Sacrifice! (1972)

After a photographer is captured by a native tribe and put through several trials, he must fight to protect the village and his new love interest, the chief's daughter.

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Francesco Barilli, Massimo D'Avak

Stars:

Ivan Rassimov, Me Me Lai, Prasitsak Singhara

Cast

Cast overview:
Ivan Rassimov	...	John Bradley
Me Me Lai	...	Marayå (as Me Me Lay)
Prasitsak Singhara	...	Taima
Sulallewan Suxantat	...	Karen
Ong Ard	...	Lahuna
Prapas Chindang	...	Chuan
Pipop Pupinyo	...	Mihuan
Tuan Tevan	...	Tuan
Chit	...	Cannibal
Choi	...	Cannibal
Song Suanhud	...	Witch Doctor
Pairach Thaipradit	...	Thai

Storyline

A photographer on assignment in the rain forest is ambushed and held slave by a primitive tribe, until the chief's daughter chooses him as her groom. After being initiated by various tortures, he becomes a part of the tribe and helps them against modern dangers and a cannibal tribe they're at war with.

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Plot Keywords:

cannibal tribe | photographer | cannibal | torture | hostile native tribe | 

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Taglines:

See! The Ritual That Frees a Woman to Love Again!

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian Burmese Thai

Release Date:

23 May 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sacrifice!

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roas Produzioni, Medusa Distribuzione

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 89 min (heavily cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is considered to be the first "cannibal film", a subgenre of European exploitation films that was prevalent in Grindhouse cinema in the late seventies and early eighties.

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Quotes

John Bradley: I'm a human being, like you! I'm a man, not a fish!

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Connections

References A Man Called Horse (1970)

User Reviews

Historically important entry in the development of Italian exploitation movies

Deep River Savages is most famous for being the first of the Italian cannibal movies. This sub-genre is pretty notorious and a lot of the films made the video nasty list (films considered obscene by the British authorities in early the 80's). This movie was one of the ones that did and it's not really very surprising on account of several scenes of real animal slaughter and one showing cannibals rape and eat an unfortunate victim. But the cannibal tag is a little misleading in the case of Deep River Savages because the cannibals are fairly minor characters here. It seems though that their brief appearance was the idea that led to the cycle of cannibal movies that would appear in the late 70's / early 80's. More accurately, this film is an Italian version of A Man Called Horse, which had come out a couple of years beforehand. In that one a white man is captured by Native American Indians and has to go through various trials and rituals before finally assimilating into the tribe, Deep River Savages effectively does the same thing but with primitive South East Asian tribes. It also ramps up the exploitation angle.

The story has a photographer working in Thailand who is forced to flee into the jungle after he kills a man in self-defence. He is soon captured by a primitive tribe who eventually take him in as one of their own after various trials and rituals. He falls in love with one of the young women of the tribe; meanwhile an enemy tribe of cannibals prowl menacingly in the periphery.

This one was helmed by Umberto Lenzi who was one of the most prominent directors of the cannibal sub-genre, going on to make films such as Eaten Alive. The two main stars of that one appear in this earlier film too, namely Ivan Rassimov and Me Me Lai. They are pretty good and quite surprisingly their romantic sub-plot is quite extensively developed. This and the culture clash elements make up much more of the movie than the cannibal aspect. This might disappoint a few people who come into this expecting something akin to the likes of Cannibal Holocaust, as despite some legitimately disturbing moments this is far less intense than later entries in the sub-genre. It's not a bad film though and is one well worth checking out if you enjoy Italian exploitation movies. It's certainly one with a fair bit of historical importance for sure.