Cannibal Holocaust

Yes, this film was banned and heavily censored in a few places for being disturbing. It does have some really well done gruesome scenes but the real censorship came from the cruelty to animals. Let's just say this film doesn't have "no animals were harmed during production" scrolling the end credits. The animal killings include a pig being shot in the head from close range, a muskrat being slit open for no reason, a giant turtle being split open in an overly long scene and a monkey getting his brains bashed in which required two takes so two monkeys were killed during production. These were real killings and not faked. A lot of the actors on the set protested this but the show went on. In fact, one of the lead actors feared for his life thinking this might be a "snuff" film and might meet the same fate. As much as this bothered people, is it really that different then buying meat in a supermarket? At least it made me think. The movie centers around "found footage" of a group of documentary filmmakers. The filmmakers are in South America searching for a tribe of flesh-eaters, hoping that this documentary will win them fame and fortune. The movie was marketed in a way that made viewers believe all the documentary footage shown in the movie was actual footage of a group that really went to South America to do a documentary. Some questionable acting gives it away. And you thought "The Blair Witch Project" was an original idea didn't you!?

This movie could have easily been a 9 or a 10 because it is truly a disturbing masterpiece and really makes you think about what we consider civilized. The reason I'm rating it so low is that it is ridiculous that the animal slaughters were done using live animals, (7 animals were killed in the making of this video, though only 6 are shown) which was completely unnecessary as they clearly had the skills to depict realistic murder/slaughter/rape/gore scenes as shown by all the gruesome events featuring humans. The only good thing to come out of this is that very few movies afterwards ever used real animals becausr of all the backlash this one received.

It's impossible to talk about Cannibal Holocaust without mentioning The Blair Witch Project. Blair Witch is (wrongly) labelled as 'inventing' the 'found footage' genre, when, in fact it simply 'rebooted' it. Cannibal Holocaust did it almost twenty years previous.

We hear at the beginning how four young film-makers travelled deep into the jungle, only to never be heard from again. A professor, curious as to their fate, retraces their path and finds their footage. What you have here is two stories in one. You have the more 'traditional' Hollywood story-telling of the professor talking to TV executives about showing the found footage on network television and the footage which was retrieved from the jungles (first person, ala Blair Witch).

I only got to see the edited UK version of this film, but the footage, both from the professor who follows them and the film-makers themselves remains as shocking today as it was at the time. Cannibal Holocaust was banned at the time of release and even had claims of being a 'stuff' film (i.e. one where real people are killed on camera). This maybe untrue, but viewers should be warned that, although the people who die are all just covered in fake blood and prosthetics, REAL animals were killed for the making of the film. Those with strong views on this may wish to steer clear.

However, the animal cruelty is only fleeting. What you have are pretty strong scenes of torture which make the Hostel franchise seem tame in comparison. The footage, being shot in the eighties and on 'non professional' cameras, gives the film a deliberately 'raw' feel about it which even the Blair Witch Project can't even match. Plus you have the music which is both creepy and tranquil at the same time.

As you have probably guessed, the film-makers (on film) meet a grisly end at the hands (and teeth, obviously) of the cannibals in the jungle. Although, where we probably felt sorry for those behind the camera in Blair Witch and other such films, here the film-makers were pretty horrible. Some may see that they got what they deserved.

It's hard to 'enjoy' this film in a traditional viewing sense. Yet it remains a deserved lynchpin in the horror genre's history.

Bottom line: for those with strong stomachs ONLY.

http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

I am not going to sit here and type out the reasons why this is not only the best Cannibal film ever made, one of the best horror films ever made, and basically just a damn good film. If you're reading one of the thousands of Cannibal Holocaust reviews on here; chances are you've seen it, and know why it is such a masterly structured and excellently made film. And therefore you don't need me to tell you why it is.

Suffice to say that this film is simply stunning. The music, direction, camerawork, plot and atmosphere are practically faultless, and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of horror, or a fan of well made, and clever films.

Now if you are an animal lover - why are you here? Believe me you don't want to see this! You won't even mind for why animals were abused in this. Mostly the animals killed here (yes they actually did that!), were for food. So while especially the scene with the shelled "friend" seems like torture, it is not something that is not happening to other animals most of us eat daily.

I'm just trying to give you a perspective so you won't feel like a hypocrite after you say certain things. Not to excuse what is being depicted in this. And while that may sound like a weird warning to a cannibal movie (and no human was harmed in the making of this - at least not in a deadly way), but it is important to note such things, so you are fully informed when it comes to deciding if you want to watch this or not.

The other thing is the movie became infamous and Ruggero knew what he was doing. Nowadays this is almost unthinkable. Apart from Blair Witch Project, where the filmmaker apparently never had seen this, otherwise he wouldn't have made his movie which changed the landscape ... but this one changed a lot of things too. While the movie pretended that its actors were dead (told them not to involve themselves in other projects after this was finished), the filmmaker got into legal trouble, because people believed this was completely real. The real animal torture killing and the overall realistic looking effects did the rest ... especially one impaling scene! Ruggero has since explained how he did (quite "easy" faked), but still many are awed by how it looks.

So to summarize, this is depraved, this is dirty, this is appaling and this will make many sick to their stomach ... mission accomplished