Jungle Holocaust (1978)

Best Cannibal Movie

If you are curious about the infamous Spaghetti Cannibal genre then this is the movie to start with. It's a real jungle adventure from beginning to end with beautifully weird music. I would give it five stars if it was possible to watch the movie without the scenes of animal killings. The interview with the lead actor is painful to watch but worth it for the line "That sheep's liver was my destiny" (or something like that). Many people skip this one and go right to Deodato's other movie in the genre, Cannibal Holocaust. I don't really consider that a representative cannibal movie as it is more artistically disturbing and seems to have a deeper meaning about human trust. Jungle Holocaust is just a fun movie where the cannibals really are cannibals and want to eat you for the same reason you might enjoy a well cooked leg of lamb. They take even take the time to properly prepare and season their meals. Buon Appetito! April 5, 2008

Satisfies Lover's Of The Red Stuff

This film is a great cannibal film, Almost as good as Cannibal Holocaust. This movie is the prequel to Cannibal Holocaust, By the time Cannibal Holocaust came out Ruggero Deodato had already made a reputation for being a good trash director by the time this movie came out in 1977. Supposedly based on a true case, an explorer in the Philippine jungles gets lost after his plane with friends left and is captured by hungry cannibal tribes. He escapes by capturing a lovely tribal girl to find food and shelter if they can avoid the rest of her tribe from having them for dinner.

Exciting and realistic film about survival in the jungle filled with gory violence especially actual animal butchery. Like for example, the infamous Alligator butchering sequence that might turn you green. There's some disturbing moments like a pregnant woman who delivers her child as she throws it into a river where an alligator eats it and of course a chest being ripped open, then filled with hot coals.

Fans of this genre will love this. I guarantee it. January 13, 2008

I Iove this movie!

This was the first cannibal movie I ever saw and I was completely blown away by it. I found it used at a local cd store and it really got me into Italian movies. Now that I watch it again after seeing a lot of these movies it still remains one of my favorites. Ruggero Deodato has a style like no other directer, his use of music, editing and camera work are amazing and his movies always seem to have that documentary feel to them, its like a mixture of "Jacopetti"&"Prosperi"and "Lucio Fulci" movies. As for the animal violence, I am against cruelty to animals but feel it was needed to make this movie what it is, absolutely horrifying. May 17, 2007

oddly impressive

chances are, if you're looking at getting jungle holocaust you've probably already been introduced to cannibal holocaust, or make them die slowly, etc etc. jungle holocaust is actually a rather well-paced enjoyable entry in the cannibal sub-genre. imagine parts of indiana jones with cannibals. of course there is the requisite italian exploitation animal cruelty, women getting slapped left and right, and lots of gloppy blood and guts. also, for the easily offended, seeing a woman get raped and then turn around to basically become a jungle gatherer/housewife may not be your cup of tea. all in all, if you like these sort of movies, you will like jungle holocaust. if you don't, then i would save the money and buy something else. April 23, 2007

= A Man Called Horse + The Naked Prey * Mondo Cane

Cheesy late-70s horror/action Italian import about a plane crash, two white men lost in the jungle, separation, capture, and escape. Despite the hoopla, the grand packaging (interviews, director commentary, stills gallery, etc.) and premium pricing this gory little exploitation film isn't going to win a lot of new fans to the genre. After the plane crashes and the civilized men are separated, the tall one is captured by a tribe of... cannibals! He escapes and they chase him (Why do those chase scenes remind me so much of the Tasmanian Devil chasing Bugs Bunny?) Will our hero escape and get back to the airplane before he's captured and the natives feast on his still-beating heart?

I've quit expecting Italian made movies to contain much in the way of plots. Oh, JUNGLE HOLOCAUST does take you from point A to point C - plane crash to capture to escape - but nothing terribly exciting happens along the way. What the heck, you don't watch a grinder like this for its elaborate plot or intricate characterizations, anyway. You watch it to see:
- the hero retch a gulletful of pea soup
- people impaled on sharp, pointy sticks
- the cannibals at dinner (atrocious table manner, suspicious looking main course)
- an awful lot of nudity. The hero spends half the movie in his flag-flapping birthday suit, the native girl he kidnaps (played by the provocatively named Me Me Lai) wears only a thong, most of the time
- various human internal organs, ripped and et raw
- real animals really killed on camera

In the commentary and interviews, the director and star both disclaim responsibility for the scenes in which animals are killed on camera. We're told, a number of times, the movie's producers shot and edited in these scenes for the Far East market. Be that as it may, the killing scenes are in keeping with the sensationalistic spirit of the rest of this movie. The whole point is to entertain by assaulting the senses. It's one thing for an actor to pretend to gnaw on a sheep's kidney and make believe it's a human heart. It's fakery and the audience knows it's fakery. Filming a crocodile being stunned and then skinned alive is another matter all together. You don't have to be a prude to object to the graphically violent naturalism in a movie like JUNGLE HOLOCAUST. Finding skulls teeming with maggots, or filming an actor disgorging a mouthful of prop vomit, is lowest common denominator stuff. You don't have to be an animal right's activist to strongly object to animals being killed so a schlock Italian b-horror flick can sell more tickets in Kuala Lampur. Anyone can resent a movie that panders to an audiences' prurient interests. There WAS an interesting movie in here somewhere. The movie was shot on location, the lead actor was good, the photography - considering the difficult location - was very good. But there was an awful lot I disliked here, and there's no way I'd recommend this movie to anyone.
March 30, 2007

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