La Dea Cannibale

Thank you for this great review. But I need to mention that I Cannibali is not the movie you watched, but the Jess Franco flick Mondo Cannibali, aka Cannibals. There's some comments there, describing Mondo Cannibale as a boring movie. I agree. Certainly not a masterpiece in Jess Francos collection. Don't bother, watch Cannibal Holocaust again instead.

This was the third jungle cannibal film I've watched from Jess Franco. Easily the best of the lot, but the competition for that crown isn't much. Franco was simply riding the Cannibal phase, and it simply shows.

I guess, I would say this low-rent production was enjoyable in parts. Loved the slow-motion cannibal munching and the nauseating camera zooms. Those poor ladies. Franco really throws caution to the wind. Although gore fx is a real mixed bag, it works, in spite of some laughable moments.

This includes hilarious dubbing. Even the birds are dubbed?! It was strange hearing cannibals speaking fluent English. Using words like exterminate. But even then, they weren't the most convincing looking tribal cannibals. Nice make-up, but they sure did smear it at times, when eating alive their victims.

The plot throws out many senseless developments. I liked how 'everything' suddenly comes back all at once from our prototginist's lost memory. And how about these people deciding to tag along on a dangerous jungle expedition. They thought they were going on a tea party?! It ain't no walk in the park either... even though some scenes (the nicely trimmed vegetation) look it. Stiff acting and repetitive actions galore.

Surprisingly the funky soundtrack is what I think is the best thing here. Well, I guess I can't leave out Sabrina Siani and Lina Romay either.

Prof. Taylor (Al Cliver) and his family are attacked on their boat by a group of cannibals. Taylor is taken back to the village and barely survives, losing his young daughter and left arm (!) in the process. He spends the next decade or so manic and recovering in New York City with the help of his nurse Ana (Lina Romay). When he finally comes to his senses, Taylor - with aid from his rich benefactors - mounts another journey into the jungle to rescue his daughter. Problem is that she is now married to the head of the tribe and, most likely, hates her one- armed daddy.

Always down for a little exploitation, director Jess Franco got his cannibal groove on in the late 70s/early 80s and shot this one in the south of Spain. The cannibals are laughable (one is spotted wearing a wedding band) and look like they were grabbed in a Lowes parking lot (not far off actually as Franco says they hired gypsies). Plus, they wear goofy make up that makes them look like they are members of the baseball gang in THE WARRIORS. Sabrina Siani, memorably nude in Fulci's CONQUEST, shows where she got her start as the grown up daughter-turned- cannibal-queen. Franco calls her the "most stupid" person he has ever worked with in the Blue Underground disc's documentary. He then stops himself short and says that he has worked with many dumb leading ladies and that she is up there in the top. He also has kind words for Cliver, saying he was professional and sober which "for a Latin person is a miracle." While the film isn't even close to the genre's best offerings, it moves along fast enough, features some skin and delivers some gory goods (yeah, I'm easy to please tonight). One thing is for sure though, you will be singing the "Oh, oh, oooooooh" cannibal theme over and over by the time the film is done.

This film was released in 1980 ..around the time most Italian cannibal films were being filmed and released. This was possible the worst one I've seen next to cannibal terror ( and both films share footage) the so called cannibal tribe in this movie is more like a bunch of average Joe's wearing towels and clown makeup and I've noticed no women ( more like a sausage party than a primitive cannibal tribe) the acting is horrible and the plot wreaks but i still find it enjoyable in a comedic way. And I've seen Al Cliver in a lot of other great films like Zombie...the beyond...rulers of the city and joe d'amatos endgame

Being a great fan of the prolific Spanish Exploitation deity Jess Franco, I always believe negative feedback to a Franco flick I haven't seen to be exaggerated. It is undeniable that the man's impressive repertoire of about 200 directed movies includes masterpieces as well as big-time stinkers (and everything in-between). However, I do tend to enjoy even those Franco films that most people find awful. This is not the case with this film, however. "Mondo Cannibale" (aka. "Barbarian Goddess"/"White Cannibal Queen"/"Cannibals"/"Mondo Cannibale 3") is Franco's attempt at the Cannibal sub-genre which, with its gruesome and uncompromising films, was very successful in Italy at the time. Right after the abysmal French "Terreur Cannibale" (in which Franco was also involved), "Mondo Cannibale" is the second-to-worst Cannibal film I have ever seen and it has replaced "Sadomania" in its rank as the worst Franco-flick I've seen. "Mondo Cannibale" is, by the way, not to be confused with Umberto Lenzi's "Il Paese Del Sesso Selvaggio" (1972) and Ruggero Deodato's "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale" (1979), two classic Italian Cannibal films which are titled "Mondo Cannibale I&II" in many countries. This abysmal Franco flick is therefore often referred to as "Mondo Cannibale 3".

For whatever reason, a scientist (Al Cliver) brings his wife and young daughter with him on an expedition deep in a jungle filled with hungry cannibals. His wife gets eaten, and he escapes without his daughter (!), after his hand has been chopped off. Years later, the scientist comes back for his daughter, along with a couple of bored rich people who don't believe in his story and are just there to have fun. The cannibals are in the meanwhile, worshiping the daughter (who has blossomed into a beautiful bare-bosomed blonde)as a 'white goddess'...

There is so much wrong with this film that I hardly know where to begin: The jungle is not a jungle. It is a very neat assembly of palm-trees, probably somewhere in Spain or Southern France. It is so neat that the expedition is capable of going there in cars. Sometimes, one can even see Western buildings in the background. The 'savages'are entirely white guys. Some of them sport mustaches, sideburns and hip hair-cuts. Other wear watches or gold rings. Even though they clearly hate 'whites' (which is odd since they are white themselves), the cannibals declare the white girl their goddess on sight. The child, by the way, has brown hair, which magically becomes blond when she grows up. The main hero is apparently cowardly enough to leave his child daughter behind with a bunch of cannibals, but insanely brave enough to go back there after years, with two other men and three women to face the entire cannibal tribe... I could go on and on about the film's inconsistencies; however, the incredible logical errors are actually the most fun factor of the film. Sadly, all the rest is very boring. The seemingly never-ending monotonous drum banging is annoying as hell.

The Cannibal genre has many great Italian films to offer for anyone interested. The genre's only true masterpiece is Ruggero Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980), but there are many other gruesome and disturbing ones to watch, most notably Deodato's "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale" and all of Umberto Lenzi's Cannibal films. Jess Frano's take on the genre is a disaster. The budget was obviously tiny, but that's hardly an excuse, as Franco has proved on many occasions that he is perfectly capable of making great films on a tiny budget. The man has to be saluted for dabbling in about any Exploitation/Horror sub-genre imaginable. This film is still awful and hard to sit through. Not even Franco's muse and real-life wife Lina Romay can save this. One to be avoided, unless you are writing a book on Jess Franco.