Zumbalah (1975)

A notorious mondo film depicting unbelievable and bizarre rituals, animal killing and cruelty, and people being killed and eaten, all by either animals or humans against each other or themselves.

Directors:

Antonio Climati, Mario Morra

Writers:

Antonio Climati (story), Mario Morra (story)

Stars:

Alberto Moravia, Pit Dernitz

Cast

Cast overview:
Alberto Moravia	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Here's a National Geographic style documentary that's alternately exploitive and informative. The film presents a wide variety of ways that humans interact with nature. It depicts the actual footage of a careless man (Pit Dernitz) leaving the safety of his car to film lions close up and ends up being their dinner. Other highlights include natives humping the ground in hopes of bringing life to the land, various big game hunting and last but not least naked hippies.

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Plot Keywords:

animal | ritual | mondo film | cruelty | mondo | 

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Taglines:

See teenage killers massacre and eat their father's corpses

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Genres:

Documentary | Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

September 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Savage Temptation

Filming Locations:

Alaska, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Titanus, Rafran Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 92 min (cut) 84 min (heavily cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The tribe that is shown jumping up and down naked is identified as the Lobi. However, in Climati and Morra's later film, Sweet and Savage (1983), the same footage is used, but the tribe is called the Mashoni. Whichever name is correct has yet to be determined.

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Goofs

When the native man is shot by the mercenaries, he is shot in the back but falls backwards, moving against the laws of physics. This is one aspect that proves the scene is a phony.

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Quotes

Narrator: [directly before lions attack a tourist] This sequence is part of the evidence examined by the court in a lawsuit brought by the heirs of the victim against an insurance company.

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Connections

Followed by Sweet and Savage (1983)

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Soundtracks

For You and Me
Music by Carlo Savina
Lyrics by Gilbert Kaplan
Sung by Gilbert Kaplan

User Reviews

Laughable Mondo Cane Exploitation

These are the adventures of Edward Mannix. Whether he be a South American hunter with a fake Spanish accent or various other ethnic groups with equally fake accents, they're all just voice actor Edward Mannix and not "real" interviews with "real" people.

This is like a Mutual of Omaha video gone horribly wrong. This film consists of fake footage mixed in with a little bit of real footage. What makes it so amusing is the cartoonish dubbing and sound FX added in. Seriously, every time a weapon is thrown it's like a 'Woody Woodpecker' cartoon.

Much of the fake footage doesn't even have anything to do with hunting or animal attacks. Such as naked hippies, a group of Frenchmen defecating in the woods, and dozens of Africans humping the soil, literally! It's explained how this is a tribal ritual as they believe their sperm will fertilize the soil. With this many black men humping it's like watching a Sarah Vandella porno without Sarah Vandella. It might be a little more convincing that this is an actual ritual and not just done for pure exploitation if all the tribesmen weren't voiced by Edward Mannix!

There's also plenty of fake footage of Africans masturbating into a river. This is done with extreme close ups and in slow motion directed like a porno complete with close up shots of their cxx faces.

The funniest scenes by far are the fake animal attacks. The best being the lion mauling of a tourist. The lions actually take his 8mm camera away as a prize. As with all mondo films this "real" footage consists of multiple camera angles, and close ups of the victim's distraught family. It's side splitting how fake it is.

Some morons such as the writer of the IMDb summary actually defend it as "real." There are not enough drugs on earth to make one believe this footage is "real." No one could actually believe such a thing.

Next it's mercenaries waging a war against native tribes. Their fake costumes consist of glued on thick eyebrows and mustaches that look like Groucho Marx masks without the glasses. Once again, they're all just Edward Mannix shouting in Spanish. Comically Mannix just shouts the same two words over and over, "andale" and "arriba." So apparently Mannix only studied Spanish from Speedy Gonzales cartoons?

In conclusion, I've never been a fan of mondo cane films but this one has some great laughs. If you enjoy silly exploitation films this is worth a watch.