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Well...
I feel...
Queasy. I think that best describes this unusual and unpleasant feeling that has managed to sustain itself for the past couple of hours after seeing this. The tag line of this film is "the most controversial movie ever made" and I would whole heartedly agree with that statement. So, I'll be reviewing the massively infamous Cannibal Holocaust of 1980.
The plot follows an American man who ventures into The Green Inferno in order to discover what happened to his fellow associates. What he discovers is a network of cannibalistic tribes and some lost footage, that details a series of absolutely horrific and malevolent acts.
Positive
It's very authentic, it is not difficult to understand why the Italian authorities believed the cast of this film had perished during the making of this film (well it is, but, it all looks very real
). Therefore, it's shocking, and breathtakingly so, sharp objects are placed extremely close to bodily parts you would not want to be defiled, I really had to re-watch a scene because I thought this giant rock had been thrusted into a woman! Considering this film was also shot on a minimal budget only emphasises the creativity of those responsible for the special effects, because it all looked lifelike, and that was a significant factor as to why this film was so disturbing and sickening, for me anyway.
The underlying metaphors were made to be very obvious, yet that isn't a bad thing at all in this case, because although it's trying to prove a point (that even the most developed and advanced societies are just as monstrous and heartless as these cannibals when you look at them closer), yet it never comes across as condescending or patronising a la 2012, and the point it raises is actually really thought provoking, because when you look at the destruction that the USA, Britain, Europe etc. have created in certain areas, both past and present, as well all of the scandals that occurred in the seventies on both sides of the pond, you manage to identify the validity of the film's message, and it's quite an enriching experience I guess, because it's something you realise slowly as the film progresses.
I loved the soundtrack as well! It was astonishingly good, that retro 80s synthesizer combined with some instrumental pieces manages to emphasises the depression and melancholia over the acts being shown to us, I was really taken aback, it's undoubtedly one of the most memorable elements of this film.
Negatives
To be honest, I had a lot of trouble with the way this film was shot, something that never usually bothers me, because the actors know what they're getting into, and everything is almost always simulated. Yet here, the animal slaughters came thick and fast, and I'm not just talking about stepping on spiders (although a spider does get knifed too) but I mean turtles, monkeys and snakes amongst others are hacked to pieces, decapitated, have their guts ripped out whilst they're still breathing, to me, that isn't acceptable whatsoever. So if you have any vegan, PETA or RSPCA members as friends, keep them well away from this, they'd probably have heart failure after a couple of seconds
The acting was pretty mediocre really, I didn't bother looking up the names of any of the actors involved, like I usually do because there's no variety in this aspect. Everyone's performance is of the same standard, no one is astounding, yet no one is anywhere near being bad either. I will say though, that on the whole, the cast were better than other low budget, exploitation ensembles.
The portrayal of women was... questionable. They're all as weak as dish water, and not a single one puts a up a notable bit of resistance when they're subjected to exploitation and violation. However, when the film crew force themselves, and subsequently gang rape a young woman, Faye is the only one to attempt to dissuade them, and she even tries to forcibly break up the act, but, like I mentioned above, she ends up getting pushed aside with ease. Additionally, Faye was without a doubt subjected the most violent and cruel death, despite her minimal involvement in the destruction of the tribe's community, and I didn't feel like this was because we get more involved and impacted upon seeing women attacked, because there's no counter balance of powerful depictions of women, something that film makers like Dario Argento do. Once again, going on about the ethics of this film, we saw totally naked pre-pubescent girls, which I wasn't comfortable with. Nevertheless, it's trying to remain as authentic as it possibly can, and real life isn't censored, so I can see why they implemented it nonetheless.
Also, the pacing is off, the first half was a bit slow, but I'll forgive that, because the second half more than makes up for it.
Conclusion
An incredibly powerful film, although it crosses a few of my boundaries in order to achieve this effect. However, the writing was pretty good, with a strong metaphor and criticism, that is still very much relevant today, and will be for a very long time, because I think we've all been quite ashamed of our countries at one point or another. I'm not sure how to rate this in all honesty, yet it is better than the majority of most exploitation films, yet it's not good enough to separate itself from this sub-genre into an original piece. I'll give it:
And thanks to Captain Spaulding for nominating this in the European horror hall of fame, it was one hell of a ride!
