Chasseur de l'enfer

Of the three titles from Jess Franco to find their way onto the Official DPP Video Nasty list (Devil Hunter, Bloody Moon and Women Behind Bars) this is perhaps the least deserving of notoriety, being a dreadfully dull jungle clunker enlivened only very slightly by a little inept gore, a gratuitous rape scene, and loads of nudity.

Gorgeous blonde Ursula Buchfellner plays movie star Laura Crawford who is abducted by a gang of ruthless kidnappers and taken to a remote tropical island inhabited by a savage tribe who worship the 'devil god' that lurks in the jungle (a big, naked, bulging-eyed native who likes to eat the hearts of nubile female sacrifices).

Employed by Laura's agent to deliver a $6million ransom, brave mercenary Peter Weston (Al Cliver) and his Vietnam vet pilot pal travel to the island, but encounter trouble when the bad guys attempt a double-cross. During the confusion, Laura escapes into the jungle, but runs straight into the arms of the island's natives, who offer her up to their god.

Franco directs in his usual torpid style and loads this laughable effort with his usual dreadful trademarks: crap gore, murky cinematography, rapid zooms, numerous crotch shots, out of focus imagery, awful sound effects, and ham-fisted editing. The result is a dire mess that is a real struggle to sit through from start to finish (It took me a couple of sittings to finish the thing), and even the sight of the luscious Buchfellner in all of her natural glory ain't enough to make me revisit this film in a hurry.

Perhaps I'm more favorably disposed to this movie than to the similar Jess Franco effort "Cannibals" because I only rented this one instead of purchasing the DVD. Regardless though, while "Cannibals" is pure dreck, this movie is kind of entertaining, mostly in spite of itself. A group of kidnappers snatch a bimbo starlet (Ursula Fellehner) and hold her captive on an island. They are pursued by two hired mercenaries (Franco regulars Al Cliver and Anthony Mayans). While the two groups fight amongst themselves, the girl falls into the clutches of a local tribe of "cannibals" (half of which are African, and the other half obviously white Southern Europeans), who plan to sacrifice her to their "god", a tall black guy with ping-pong ball eyes. (Franco famously, if very unconvincingly, once accused the movie "Predator" of stealing his plot idea from this movie).

The best part of this flick is the goofball dialogue and dubbing. Anthony Mayan's character, for instance, talks like Gabby Hayes for some reason and keeps having Vietnam flashbacks, even though he looks a little young to have been in 'Nam. One of the kidnappers shouts obscenities at everybody and seems genuinely disturbed by the "wild vegetation" (he makes Giovanni Lombardi Radici's character from "Cannnibal Ferox" seemed well-mannered and soft-spoken by comparison). When asked by reporters what she thinks of the men in their, country Fellehner's character responds in true bimbo fashion, "I have no opinion of men. I just love them." Later one of the mercenaries tells her stay put. Her response: "Huh?!"

Naturally, the special effects are laughably un-special, and the public domain copy I saw was obviously ported from a Japanese source since it "optically fogs" Fellehner's pubic region (which is quite a job since the German Playboy Playmate barely spends a minute of her screen time with any clothes on). But despite the rampant (albeit partially "fogged")nudity from Fellehner and other assorted bimbos, this movie really fails to live up to its foreign title "Sexo Cannibal" (the cannibal doesn't get any sex, nor does anyone else really). Amazingly, this rather tame item was one of only two Franco films that were banned in Britain back in the "video nastie" days.

Of course, I'm sure an overpriced "uncut" and subtitled version will someday appear for all the spendthrift masochists, i.e. Jess Franco fans, out there. But frankly I don't think they can improve on the unintentional hilarity of this public domain version (aside from "unfogging" Fellehner's pubes, of course).

I didn't expect much of the movie because of it's title, the time it came out, the title, and because it was Jess Franco's attempt to crash into the cannibal craziness.

Sure, the movie offers the needed brutality and of course sleaze.

At some points, the movie gets dull and tedious. For example, by the time the hot actress gets abducted in her home (while taking a shower; gratuitous nudity inserted) I was getting desperate because of the incuts showing the cannibals and hunters followed by the Director's POV and horrible but creepy music and sounds.

The brutality is present but only in minimal amounts. Yikes! The cannibal leader or whatever even rips off with his teeth and later eats a woman's... oh well you should watch it.

I wouldn't recommend this piece of euro trash for fanatics of quality exploitation. Sure, the plot is depraved and rough but the execution is somewhat cheesy and not well produced.

At some points I wondered if the edition was just terrible or if it was an edited version.

I enjoy Franco's work but this effort is just a waste of time. Watch it only if you are fan of Euro sleaze or trash cinema.

I thought this would be a jungle cannibal flick, but it turned out to be something else altogether. It takes about a half hour of boredom to really get going, but once it does it's okay. It's certainly plenty gross in parts, especially the close-ups of the creature's blood-smeared mouth.

The helicopter crashing scene and the scene where the hero is "climbing up a cliff" are particularly hilarious.

Not sure if I'm referring to those who labeled this a video nasty or to the director..."Devil Hunter" sure is one bizarre 'horror' movie.

The plot is a loosey goosey combo of superior films like "Cannibal Ferox" and "Cut and Run." Chick gets kidnapped in the 'jungle' by a 'tribe' of 'savages.' The jungle looks more like a park somewhere in Mexico. The tribe is like a group of hippies who walk around in Party City-style Halloween costume renditions of tribal garb. And the savages range in race from white to Asian to black to hispanic. I suppose Franco just grabbed anyone who looked even slightly ethnic for this romp.

To make matters worse, this film has ultra-minimal gore, no real scares and a lot of unnecessary penis. Not fun. I can find something to like in just about any sleazy Italian or Euro-trash film; this one just fell WAY short.

2 out of 10, kids.