Guyana: Cult of the Damned

Rene Cardona Jnr's attempt to cash-in on the contemporary Jim Jones cult that resulted in the mass suicide of almost a thousand followers. Stuart Whitman plays the megalomaniacal cult leader, deviant, zealot and polygamist who leads his flock into self-inflicted hardship becoming isolated then paranoid to the point of total delusion and eventual self-destruction.

Frequent Whitman collaborator Bradford Dillman plays Jones' doctor-in-residence who administers the fatal dose, Gene Barry is the doomed American senator trying to investigate the secretive community, and a host of former Hollywood heavyweights (Cotten, DeCarlo, Ireland) and welterweights (Young, Chanel, Noriega, Lucero) fill out the expansive acting ranks. Good to see Cardona's preferred local talent Hugo Stiglitz on board along with beauties Jennifer Ashley and Erika Carlsson playing Jones' long-suffering wife (the trio reunited from "Tintorera"). Whilst not to trivialise the subject, you know you're watching an exploitation movie when those guys are prominent.

Fatally overlong, the long-awaited climax is agonising to watch and not necessarily worth the wait although knowing the conclusion doesn't help the pacing, nor is there much attempt at suspense.

Although there's an apparent ambition to present a serious docu-drama, it's firmly exploitation fodder made for a particular audience. If you want to see the more deferential treatment, then the "Guyana Tragedy" (1980) is probably your go-to picture. Whilst sordid and overlong, I'm faithful to the Rene Cardona factory and appreciate his trademark excess, so it's a thumbs up from my perspective.

Guyana: Cult of the Damned (1979)

** (out of 4)

Reverend James Johnson (Stuart Whitman) leads his church worshipers into the jungles of Guyana in South America where his cult begins to reach the views he had in plan. The only problem is politician Congressman Leo Ryan (Gene Berry) who sees something wrong with this group but before anything can be done tragedy strikes.

GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED was the first attempt at telling the tragic story of Jim Jones and his church members, which led to a mass suicide in Jonestowan. This film comes from director Rene Cardona Jr. who also had his hand involved in other "true story" films like SURVIVE and THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. This film here was released in America in a cut version, which added narration but I viewed the uncut version that clocked in at 115-minutes. I can't comment on the American version but I will say that this here appears to be a little bit better. Having read reviews of both, it's clear this film is hated by most and many violently attack it for exploiting the real people by trying to make a quick buck.

I understand where people would see this as exploitation but the film itself really isn't as bad as many make it out to be and not nearly as graphic as its reputation. In fact, for a film that has the reputation of being an exploitation movie, I'd say this is incredibly tame. Yes, there are scenes of torture but none of them are graphic and in fact they're less graphic than something you'd see in a PG-13 movie of today. The mass suicide at the end really just shows people getting shot or falling to the ground. Again, nothing too graphic. The attacks about the vile nature of the movie isn't from anything we see on the screen but I think it comes from people simply protesting that a "cheap" movie was made about such a tragic event.

As for the film itself, I'd be lying if I called it good. There's no question that the entire film has a very rushed feel to it. There's also no question that Cardona just wanted to get anything on the screen no matter if it was the truth, a lie or somewhere in between. The story structure is what really kills the movie because the first time we see Jones (named Johnson here) he's already a raving maniac so it's hard to believe that, by looking at him, anyone would follow him into a jungle. Had the film showed whatever character he had to talk people into following him then I think it would have paid off a lot better instead of having him be a maniac throughout. The film, in its uncut form, also runs a bit too long with too many repeat scenes of Jones just rambling.

There are some good moments in the film that are often overlooked and this includes the final twenty-five or so minutes once the Congressman arrives on the scene with the media. The final moments of the story are quite entertaining, although many of the death scenes are handled so poorly that it was hard to get any real impact from them. Another good thing was the performance of Whitman. I thought he was actually quite believable in the role and it's too bad he didn't get to play this character with a better screenplay. Berry was also good in his supporting role and there's never a bad time when you get to watch Joseph Cotten and John Ireland.

GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED has been overshadowed by other, more graphic films from the director as well as a made-for-TV movie that followed. Still, on its own terms, the movie isn't nearly as awful as its made out to be. Who knows. Had the director actually taken his time with the material and had a better screenplay, it had the elements for something better.

Universal released and re-edited this Mexican film starring an all-star cast! I saw both prints and it's intresting how Universal added a voice over of a survivor, and made the film more fast pace. I hate to give this film any credit, but some of it more accurate than the TV film GUYANA TRAGEDY. And Stuart Whitman as Jim Johnson (jones) gives a pretty good performance. The rest of the cast looks like they did this film for the money as they look very tried. This film was hated by most critic (especially Siskel & Ebert) and is very offensive at times. If you have to see it, I strongly recommend you see the short version for it more professional put together. But I doubt Universal will ever put this film on tape.

This is a review of the 115 minute directors cut not the 90 minute American cut.

This is a (supposedly) accurate version of the Jonestown tragedy of 1978 where Jim Jones got his followers all to drink Kool Aid spiked with cyanide and commit a mass suicide. This movie changed the names--JIm Jones is now Jim Johnson--who starts his own congregation in the US. He is deeply distrustful of the US and the CIA in particular and moves everybody to Guyana to start a utopian paradise. Unfortunately he treats his followers like slaves and subjects them to mental and physical torture and prevents them from leaving. The US government hears of this and goes to investigate. It all ends tragically.