Well...
I feel...
Queasy. I think that best describes this unusual and unpleasant feeling that has managed to sustain itself for the past couple of hours after seeing this. The tag line of this film is "the most controversial movie ever made" and I would whole heartedly agree with that statement. So, I'll be reviewing the massively infamous Cannibal Holocaust of 1980.
The plot follows an American man who ventures into The Green Inferno in order to discover what happened to his fellow associates. What he discovers is a network of cannibalistic tribes and some lost footage, that details a series of absolutely horrific and malevolent acts.
Positive
It's very authentic, it is not difficult to understand why the Italian authorities believed the cast of this film had perished during the making of this film (well it is, but, it all looks very real
). Therefore, it's shocking, and breathtakingly so, sharp objects are placed extremely close to bodily parts you would not want to be defiled, I really had to re-watch a scene because I thought this giant rock had been thrusted into a woman! Considering this film was also shot on a minimal budget only emphasises the creativity of those responsible for the special effects, because it all looked lifelike, and that was a significant factor as to why this film was so disturbing and sickening, for me anyway.The underlying metaphors were made to be very obvious, yet that isn't a bad thing at all in this case, because although it's trying to prove a point (that even the most developed and advanced societies are just as monstrous and heartless as these cannibals when you look at them closer), yet it never comes across as condescending or patronising a la 2012, and the point it raises is actually really thought provoking, because when you look at the destruction that the USA, Britain, Europe etc. have created in certain areas, both past and present, as well all of the scandals that occurred in the seventies on both sides of the pond, you manage to identify the validity of the film's message, and it's quite an enriching experience I guess, because it's something you realise slowly as the film progresses.
I loved the soundtrack as well! It was astonishingly good, that retro 80s synthesizer combined with some instrumental pieces manages to emphasises the depression and melancholia over the acts being shown to us, I was really taken aback, it's undoubtedly one of the most memorable elements of this film.
Negatives
To be honest, I had a lot of trouble with the way this film was shot, something that never usually bothers me, because the actors know what they're getting into, and everything is almost always simulated. Yet here, the animal slaughters came thick and fast, and I'm not just talking about stepping on spiders (although a spider does get knifed too) but I mean turtles, monkeys and snakes amongst others are hacked to pieces, decapitated, have their guts ripped out whilst they're still breathing, to me, that isn't acceptable whatsoever. So if you have any vegan, PETA or RSPCA members as friends, keep them well away from this, they'd probably have heart failure after a couple of seconds
The acting was pretty mediocre really, I didn't bother looking up the names of any of the actors involved, like I usually do because there's no variety in this aspect. Everyone's performance is of the same standard, no one is astounding, yet no one is anywhere near being bad either. I will say though, that on the whole, the cast were better than other low budget, exploitation ensembles.
The portrayal of women was... questionable. They're all as weak as dish water, and not a single one puts a up a notable bit of resistance when they're subjected to exploitation and violation. However, when the film crew force themselves, and subsequently gang rape a young woman, Faye is the only one to attempt to dissuade them, and she even tries to forcibly break up the act, but, like I mentioned above, she ends up getting pushed aside with ease. Additionally, Faye was without a doubt subjected the most violent and cruel death, despite her minimal involvement in the destruction of the tribe's community, and I didn't feel like this was because we get more involved and impacted upon seeing women attacked, because there's no counter balance of powerful depictions of women, something that film makers like Dario Argento do. Once again, going on about the ethics of this film, we saw totally naked pre-pubescent girls, which I wasn't comfortable with. Nevertheless, it's trying to remain as authentic as it possibly can, and real life isn't censored, so I can see why they implemented it nonetheless.
Also, the pacing is off, the first half was a bit slow, but I'll forgive that, because the second half more than makes up for it.
Conclusion
An incredibly powerful film, although it crosses a few of my boundaries in order to achieve this effect. However, the writing was pretty good, with a strong metaphor and criticism, that is still very much relevant today, and will be for a very long time, because I think we've all been quite ashamed of our countries at one point or another. I'm not sure how to rate this in all honesty, yet it is better than the majority of most exploitation films, yet it's not good enough to separate itself from this sub-genre into an original piece. I'll give it:
And thanks to Captain Spaulding for nominating this in the European horror hall of fame, it was one hell of a ride!