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

In 1979, intent on venturing into the vast and unexplored areas of the virgin Amazon rainforest, a small American film crew attempt to make a documentary about the region's indigenous cannibalistic tribes, only to disappear without a trace. As the noted anthropologist, Harold Monroe, and his team of seasoned guides embark on a rescue mission to locate the missing documentarians in the heart of the Green Inferno, fearful tribes that no white has ever seen before will soon start to take interest in them. Inevitably, as the professor unearths more evidence about the fate of the film crew by sheer luck, a desperate battle to recover the raw footage that was paid in blood will commence--after all, the world must know the savage and unspeakable atrocities captured on the riveting unedited footage. In the end, what has really happened to the overambitious explorers, and the shocking final two reels?

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Savage! * Terrifying! * True!

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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:

Ruggero Deodato's 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

The animal deaths in the movie were real. The list of dead animals includes a coatimundi, a yellow-spotted river turtle, a snake, a tarantula, a young pig, and 2 squirrel monkeys. The monkey-killing scene was shot twice, so two monkeys were killed for that scene. The dead animals were given to the tribes for food.

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Goofs

When the Yanomamo guide is given muskrat flesh to eat, he never puts any inside in his mouth. Instead, he opens his mouth a few times near it to give the impression that he is eating.

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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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Alternate Versions

The Japanesese Laser Disc is uncut at 95 minutes, but is optically censored.

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Connections

Referenced in Cannabis Holocaust: Mutant Hell (2001)

User Reviews

Chilling

"Cannibal Holocaust" is a unique and powerful film which has been treated disgracefully by the media since its release over twenty years. From the predictable cries of "Snuff movie!" through the heavy criticism of the animal killings and the condemnation of the exploitative footage, the critics missed the point completely.

It's a chilling look at an unknown culture and it tells us a lot about our own civilisation. The documentary team, unlikeable as they are, at least inject the film with a degree of zest. The same cannot be said of the ugly, hateful cannibals, with their lank hair, grotesque pygmy bodies and ridiculous rituals.

The descent into chaos for the final twenty minutes so is shocking in its extremes and realistic in its execution. Professor Monroe's unanswered question on the New York street at the film's will linger on in many a viewer's mind after they've watched this?

Disgracefully banned in a number of countries; "Cannibal Holocaust" is a film which needs to be seen by as wide as audience as possible.

Guage your own reaction.

8/10