Incontro nell'ultimo paradiso

Umberto Lenzi, the pioneer of disturbingly gory cannibal films, directs. A strange change of pace for this director and the jungle genre. Be advised, this is a dumb, unfunny slapstick comedy-adventure with cardboard characters and comic book villains. There's even a comedic fat guy thug who constantly falls down or gets conked on the head. Hilarious. Probably better in the original Italian as the English dubbing is horrible.

Our heroes are a pair of knucklehead dudes from New York who seem to have wandered in from some frat-boy sex comedy (which were popular at the time). After pointlessly wasting a half-hour of screen time, they get stranded in the Amazon jungle -- which just happens to be full of African wildlife. They stumble across hostile natives, semi-comic-relief criminal goons hunting for rubies, and Luana, a beautiful blond jungle girl (Sabrina Siani from "White Cannibal Queen"). Luana cavorts with a chimp, swings on vines, talks to elephants, swims topless, and does a classic Tarzan yell. After getting an eyeful of Luana, one guy says: "Edgar Rice Burroughs got it all wrong." (That's the funniest line in the film.) The dopey dialog is loaded with wisecracks that reference other films ("you got it all over Bo what's-her-name"). She grew up alone after her parents perished following a helicopter crash-landing. Among the many implausible plot points is the repair of the helicopter that's been rusting away for 16 years. We're also supposed to believe these clueless dolts can somehow refine crude oil sludge into gasoline without any technology. Okay, whatever...

The only saving grace is the absolutely gorgeous Sabrina Siani, one of the most appealing and sexy jungle girls to come down the pike. She wears a skimpy leather top and a barely-there thong that hides none of her fabulous caboose. Siani has the kind of perfect posterior that anthropologists should study and document for future generations. Fortunately, we have this film. Everything else in this dreadful "Sheena" rehash is instantly forgettable.

The iconic Italian director Umberto Lenzi became a cult filmmaker in several genres as Giallo, Peplum & Sandals, Poliziotteschi and mainly Jungle Adventures as CANNIBAL FEROX, in this specific niche came out the sexploitation Incontro Nell' Ultimo Paradiso featuring the eye-candy Sabrina Sianni in sexy tiny outfits allied in a strong humor oriented.

The plot is quite simple two dumbest guys travel to Amazon jungle for a touring, soon they get stranded into a deep forest, bumping up angry natives and later both are caught by a moronic gang of rubies smuggles, at night they sneaking away and daylight they meeting a naïve jungle sexy girl, hereinafter the smart one figure out escaping from there by a jammed helicopter meanwhile the lovesick wondering with gorgeous girl team up a bunch of natives to struggles against the gang.

Shot at Dominican Republic on those everlasting palm trees quite opposite with Amazon rain forest, whoever wrote the screenplay underpinned the offering in two key elements, firstly in dizzying sexy beauty of Sianni and also in many stereotyped characters as the gang leader Dupré and their fat, stupid and even stutter sidekicks, aiming for became it a delightful and harmful Sunday matinee, let it see easily.

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First watch: 1992 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.

I'm always on the lookout for any film that might offer a little Italian cannibal action, and with Daughter of the Jungle being directed by Umberto Lenzi of Cannibal Ferox fame I figured it might be worth a blind buy.

How wrong I was.

While the film does serve up a tribe of primitive savages in a jungle setting, graphic gut munching is most definitely off the menu; what we get instead is lots of truly awful comedy and some cheap titillation courtesy of blonde babe Sabrina Siani, who plays a female version of Tarzan called Susan.

This jungle hottie is discovered swinging through the trees by a pair of American chumps, Ringo (Rodolfo Bigotti) and Butch (Renato Miracco), who have become lost in the jungle, encountered and befriended a local tribe, and have subsequently found themselves in hot water with a ruthless gang of criminals (led by Sal Borghese) searching for rubies. With a little help from their new primitive pals, the pair of doofuses take on the bad guys.

The film's excruciatingly unfunny slapstick and constant supposedly amusing bickering between the two friends make this film a real struggle to sit though, and even the sight of Siani in (and out of) her tiny jungle costume isn't enough to compensate.

1.5/10, round up to 2 for the smoking chimp.

Daughter of the Jungle (1982)

** (out of 4)

Ringo (Rodolfo Bigotti) and Butch (Renato Miracco) decide to take a trip to the Amazon. When they boat runs out of gas they end up lost in the jungle. After a little walk they run into a strange tribe but after an even further walk they run into Luana (Sabrina Siani), a beautiful jungle girl who they decide to call Jane (after Tarzan).

Umberto Lenzi's DAUGHTER OF THE JUNGLE is an Italian comedy that really isn't all that funny but at the same time I must admit that it kept me more entertained than I thought it would. The film was obviously shot on a low-budget and for the most part I didn't find it funny at all but at the same time there's no question that Lenzi knew how to film in a jungle and that is the reason to watch this.

Comedy is a very subjective thing so perhaps some will get more laughs out of this picture but I really thought the two male leads were extremely annoying. I know their act was meant to be funny but I find it more annoying than anything else and the English dubbing really didn't help things. Another problem with the film is that it looks rather ugly as there's certainly nothing overly good about the cinematography.

With that said, the film does feature some wildlife (large snakes, elephants, hippos) and this helps keep it entertaining. Siani is also an extremely attractive woman and seeing her run around naked was another plus. I also thought Lenzi handled the jungle locations extremely well but one does wish that he had spoofed up his cannibal films a bit more.

This film seems to be Lenzi's way of poking fun at his own cannibal gore films. Two college students decide to take a vacation to the Amazon. While in a small village getting supplies, they provoke the anger of a local scoundrel, whose ruffians beat them up. After renting a boat and sailing down the river in search of some good scenery, the two kids become lost and are forced to jump in the water to avoid a cascade. Now totally lost, they enter a small village, where the natives eye them mysteriously. It is here that they meet a bizarre jungle female, who happens to be the last survivor of a helicopter crash that occurred years ago. She soon develops a bond with the two adventurers, and many funny things happen throughout the movie. When compared to Lenzi's other jungle films, this is a distinct let-down. However, when viewed on its own merits, it proves to be a highly enjoyable and entertaining film. The Italian-language version is really the one to get, because all other versions either play up the comedy element too much, or try to present this film as another cannibal epic. This also contains a few well-used pieces of Budy Maglione's music--which shows that maybe Lenzi really DID want to spoof his previous films. Anyway, Sabrina Siani is excellent as the jungle girl, and Sal Borgese plays a great criminal. Director Lenzi proves once again that he is no novice when it comes to creating a believable, entertaining genre film. Well done!