Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Starring: Robert Kerman, Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry
Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi
Plot:
(Blu-Ray 3-Disc Special Edition By Grindhouse Releasing)
(Blu-Ray 3-Disc Special Edition By Grindhouse Releasing)
My Review and Thoughts:
I first saw Cannibal Holocaust when I was 16 years old and
after viewing it, I instinctively wanted to call the police because I felt I
was watching an actual murder. I'm 35 years old now and the movie still stands
up today as it did then. This being something extraordinarily shocking,
disturbing and truly a landmark film and a horror masterpiece. It's a film that
is infamous specifically for the torture and death of animals, real animals
being filmed savagely and brutalized. I'm here to speak on the new release the
three disc special edition Blu-ray brought out by Grindhouse Releasing.
This comes with the soundtrack and a bunch of beautiful and
amazing extras. I've owned many versions of this movie, but I have to say
clearly that this is a perfect Blu-ray disc of perfection. It could not have
been refreshed or brought out any better. This was brought out by fans for the
fans. This is a film that has always stuck with me and I consider it my second
favorite horror film of all time.
It's a movie that is disturbing, not just because of the
animals but because of the nature of these persons going into a different set
up, a different reality of life and being cruel, mean and foolish. In all
honesty this film can be looked at in a different way. The natives are not
really the bad guys, it's the white adventurers that are the bad ones.
They humiliate, disturb the way of life and what they
experience can be said, they got what they deserved. The old biblical saying
you reap what you sow. I have always recommended this movie to diehard lovers
of cinema, horror, and true cinema horror. It is not about the torture porn
garbage of today but the real horror of the 30's 40's 50's 60's 70's and some
of the 80's.
This movie came out at a time when horror was at its
greatest. Horror films touched the very audience, not the reality we see today,
pretty boy actors playing vampires, silly stupid cell phone signals being lost.
This was when you got dirty, you got gritty, and you got the Grindhouse
treatment of horror. This was at a time when The Grindhouse movement and the
foreign horror came to America.
The video nasty’s, those that shock. Those films that were
banned and this is one of the biggest banned films ever. Movies this day and
age cannot even grasp the reality that Cannibal Holocaust was. This came out
during a time when you didn't see things like this.
The director was arrested, they had to prove that they did
not kill the actors in this film. That's how realistic and vivid and brutal
this film is. There have been countless cannibal movies before it and even
after but very few of them stand out as being anything as memorable as Cannibal
Holocaust.
This is the one movie that stands out. The one movie that
tortures the viewer’s mind as you watch along in the horrors and the
devastation that takes place. It's a film of horror perfection. It's a film that
shocks today just like it shocked then. It has survived the test of time and
its unrelenting savagery still holds today.
I can only think of one other film that came out this day
and age that brutally shocked the mind and that's the uncut, unedited version
of A Serbian film. Where it was shocking sexually, Cannibal Holocaust was
shocking with the brutality of animals and brutality of individuals being
slaughtered vividly, believably, shockingly, grotesque and shockingly visceral
for the eyes to experience. For the mind to comprehend what it saw, still
triggers unsettling moments for the viewer.
It's a film that stains the very foundation of the mind. If
you sit through this, the uncut, unedited version and do not become shocked at
the savagery of the murder of the animals and the brutal savagery and realistic
killings of the people then something is wrong with you. You might want to take
therapy or at least give your guns away. It's a film many people say they have
seen, yet most won't admit it. If you're a true diehard lover of horror, then
Cannibal Holocaust is a brutal film that is a landmark in the world of horror
cinema and must be seen at least once. What is entertaining about this version
on this special edition Blu-ray is you can watch it with the animal deaths
deleted, which is a great way for those who don't wish to view it again
complete.
Now in honesty the murder of the animals is just a brutal
side note, because the true brutality is the idea of humanity destroying the
way of native life. If you have never seen it whole, then you have not
experienced the true shock, the true amazement, the true, I'm not flinching,
diabolical example of disgusting, disturbing, sadistic nature of a film. This
plays with the very recesses of the word horror.
