Río de la muerte, río del amor

Though this made it onto the Video Nasties list when it was released and classified as a horror film I must admit to finding little horror in it at all. It is more of a drama, with gore, about a photographer in the Thailand jungle who is captured and subsequently brought into the tribe where he has to marry the chief's daughter to stay alive.

It also isn't a bad movie...

The major trouble with the film is that it's all staged, which means the scene's of animal cruelty are real. With other films of this ilk, most of the cruelty scene's were filmed by a third party for documentary reasons, though added to the movies for entertainment; you can usually notice the difference in film quality. So the cockfight and the snake vs mongoose are real, though I'm unsure at to the decapitation of the monkey skull so they eat the brains, as there is a cut which may indicate they changed out for special effects - one can always hope.

However, at the heart of the film is the change in John Bradley's (Ivan Rassimov) character from being a captive to a reluctant member of the tribe to a fully fledged tribe member, thrown into the mix is the love story between himself and Maraya (Me Me Lai).

It's not a fantastic film though Umberto Lenzi directs nicely, though I think the steady pace is a little too slow at times. It is beautifully filmed and I like that Lenzi filmed it in vivid colour and resisted making it more grimy and gritty. However, this beauty has a downside some of the sets are too clean and structured, not what you would expect to find in the middle of a jungle. The actors aren't too bad either and do a respectful job of bringing the tribe to life and showing their traditions and day to day living habits.

I really wouldn't recommend anybody to watch the film as it falls between the gaps trying to please everybody. For example, for an adventure, it's too slow so if you like adventure films you may not like this. The love story, which is more suited to this pace, at times could have made a decent "chick-flick" in its own right, though I don't think lovers of this style of film would enjoy the torture and cruelty aspects of the adventure.

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 was the first of the 6 major Italian Cannibal flicks of the 70's, (and early 80's). And it isn't that bad at all. It has a quite good story, and the acting is suprisingly good. The love story is a little far-fetched, but the film itself is quite enjoyable, except, once again for the real animal deaths.

Not as good as either of Deodato's, but certainly better than Eaten Alive, Cannibal Apocalypse, or Trap Them and Kill Them.

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.