Cannibal Holocaust

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Ruggero Deodato's notorious Italian shocker about four filmmakers who go missing after going to do a documentary on cannibals. Months later their footage is found and we get to see what happened. Yep, The Blair Witch Project ripped this sucker off but I still think that film is better. This film here is still banned all around the world and rightfully so probably. PETA members are still wanting to kill the director, again, rightfully so probably. Technically speaking, I think this film is pretty damn good especially the terrific cinematography and the wonderful mixture of using 35mm for the city footage and 16mm for the jungle footage. The music score is one of the greatest from any Euro horror film and the director certainly gets across the feel that you're actually watching all of this stuff take place. The problem is that the real animal violence takes away anything the film has going for it. I've seen real animal deaths in countless other films but the way the director rubs the footage in your face is, IMO, the reason this film is still so controversial while others like it don't draw too much heat. I also don't buy the "message" the director tries to put across because it's rather impossible to believe that the filmmakers would actually do what we see them doing in their footage. Again, I think this is a very important film, which is thankfully no longer being made and I can respect the technical side of this thing but in the end, I still find the director to be a scumbag who deserves all the heat he's gotten over the past 25 years.