Man is monster. This movie depicts the brutality of man
toward creatures of the lower standard. 'We are the savages. We are the devils.
We are the destroyers. This movie showcases individuals backpacking across the
landscape and everywhere they go, they leave devastation until that devastation
comes back to haunt them. This movie tells a psychological means. It showcases
a psychology reality, not only is it the so called you reap what you sow. It
makes a point. It makes and showcases a study of human nature. We let's
specifically pinpoint Americans. We as Americans like to put her nose in
people’s business. We like to control. We want to be in control and so this
showcases that reality of individuals putting their nose where it doesn't
belong and when they destroy the very make up and mock the simplicity of the
natives and disrespect there way of life.
Those natives come back to haunt and come back to cause the
reaping and the sowing, for they do both and they destroy.
Your main characters are Alan Yates who is the director of
the adventure into the Amazon to explore native tribes. Also, Faye Daniels who
is his girlfriend and the two cameramen, Jack Anders and Mark Tomaso. All four
enter the Amazon and soon they destroy and alter and disrespect nature and the
way of life.
An amazing reality is they really filmed in the middle of
nowhere. They really were out in the jungle. They used actual people that lived
there in the movie. They had to travel by boat and plane to get to the specific
spots. The filming leads a reality setting. There are countless found footage
movies, one after the other', a dime a dozen and most of them suck. What
Cannibal Holocaust can be looked at as the creator, the birth, the one that
pushed this reality and that's why this makes it seem so real? You watch along,
and I can only imagine at the time this came out, the shock that it caused. For
instance, the director being arrested and charged for making a snuff film.
Directed by Ruggero Deodato a legend in the horror world and
legend in the form of cinema. Deodato started in the 60's and still is going
strong today. His shining achievement is the one I'm speaking of Cannibal
Holocaust. He did other greats such as Italian crime films and other horror films,
but it is Cannibal Holocaust that he is notorious for. The sadistic brutality
and over all nightmarish persona of Cannibal Holocaust bleeds the visionary
mayhem that he gave to the world through his talented imagery. Through his
ideas and through his ability to film shocked and extraordinarily disturbing
moments in cinema history.
Ruggero Deodato said he got the idea while explaining to his
son about the Red Brigades. How the reporters posed cameras to make more
sensationalism, more violence, focusing on the violence and not the journalism
and historical aspect.
The Red Brigades are a paramilitary organization in Italy,
they were responsible for many violent incidents, assassination and robberies.
They wanted to start a revolutionary state in Italy. They wanted to remove
Italy from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They went about this by
causing violent actions and murder. There biggest action was kidnapping
Christian Democrat Prime Minister Aldo Moro. They would go about murdering five
of Moro's people and then holding him hostage until they killed him after 50
days. The organization was broken up and many brought to justice by the
mid-1980's.
Cannibal Holocaust is written by a legend in the world of
Giallo films and the Italian horror genre. True fans of this wonderful world of
horror will know screenwriter Gianfranco Clerici. He wrote two of Lucio Fulci's
masterpiece films Don't Torture a Duckling and The New York Ripper. Now Clerici also wrote with Deodato on his
other pictures House on the Edge of the Park and Jungle Holocaust. He is a
master of the Italian film world with others such as 74's The Antichrist, 75's
Corruption of the Court House, 76's A Special Magnum for Tony Saitta, 77's Nazi
Love Camp 27, 77's Weapons of Death, 84's Murder Rock and many others. He
created many memorable scripts and stories. He mastered his art with Cannibal
Holocaust along with the visionary talent of Deodato.
When it first premiered in the city of Milan in Italy in
February 1980 the initial reaction was of an outstanding nature, most really
enjoyed but 10 days later is when the controversial actions started. The
seizing of the film and the ultimate confiscation of the reels. It's a
beautiful brilliant disturbing social commentary. It bleeds the inner and
personality of individuals. Something we humans do know, is how to destroy. We
destroy and infiltrate things that are different. From the church spreading
their gospel, taking over, destroying the pagan reality as they call it and all
the way to the recent wars that basically are needless and only are because we
stick our nose where it doesn't belong. Cannibal Holocaust makes that subject
shine here. You have Americans entering and injuring an unexplored area,
changing, altering the very foundation that the natives believe in. They end up
destroying nature so it's a social commentary on the reality that the human
organism, something that technically deep down inside only knows how to
destroy.