Despite its reputation for being graphic and gory this film is really tame. How this got an R rating is beyond me--it's PG-13 all the way. No blood, gore or nudity. That doesn't make it a great movie though. Stuart Whitman plays Johnson and he's pretty good. They also got some respected actors--Gene Barry, John Ireland, Joseph Cotten, Yvonne De Carlo, Bradford Dillman--in major roles and they're all pretty good. It's kind of slow and the DVD transfer is crappy with bad sound and faded color. Still it is respectful and scary story of a tragedy that should never have happened.

In 1978, A Mexican film crew (Mismovision) struck a deal with Mexico City Broadcasting (MCB): In the years that followed, they could use their characters in any way they saw fit. MCB producer Memo Vasqueze, who was responsible for bringing many great cult leader shows to TV throughout the 70s, decided to do a Jim Jones series, and wanted the story to remain as faithful to the Marvel comic as possible, but MCB's sponsor Bambino Machino wanted to sell more toys, so there was a major story rewrite, and they had to push a giant robot into the story! MCB's producers thought Bambino Machino was crazy! Nonetheless, this was to be the first time in a cult leader series in which a cult leader figure (as opposed to a regular pilot, such as in the Japanese METZENGINGER Z) operated a giant robot!

The MCB/Bambino Machino project entitled GUYANA: Crimen del siglo a Mexinization of Jim Jones himself (the project was going to be called GUYANA: Robusteza del Mal), but Bambino Machino got more control than Vasqueze, for whom this show was the last straw. When he left evil cult shows (and worked on soap operas at MCB), it was completely Bambino Machino's show from there on. The next Cult Hero Series, Siempre listo en las tinieblas (1980) and ¡Así es mi tierra! (1981) had MCB in the opening credits! Go figure!

Here we have Bambino Machino's GUYANA: Crimen del siglo, which, despite its shortcomings, should supposedly be a treat for fans of that type of thing! I will say that it was better than the short-lived American series starring Powers Booth (which wasn't TOO bad). Before the excellent new GUYANA film starring Stewart Whitman, this is definitely the least historically faithful GUYANA ever portrayed on film! The attitude was right, the poses and stunts were incredible! But the faithfulness ends with portrayal of Cult Leader Jimmy (Jim-Jam) Jones himself. . .

The STORY is what bugs me! The Mexinization is much more extreme than the aforementioned Marvel Comic from the same year, and here, Jim-Jam's regular foes are nowhere to be seen. Also, his origins have been changed completely! He's from outer space, he has a racing car (Messiah-Machine GP-12000) and rides a giant ship called the Marveller (hmmmm . . . Where DID they get that name . . . ), which transforms into the giant robot Assuptionizer! OK, now this is TOTALLY out of place for IL' Captain Koolaid, even more absurd than any of Ralph Bakshi's "drug-trip" Hobbit adventures (from the last two seasons of the classic animated series)! But that's not all! Bambino Machino ran out of money to do the FX prior to the post-production, and Assuptionizer was replaced by a goofy-looking bozo-clown named Senior Bungles, as it was rumored that some nasty fanatic stole the robot costume! So its appearance was limited to stock footage of the robot, with new footage of Senior Bungles' balloon animal antics spliced in!

But now, let'slook at a few the show's minuses: As, moreover, we are forced to endure more Guyana Cult Tragedy action! In fact, the show is VERY violent! incorporating in certain instances real footage of human brain surgery!

I'll be as brief on the plot as I can: In space, Professor Jehovah, leader of the Angelican Army (his cronies include right hand woman Oblate Sisters of the Assumption, a similar two Caucasian women, and dove-like henchmen) are in pursuit of the space craft Marveller, which comes to Earth and crashes on a mountain in Guyana, freeing an old hermit named Padre Sebastián, who was from the planet Spider (which the big Prof. plundered and destroyed long ago). After a race show, motorcycle stuntman Bert Powers (Ricardo Carrión) (who lives with his sister and little brother, and has a fashion model girlfriend, who's unaware that her boss is actually an Oblate Sisters of the Assumption in disguise! Wow, and you thought the Branch Davidians of the infamous Waco Massacre were out there!) is fatally wounded by Oblate Sisters of the Assumption and the dove-henchmen, who attempt to remove his brain but are thwarted by Padre Sebastián, the old hermit, who injects "grape koolaid" into Bert's jugular artery before turning back into a starfish!

He also receives a metallic bracelet, which stores his cult leader suit (PLUS!!!), shoots holy fire, and is also a communicator for the Messiah-Machine GP-12000 and Marveller, which he can ride and transform into Assuptionizer, which kills 917 "true believers", as we all know, on that ill-fated day (it hurls its punch bowls at it's prey, as opposed to to merely lacing it with stychnide and leaving it there by the wayside for the followers to imbibe at their leisure)!

**SPOILERS** I will say that, ultimately, though incredibly rushed (especially after its slow first half), has its fair share of sick sick scenes, in particular, those depicting the heaps of stagnant dead bodies rotting in the sun, and accompanied by the buzzing of flies on the soundtrack!

Anyhow, after the Assuptionizer kills the congregation off, Jim Jones comes face to face with Professor Jehovah, who, after a little scuffle with our cult leader, grows to giant size, pounds his chest like King Kong, and exerts "The Angelican Army is immortal!!!" Jim Jones does the usual Marveller/Assuptionizer thing and kills the evil Professor the same way he killed everyone else, but this time, with a bit of fire & brimstone thrown in between for dramatic effect (supposedly taken from real life transcripts of real-life sermons but echoing here via the employment of some audio trickery and thus difficult to understand)

My final take: Bambino Machino's GUYANA: Century of the Crime a fun roller-coaster ride with tons of unnecessary (but not unwelcome) sermonizing, and a must-see for Jesus freaks. I say, don't let the minuses get to you, and just sit back and enjoy the plusses!

Not Recommended.