Nella terra dei cannibali

I saw about 50 different Cannibal films. Italians cannibal films are definitely the best. And it seems like the returning of cannibals genre, really. Bruno Mattei made some really cool thrash films. And their colaboration in Dominican Republic with Aristide Massachessi was also great. With lack of money they did interesting films and found a lot of smart decisions in film-making . I really loved the special effects in this film, they show the real Italian gore old school. The story is classic, I can say! The group of call guys with arms in Amazon jungles fighting against different cannibal armies. The actors remind of Strike Commando days. So this is the last I could find from late 21st century Mattei. Great director he still managed to all the filmings in Philippines. I decided to find all the works by Mattei recently. www.myspace.com/neizvest

A small commando squad ventures into the heart of the Amazon to retrieve Sara Armstrong (Cindy Jelic Matic). The hottie daughter of a senator, she was kidnapped by a cannibal tribe. The soldiers are led by a guide named Romero (Claudio Morales), a man who knows the score when it comes to the local tribes and their customs.

Ad copy refers to this as a cross between "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Predator", which pretty much sums up the whole silly affair. In fact, director Bruno Mattei ("Hell of the Living Dead", "Rats: Night of Terror") and his co-writer, Giovanni Paolucci, spend so much time shamelessly aping "Predator", and "Aliens" as well, that you just have to shake your head and laugh at their nerve.

On location shooting in the Philippines is effectively atmospheric (and supplemented by some stock footage), and there's a pleasingly high body count. The gore devised by Giuseppe Ferranti is actually quite good. The characters are all patently ridiculous, and receive appropriately cheese ball performances. Ydalia Suarez is the most amusing as Vasquez, an oh so obvious nod to the gung ho marine played by Jenette Goldstein in "Aliens".

"In the Land of the Cannibals" is plenty stupid, but it's not pretending to be anything other than a routine ripoff film and continuation of that cannibal genre popularized by the Italians in the 1970s and 1980s. While this viewer would readily admit that it's hardly "good" stuff, it's actually pretty entertaining, provided one isn't annoyed by the lack of imagination in the script.

Six out of 10.

Sent into the local jungle, a commando group looking to rescue the daughter of a general kidnapped by a tribe of cannibals which forces them to head into the jungle to find her which brings about a continuous series of encounters with the tribe that captured her as a sex slave and try to get out of the jungle alive.

This was a rather fun and enjoyably cheesy genre effort. Among the film's likable factors is that the general setup provided here allows this one to have a lot of fun action. Since the setup here requires them to be in the jungle from the very beginning encountering the various members of the other tribe in the area, the encounters have a fun guerilla-warfare style to their ambush out of the jungle and attacking with their weaponry before disappearing and leading the commandoes further into the jungle. That this mixture of military combat and gross-out jungle cannibal movie features the antics of the other tribe with their barbaric dismembering and devouring of their victims alongside the gunplay and primitive weapons on display keeps this one moving along nicely providing a stellar combination of action and gory bloodshed. As well, the fact that there's a lot of outright cheese on display comes off quite nicely for those that can appreciate this kind of film. The film combines several different films into its plotline, even managing to follow the exploits of one of them to the point where it's almost like the scenes are taken directly from the other films entirely. That the two films being employed as the basis for the setup here, the jungle-cannibal version and the commandoes-in-the-jungle effort, tend to be highlighted to the degree that they are could be a cause for some to write the film off yet manage to display a fun sense about them since these scenarios generate a lot of action and gore despite the overt familiarity that comes from seeing these highly exaggerated and goofy elements being employed with the various scenes of the commandoes getting attacked in eerily familiar setups that aren't quite redone properly. These manage to manage for a fun time overall here. There are some issues to be had here. The main factor, which runs pretty plainly throughout the film, is the general cheap look and atmosphere present. The fact that the entire film looks like it was shot on a digital camcorder doesn't help matters, taking a flat, soulless approach to the material here. Appearing with a stylized, soap-opera tone to the proceedings, especially with the interactions presented throughout here as well, the whole film comes off with a camp, cheesy quality that can be really off-putting. The other big issue is a strangely abrupt and immediate ending that doesn't have any real satisfaction or round-up to anything as it just finishes before figuring out someone's fate which is a huge cheat. As well, the patently fake look of the graphic gore and bloodshed have the stereotypical bright-red fakeness common for the genre which is what all hold the film down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Nudity.

Land of Death (2003)

** (out of 4)

One of several films Italian director Bruno Mattai made during his comeback a few years before dying. Mattai's films are always bad so the real question is if they are bad enough to be entertaining and this one here is. It's also worth watching Mattai to see what and who he rips off and this time out he does a scene for scene remake of Cannibal Holocaust even though, of course, that film is never credited. In the film some American soldiers go missing in the jungle so another group goes in to look for them and they too run into cannibals. I was really curious to see what Mattai would do with this politically incorrect genre and he delivers exactly what those earlier controversial films did. You have rape, torture, flesh eating and yes, real animals dying. These scenes are always disgusting but Mattai has them here after all the years of protest towards Cannibal Holocaust and others like it. This film here contains the bad dubbing and bad acting but everything is bad enough to where the film remains interesting if you've seen the other movie. There really isn't a single original idea here as everything comes from Cannibal Holocaust but it's interesting to see such a rip off.

