Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

During a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Gianfranco Clerici (story and screenplay), Giorgio Stegani (additional dialogue: Italian version)

Stars:

Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Kerman	...	Professor Harold Monroe
Francesca Ciardi	...	Faye Daniels
Perry Pirkanen	...	Jack Anders
Luca Barbareschi	...	Mark Tomaso (as Luca Giorgio Barbareschi)
Salvatore Basile	...	Chaco Losojos
Ricardo Fuentes	...	Undetermined Role
Carl Gabriel Yorke	...	Alan Yates (as Gabriel Yorke)
Paolo Paoloni	...	1st Executive
Lionello Pio Di Savoia	...	2nd Executive (as Pio Di Savoia)
Claudia Rocchi	...	Undetermined Role (as Luigina Rocchi)

Storyline

With the intention to venture into the unexplored areas in the deep jungle of the Amazon rainforest at the border between Brazil and Peru, in 1979, a film crew composed of four young Americans attempted to make a documentary about the never seen before indigenous cannibalistic tribes. However, it's already been two months since anyone last heard from the crew, so without further delay, the noted anthropologist Professor Harold Monroe and his rescue team of the seasoned guide Chaco Losojos and his assistant, embarked on a mission to locate them in the depths of the Green Inferno. Following the Yakumos, a tribe that no white has ever seen before, soon enough, the Professor's rescue party will encounter the elusive Yanomamos or Tree People and the fearsome Shamataris or the Swamp People. Eventually, as more evidence is found concerning the fate of the film crew, the Professor will try to recover the raw footage that was paid in blood, and return it to New York to the executives of the ...

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Plot Keywords:

actual animal killed | exploitation film | nude in nature | public nudity | running naked | 

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Taglines:

You won't believe that what you're seeing could have happened!

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Grindhouse Releasing

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Spanish Italian

Release Date:

7 February 1980 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Cannibal Holocaust

Filming Locations:

Guri, Venezuela

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

F.D. Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 89 min (heavily cut) 90 min (animal cruelty-free) 86 min (Québec)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System) Dolby Digital (2001 re-release)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Second of Ruggero Deodato's "Cannibal Trilogy".

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Goofs

When Faye has a spider on her shoulder, she screams and talks at the same time.

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Quotes

[first lines]
PABS Reporter: Man is omnipotent; nothing is impossible for him. What seemed like unthinkable undertakings yesterday are history today. The conquest of the moon for example: who talks about it anymore? Today we are already on the threshold of conquering our galaxy, and in a not too distant tomorrow, we'll be considering the conquest of the universe, and yet man seems to ignore the fact that on this very planet there are still people living in the stone age and practicing cannibalism.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits: "For the sake of authenticity some of the sequences have been retained in their entirety."

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Connections

Featured in In the Jungle: The making of Cannibal Holocaust (2003)

User Reviews

A must see experience

Cannibal holocaust is a truly charged viewing experience; in all its 20 years of existence no other non mondo film (until maybe Men behind the sun) had such a reputation to shock, even today it is believed by some at the UKs trading standards to be an actual snuff film. CH is not the goriest film ever made, but in terms of themes and narrative its still the cruellest, most fascinatingly harsh piece of filmaking in the horror genre. Ive seen all the Traces of death, the men behind the sun films, and the Guinea pigs and I still think this is king. It is simply so well made, acted, atmospheric and the brilliant score by Riz Ortalani sets the scene so well. The fake documentary style never slips up. But perhaps the most unsettling thing about CH is that it is an exploitation film, and the scenes of animal cruelty (and even human) unsettle because they are being shown to promote a response...should you look away or not?Like I said Cannibal Holocaust is a truly unique experience, not some Gory novelty like Cannibal Ferox, and in this time of increased media coverage of true life atrocity maybe its pertinent? Maybe its just nasty cruelty, maybe it even dissapoints you...you just have to see it to gauge you're own response. For me at least its a classic.