

In Director Umberto Lenzi's SACRIFICE! (aka: THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER), photographer, John Bradley (Ivan Rassimov) ventures into the wilds of Thailand, after having killed a man in self defense. While taking pictures, Bradley is captured, and finds himself at the mercy of a primitive tribe. What follows is his hellish ordeal. There's also a rival tribe of cannibals nearby.

With this early effort, Mr. Lenzi pretty much set the pattern for this entire subgenre. Torture, flesh-eating, and the inexplicable animal cruelty are all on display. The notorious "monkey brain" scene alone is certainly enough to set off anyone's gag reflex. Of course, the argument is made that this is in keeping with tribal customs. However, this is a fictional movie, not a documentary.

The sad thing is that this isn't a bad movie, and the aforementioned cruelty really has nothing whatsoever to do with the story. It's totally unnecessary!

Extra points go to Me Me Lai, who is in three of these cannibal epics (as is Mr. Rassimov). She's very good in all of them...

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.