La montagna del dio cannibale

I can't figure out why these late 1970s, Italian cannibal adventures intrigue me so much. I always get disgusted when they kill animals for the sake of a stupid movie, and yet time and time again, I'm drawn to movies like SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, which, in this case, I saw under its uncut European version, MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD. I had thought that with big names like Ursulla Andres and Stacey Keach involved, this one would be at least a little cleaner than CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, the most notorious of the genre.

As another of those "movies we love to hate", I recommend this one if it's easily accessible. Fans of Andres will enjoy seeing her naked, of course. As a jungle adventure, it succeeds and the occasional gore makes it that much more intense. Scenes of humans bleeding are faked, but as is often the case, the scenes of animals (i.e. a monitor lizard) bleeding are way too authentic. I don't advise eating spagheti while watching this story of some lady seeking her missing husband in a dense jungle, and stumbling upon "The Puka", a group of cannibals (one of which is a dwarf; added for comic relief).

Of all the infamous Italian cannibal movies of the seventies and early eighties, this is the most tedious. They all include pointless depicting of animals killing animals - and people killing animals.

Of course, they also include people killing people, but whereas this, of course, is fake, the animal killings are for real. Not that nature's not cruel, but what's the point in including suffering monkeys, iguanas, snakes and turtles in the movies?

Most of the time, these scenes seem staged, and in this movie, it's very clear a monkey was thrown before a hungry boa, and there was probably even a rope tied to it, while throwing! At 23:31 into the uncut DVD, you can see that a very clear and sharp, green branch is added onto the film in the left of the frame afterwards, in order to cover something up.

If it isn't a rope, it's probably the arm of the one throwing the poor monkey to its certain death. The following scene, where the producers show close-ups of the monkey's face, in all its anguish, is almost unbearable, and adds, of course, nothing to the story, except a bitter aftertaste.

The music (by de Angelis & de Angelis) is beautiful, and watching the then 41-year-old Ursula Andress in the nude, all tied up, are this movie's highlights.

"Mountain of the Cannibal God" may disappoint those looking for a hardcore cannibal flick, but if you're willing to accept it as a jungle adventure with occasional doses of gore it works better. The production is colorful and polished; this movie really looks great on DVD. Sergio Martino does a solid job with the direction; apart from "Predator", I don't think I've seen a film with a better sense of place during its jungle scenes. The plot has a good build-up, and even attempts a couple of twists. Ursula Andress handles her physically demanding role well (no wonder the cannibals mistake her for a goddess; that's what Ursula is. And did anyone else find one of the cannibal girls that were painting her up quite hot?). Stacy Keach is a solid lead and has the best (and best-delivered) line in the film: "You never forget the taste of human flesh!". By the way, I watched a 97-minute version which was quite gory, but had some "extreme" scenes that others have mentioned (bestiality) missing. (**1/2)

Susan Stevenson (Ursula Andress) and her brother, Arthur (Antonio Marsina), travel to the jungles of New Guinea to search for a lost expedition, which included Susan's husband. They enlist the help of Edward Foster (Stacey Keach), an anthropologist, who has visited the area before and is certain that Susan's husband went to the supposedly cursed area known as Ra Ra Mea, on the island of Roka.

Sergio Martino's addition to the Italian cannibal sub-genre is a far more tame and forgettable movie than ‘Cannibal Holocaust' (1979) or ‘Cannibal Ferox' (1981). While featuring the numerous indignities that seemingly became mandatory amongst the sub-genre (such as castration, rape and real animal slaughter), ‘Mountain of the Cannibal God' is much less brutal and therefore less compelling. The plotline was dreadfully arranged which meant that all the supposed plot-twists were noticeable long before they even happened. Rather than be shocked or appalled by the depictions on-screen, it becomes far easier for the viewer to laugh at what is going on; a reaction that no good exploitation flick should produce. Having said that, the first thirty-five minutes or so were fairly entertaining and set the movie up nicely. The movie benefited from some surprising and effective moments, as well as many well-executed (but basic) effects. Unfortunately, scripting and pacing problems meant that ‘Mountain of the Cannibal God' started to become fairly dull shortly afterwards; something that no degree of `shock treatment' was able to fix.

The performances from the cast in ‘Mountain of the Cannibal God' are possibly the best of the Italian cannibal sub-genre. Veterans Stacey Keach and Ursula Andress (ex-Bond girl) were certainly the crème de la crème of the cast as they both offered dramatic and convincing performances. Ursula managed to portray the sexiness of her character (despite being over 40 at the time) very well which certainly allowed the movie to gain in some respects from the multiple nude scenes in which she was involved. However, nudity as we know does not make a good movie. Claudio Cassinelli also gave a pleasing performance in his role as jungle-wise Manolo. The only bad performance was that of Antonio Marsina who came across as monotonous and unmotivated. His performance was less than aided by the terrible scripting for his character. Although the character of Arthur was obviously meant to come across as an annoyance, he became too annoying and thus made all scenes in which he was involved almost too painful to watch. One could be forgiven for wishing that Arthur had been killed at the beginning of the movie.

For all the movies faults there were some pleasantly entertaining scenes scattered about and although the viewer may be put off by the constant dragging, the later scenes can be somewhat of an enjoyable experience. The more basic effects were usually of a good standard but some of the advanced effects later in the movie fell very short and were thoroughly unconvincing. Fans of exploitation flicks should be partially impressed with ‘Mountain of the Cannibal God' but will be very unfulfilled if they expect another ‘Cannibal Holocaust' or ‘Cannibal Ferox'. This movie is worth watching once, but I doubt many would deem it worthy of multiple viewings. My rating for ‘Mountain of the Cannibal God' – 5.5/10.

Italian horror supremo Sergio Martino managed to persuade Ursula Andress into this now notorious jungle adventure and moreover got her to display her boobies! Back in the days when animal rights activists were just a glimmer in their fathers eye, film makers were able to shock audiences by showing gratuitious scenes of animals being killed. In this case, a giant snake eating a monkey, tribesmen slicing open a large lizard, and a number of others - intense imagery but it does go to show how brutal nature can be.

Andress plays Susan Stevenson, the wife of a scientist who has become lost in the New Guinea jungle, and mounts an expedition with the help of her brother and another scientist. They soon meet up with the mysterious Manolo who helps in the search and discover that Susan's hubby has gone in search of a secret tribe living on a remote mountain called Ra Ra Me which translates as Mountain Of The Cannibal God.

Much of the group are killed on the way by members of the cannibal tribe and when they do arrive at the mountain, it is the Uranium in the rocks that Susan seeks for financial gain rather than locating her husband. However, her plans are quickly scuppered when the tribe capture her and the last remaining scientist and take them to their mountain lair. They believe that Susan is a goddess and create a living monument by smearing her naked body with fluid and putting ceremonial items on her. How sweet.

The jungle locations are rich and vibrant, and the cannibals are genuinly scarey looking characters - especially the midget one. The flick does over use shock tactics in parts such as the frenzied sex scene which includes a large boar as far as I can make out. That said, I personally enjoyed the whole 70's exploitation experience but that may be due to having something wrong with my head.

7.75 out of 10.