Mondo cannibale

A 2003 sequel/prequel/remake/ripoff of Cannibal Holocaust? Directed by Bruno Mattei?? OK, sure, why the hell not? It's not like it was shot on video, right? ...*sigh*... Alright, let me start over.

Cannibal Holocaust: The Beginning. Mattei's remake of the undisputed King of the ever traumatizing, Italian Cannibal sub-genre. Now, when first hearing about it, and possibly even sitting through it, one word that may or may not come to mind is pathetic, or possibly desperate, maybe even typical. The truth is, this day in time, with big-budget super-hero/Fantasy movies ruling the world, and most Exploitation sub-genres being dead and buried, we should consider ourselves lucky to have access to authentic, modern-day, Italian Cannibal Gore, and yes, I realize that Vincent Dawn made it, and I'm fine with it.

A nearly Identical story. Sadistic film crew, in the "Amazon", looking for proof of a primitive tribe of cannibals for shock TV, to further their careers. Everyone's desire to keep on shooting, no matter how banged up they get, is exaggerated to humorous levels, and this version is every bit as brutal and unflinching as the original, or at least close enough.

Unfortunately, the whole shot -on-video thing is pretty much, the only difference. nothing too original or thought-provoking, just the same old impalings, rapings (real) animal killings, Cannibal's burning, "let's get the hell out of here" and, I wonder who the real cannibals are. You know the drill by now.

One has to wonder how bad, financially (or mentally) things were for Mattei, for him to pull something like this, (once again) this day in time, but I'm glad he did. It's like Herschell Lewis's Blood Feast 2, from a few years ago, it just gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia for a long-forgotten era, and for that alone, this piece of garbage is A-OK in my book. Not quite on par with Mattei's earlier work, like my favorite, Hell Of The Living Dead, and not quite as real as the ones from the golden era (minus Cannibal Terror), but a rare treat, no matter how you look at it. Bruno Mattei is dead now, which probably means that this was it. So, don't be too hard on it, in fact, try to enjoy it, try to overlook the many, many flaws, and accept it for what it is, the last of the Italian Cannibal Gore epics. 6/10

I found the DVD at a flea market, i immediately bought it after i saw that it was a film from Bruno Mattei (well, he used the pseudonym Vincent Dawn, but i noticed that). Homewhever, i knew that this was going to be a movie in the same vein as Cannibal Holocaust.....but i didn't expected that it was going to be some kind of remake, even some of the dialogs where the same as Cannibal Holocaust ("The only thing that can scare me ? the marriage !" or something like that). Shot on digital, probably the worst digital that i saw, it looks like a Mexican soap opera. The plot is "slightly" different from Cannibal Holocaust (for some reasons it reminds me of "Cut and Run" also): Grace Forsyte lost some of her audience for her TV show, for get some audience back, she hires the war reporter Bob Manson. The Crew goes to the amazon in search of the cannibals, many situations will resemble Cannibal Holocaust, but unlike Cannibal Holocaust, there is no "real" animal cruelty. At least there are gore scenes and nudity for make this movie watchable (in my taste).

A "modern" remake of Cannibal Holocaust on a $5 budget. This is one of Bruno's more watchable features. Sure, its awful. Its cheap and sleazy and poorly dubbed. But I will be honest: this is a better Cannibal film than the disappointing big budgeted Hollywood shot Green Inferno. This is even more watchable than Make Them Die Slowly. Its pure garbage but it delivers on the gore. Bruno has many unwatchable pieces of celluloid trash but this one is up there w his very best. If you want something "good" in the traditional sense... steer clear. If you want good old shoe-string-gory-cheap-ass-trash then this is as good as it gets as far as a jungle cannibal gut-muncher goes. Its laughable as far as production values go but the gore is plentiful and you WILL be entertained!

Released and promoted in some countries as "Cannibal Holocaust 2: The Beginning", this really isn't a sequel (or prequel) to Ruggero Deodato's legendary exploitation-classic, but more like a shameless and unscrupulous imitation with absolutely no new ideas or innovating concepts to add to the original . The screenplay is almost an exact copy of CH, with a group of power-horny TV people supposedly descending into the Amazon jungle to shoot a documentary about the lives of the last remaining genuine cannibal tribes. The crew, led by the reputedly unrelenting anchorwoman Grace Forsythe, very well knows they'll only get high viewer ratings when they serve their audiences copious amounts of action, bloodshed and repulsive images, and realize their show will be canceled and their careers will be finished if the jungle adventure doesn't turn out to be a success. So when the natives behave a little too tame and peaceful, Grace & C° see it as their own normal duty to burn down villages, kill defenseless villagers, poach innocent animals and rape the local virgins themselves, all for for the sake of sensational TV-making. Also, in good old-fashioned Cannibal Holocaust style, there's one remotely human TV-executive among the bunch who condemns the sick footage and even turns straight to the camera to raise the classic debate "I wonder who the real cannibals are?". Needless to say the beastly film crew eventually gets what they deserve, when they encounter the feared community of the Invisibles; a very primitive and downright savage tribe of which the members clearly aren't interested in a TV-career. It's rather difficult to judge Bruno Mattei's "Cannibal World". It's a thoroughly unoriginal, repetitive film and it nearly doesn't feature the same raw & shocking atmosphere of its Italian ancestors of the early 80's. Being entirely shot with modern video techniques, "Cannibal World" looks too clean and obviously fake whereas the old cannibal films literally dropped you in the middle of the jungle along with the characters. On the other hand, I can't help feeling more or less obliged to appreciate this film, just because it attempts to bring back the relentless heyday of Italian exploitation cinema! After all, you got to have some respect for writer/director Bruno Mattei! The man has passed the age of 70 and yet he's the last of the old guard of Italian horror directors who still has the courage to travel towards the Philipinian jungles and shoot a film with inexperienced actors and limited financial means. That alone deserves the respect of every person who ever showed interest in Italian horror cinema. Moreover, "Cannibal World" is literally stuffed with nasty gimmicks, gory massacres and super-sleazy footage. Fans of explicit disembowelment certainly won't be disappointed, as we extendedly get to see the intestines of nearly every character who walks through the screen. The unknown Helena Wagner is rather terrific as the grade-A bitch Grace and the unearthly beautiful Cindy Jelic Matic provides the slower parts of the film with essential nudity. All together, I personally think us vintage exploitation-fans owe Bruno Mattei a big and sincere "Thank You".

Leave it to Bruno Mattei to hit the cannibal subgenre 20 years after its highpoint. This entry, filmed as CANNIBAL WORLD, shows that he still has that special touch to make xerox cinema as this is almost a scene by scene remake of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Reporter Grace Forsyte heads into the Amazon jungle with Bob Manson and their crew to capture images of cannibalism for the TVN Network. Naturally, the civilized people end up being the savages as they burn down a village and kill natives to stage entertaining television. Intercut with the jungle adventures are the arguments of two TV execs, one who loves the ratings bonanza footage and the other who loathes it. In case you forgot the point, the dissenting executive turns directly to the camera and asks, "I wonder who the real cannibals are." Bruno hits all of the CH main points from the "stop smirking" bit to the rape scene. Unfortunately, he also felt it necessary to include a real animal killing as well. Also on the downside, the characters are never consistent in their views. One minute Bob is chastising Grace for being exploitive and the next he is going hog wild in the staging of a burning village. The same thing happens with Grace. Ah, whatever. The movie is gory and has nudity. Plus, Mattei shows he still has a knack for making the funniest dubbed dialogue. Filmed on location in the Phillipines.