This was a film I'm not entirely sure how I got turned on to. My only guess was that after I watched Cannibal Holocaust and added its sequels to my Netflix list, I sought out a couple more cannibal films as well. I did find it interesting now that my knowledge of the genre is deeper to see that Bruno Mattei made this film under one of his pseudonyms.

Synopsis: commandos head deep into the Amazon jungle to rescue a general's daughter who has been kidnapped by a cannibal tribe.

To kick this one off, we see natives eating something around a fire and from the title of the film, it is people. We then shift to a group of soldiers as they land in Brazil. The leader of this unit is Lt. Wilson (Lou Randall). He meets with a military man from the country. They are informed they will be going into the jungle with the best guide to try to find the missing people, the most important one being Sara Armstrong (Cindy Jelic Matic).

The guide who takes them in is Romero (Claudio Morales) and his assistant. Romero tells the commandos, which include Vasquez (Ydalia Suarez), Sgt. Cameron (Silvio Jimenez) and Kruger (Sanit Larrauri), about the local customs and tribes of the Amazon they'll more than likely meet. It isn't safe and there are dangerous animals along the way. They happen upon an old campsite where Romero believes the group, they're looking for set up. The tribe they're searching for, no one has ever seen. If they have, they've never been able to tell the tale.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the character. I am keeping it rather short because to be honest, there isn't much depth. I don't mind that as with a film like this, I'm trying to see things go off the rails. I didn't realize the father was a general, just that he was an official of sorts. I found it funny that this is from Italy and the key actors are as well. They're pretending to be from the United States. It makes sense with the films that this is inspired by.

There was a much bigger issue I have though. It does feel like a combination of Cannibal Holocaust and Predator. I will admit that I probably wouldn't have thought of the latter if I hadn't seen the title screen when this starts up. With this second watch, I also noticed that it uses elements from Aliens and I'm guessing the other more successful cannibal movies. Examples here would be something like a pig being slaughtered on screen and the plot points to keep these characters going along their path from Cannibal Holocaust. Predator has these commandos just destroying this village to save the person they are going for. Vasquez is a character name from Aliens and there are lines of dialogue taken as well. This is a classic Mattei move.

Stemming from this is that it was boring. I understand from the cannibal films I've seen they normally need to be pretty graphic in nature to what we see or have a deeper allegory they're conveying. This doesn't do either, which is an issue. Part of this is hurt by coming out in the mid-2000s when the genre was created 30 years prior. The effects we get are tame and it doesn't bring the emotional value, since we don't flesh out the characters enough. I never connected with them and the stakes aren't there. The ending I thought was fine, but it just doesn't pull the weight needed.

There is an issue of realism it is lacking. This will take me to filmmaking. This was filmed in the Philippines. That is fine and I'm guessing it was for monetary reasons. Also, it was available. A nitpick is that the natives look Asian, not South American. I'll still credit them for going to jungles to film so there is that. The cinematography was fine. The framing as well. They go for this gag repeatedly where something will be stabbed or shot off-screen, then we get a close up of characters where the blood splatters them in the face. It was fine the first couple times and then was over the top. There are decent things with the effects here with seeing the aftereffects of things. We just needed more and it fell short. The only other thing would be the soundtrack. It was cheesy and made me laugh. It doesn't necessarily work though as it is generic. It did work at poking fun with the over the top 'patriotic music'. It made me laugh.

All that is left then is acting which was subpar as well. I wonder how much of that is the writing and having paper thin characters as well. Morales was fitting for his role, but I think it is a weird move to have them almost treating this like a documentary film where he is just narrating the facts of the jungle and the tribes they encounter. That felt borrowed from Cannibal Holocaust. Randall was meh. It is funny that he's supposed to be from Indiana and a West Point graduate. He is using backstory from Aliens with the leader of that operation. It feels ham-fisted there. Matic doesn't show up until late and she isn't given much to work with. We do see her mostly nude which seems to be the only reason she is here. The rest of the commandos are generic. The only ones I'll give credit to are the tribes of natives we have. They got into their roles and I appreciated that.

In conclusion, this film wasn't good. I'll credit Mattei for getting a film made and there are things that work. Using the jungle, even if it isn't the Amazon, is something that I appreciate. There isn't a lot for this one to hang its hat on as it borrows from better films to do what it is here and doesn't stand out. This isn't one that I can recommend unless you are into low budget films or a fan of Mattei.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 10.