The special effects are truly amazing and ultra-believable.
The impalement scene is something that still stands out as being one of the
most iconic and mastery images in the cinema world.
There have been so many different versions of this film
brought out on VHS. Most were cut by five, 10, 15 minutes. This ultimate three
disc version truly is a beautiful stunning Blu-Ray brought out wonderfully for
the fans and for the diehard lovers of this twisted horror cinema that Cannibal
Holocaust is. This is possibly one of the best Blu-rays ever created. I've
owned many versions of this film from VHS to countless versions of it on DVD
and even some bootleg copies but this one is a diehard lover’s version. A true
masterpiece edition to go right along with the masterpiece of the film. The
artwork, the special features, the extras are all a plus for fans of this
ultimate orgy of death and brutality.
To go into this, the viewer must set their mind to be ready
to be shocked and to be amazed and to be dumbfounded in the brutality of the
film. From the asinine characters of the American college kids coming into a
foreign land and destroying the inhabitants, leading to the ultimate revenge of
those inhabitants. This sets a stage of destroying those who have come to mock.
Those who have come to change. There have been many discussions about what the
movie means, and many people have philosophized and created essays and wrote
about the subject. I think each viewer will take away what they see, but I do
think there's an underlining statement, that we as a superior or more
intellectual persons seem to enjoy or seem to control the situation by sticking
our nose in other people’s business and thinking we are better. I think that's
when we as a culture for instance, the Crusades in history, or the Catholic
Church trying to dominate others. The witch-hunts and so we always try to
destroy or alter or change, what we don't like or what we don't understand, or
what we don't consider normal.
Cannibal Holocaust will always be spoken by me. Will always
be recommended by me. Will always be cherished by me. This Blu-ray version is
the superior version of this film brought out wonderfully and lovingly by
Grindhouse Releasing. Grindhouse Releasing has given me another conclusion in
knowing that Cannibal Holocaust is one of the greatest, cinematic films of all
time.
Cannibal Holocaust is not just an 80's horror film. Cannibal
Holocaust is not just a film about gore. Cannibal Holocaust is not just another
average, underground, grind house of a film. It's not just a video nasty. It's
not just a movie. What it is, is the perfection of film-making as a complete
reality. It basically is a stepping stone of film-making, it is one of the
historical films of film-making history.
This is a film that is respected, that is cultured, and that
stands the test of time as being the masterpiece then and being a masterpiece
now. This is a flawless example of a perfected film to grace the Cinema world
in all its devastating tragedy and its statement on the reality of humanity.
====================================
3 Disc Deluxe Edition - 2 Blu-rays + CD
New hi-definition digital restoration of the original director's
cut
Spectacular digital stereo re-mix and original mono mix
2 feature-length commentary tracks - with director Ruggero
Deodato and star Robert Kerman, and with stars Carl Yorke and Francesca Ciardi
New in-depth interviews with Ruggero Deodato, Francesca
Ciardi, assistant director/co-star Salvo Basile (shot in Columbia!) and
cameraman Roberto Forges Davazati
Classic interviews with Robert Kerman, Carl Yorke and
Oscar-nominated composer Riz Ortolani
Extensive still galleries and theatrical trailers from
around the world
BONUS CD- original soundtrack album by Riz Ortolani newly
remastered in stunning 24bit/96khz sound from the original studio master tapes
Glossy 24-page booklet containing liner notes by director
Eli Roth, legendary horror journalist Chas. Balun, Euro-music expert Gergely
Hubai and Italian exploitation film authority Martin Biene
Shocking reversible cover with original art by notorious
illustrator Rick Melton
Beautiful embossed slip cover
9 Easter eggs! - including the Grindhouse Releasing theatrical
re-release premiere and Necrophagia music video directed by Jim VanBebber
AND OTHER SURPRISES!