Another example of cheap exploitation, this should be of interest to cult movies fans due to the fact that a) it's Italian and b) it's a jungle-set adventure featuring cannibals. However, those expecting another CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST will be in for a bit of a disappointment with this sometimes-amateurish effort which adopts the style of what I like to call a "schlockumentary" - ie. the events that occur in the film all claim to be true, and the movie even goes so far as to incorporate supposedly real crime scene footage of a mortician holding up a severed head - it's so blatantly fake that I find it hard to believe that anyone could have been taken in by this. In any case, although a tribe of cannibals are mentioned, there's no gut-chewing in this movie. Instead, throughout the typical jungle antics, we get repeated cuts to courtroom footage where the lead character Katherine Miles is on trial for the slaughter of her uncle and aunt. This adds an original, if unconvincing, framework to what is basically another exploitational blood-and-skin jungle shocker.
The lead is played by the otherwise unknown Elvire Audray, a young and nubile blonde who spends the entirety of the film topless - an authentic facet of the movie, of course, and not an excuse to show some naked female flesh. The setting, the native tribe, the music and the style of filming all make for an authentic feel to the movie, ironically only ruined by the intrusion of the badly-acted courtroom sequences which pop up periodically. At least the framework of the movie gives it a structured plot, so that you actually feel that it's going somewhere instead of middling along aimlessly like some of these jungle shockers do. Although pretty, Audray can't act very well, and the cast are generally wooden or ham actors. The only exception is Alvaro Gonzales, whose tribesman Umakai is a genuinely noble and heroic figure thanks to his strong, almost mute performance.
The movie is pretty gory as a whole so it comes as no surprise that it has been cut in its UK release. Nonetheless, bits of gruesomeness remaining that the film has to offer include bloody deaths by blowpipe darts; heads being chopped from corpses (ironically, this is cut when it happens, but left in during a later flashback to the event); real-life animal violence; forced rape; a man having his face eaten off by ants, flies and worms; a man being eaten by a crocodile and the culminating double axe murder with Katherine as the culprit. Rotting severed heads also play a bit part in the film's narrative. There's also one of those lovely grub-eating interludes which Lenzi saw fit to include in his influential CANNIBAL FEROX film. Exploitation fans might get a kick out of this sometimes sleepy expose of jungle life thanks to the atmosphere and scenic setting it offers, but there's no real horror here - only some shoddy gore effects.
The lead is played by the otherwise unknown Elvire Audray, a young and nubile blonde who spends the entirety of the film topless - an authentic facet of the movie, of course, and not an excuse to show some naked female flesh. The setting, the native tribe, the music and the style of filming all make for an authentic feel to the movie, ironically only ruined by the intrusion of the badly-acted courtroom sequences which pop up periodically. At least the framework of the movie gives it a structured plot, so that you actually feel that it's going somewhere instead of middling along aimlessly like some of these jungle shockers do. Although pretty, Audray can't act very well, and the cast are generally wooden or ham actors. The only exception is Alvaro Gonzales, whose tribesman Umakai is a genuinely noble and heroic figure thanks to his strong, almost mute performance.
The movie is pretty gory as a whole so it comes as no surprise that it has been cut in its UK release. Nonetheless, bits of gruesomeness remaining that the film has to offer include bloody deaths by blowpipe darts; heads being chopped from corpses (ironically, this is cut when it happens, but left in during a later flashback to the event); real-life animal violence; forced rape; a man having his face eaten off by ants, flies and worms; a man being eaten by a crocodile and the culminating double axe murder with Katherine as the culprit. Rotting severed heads also play a bit part in the film's narrative. There's also one of those lovely grub-eating interludes which Lenzi saw fit to include in his influential CANNIBAL FEROX film. Exploitation fans might get a kick out of this sometimes sleepy expose of jungle life thanks to the atmosphere and scenic setting it offers, but there's no real horror here - only some shoddy gore effects.