Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writer:

Gianfranco Clerici (story)

Release Date:

19 June 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Ripout! Barbeque! Devour! How long can you take it?

Plot:

An anthropologist heads a rescue party into the South American jungle to find a missing film team making a documentary on cannibal tribes but can only return with their footage, which reveals their crueler intentions.

Plot Keywords:

Tribe | Cannibal | Professor | Jungle | New York

Cast

Robert Kerman	...	Harold Monroe
Francesca Ciardi	...	Faye Daniels
Perry Pirkanen	...	Jack Anders
Luca Barbareschi	...	Mark Tomaso (as Luca Giorgio Barbareschi)
Salvatore Basile	...	Chaco Losojos
Ricardo Fuentes	...	Felipe Ocanya
Carl Gabriel Yorke	...	Alan Yates (as Gabriel Yorke)
Paolo Paoloni	...	Chief NY Executive
Lionello Pio Di Savoia	...	Executive (as Pio Di Savoia)
Luigina Rocchi	...	Native

Also Known As:

Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

95 min | UK:89 min (heavily cut) | USA:90 min (animal cruelty-free version) | Canada:86 min (Québec)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

Norway:18 (re-rating: 2005) (uncut) | Singapore:(Banned) | Norway:(Banned) (1984-2005) | Australia:(Banned) (1984-2005) | Italy:VM18 (re-rating: 1984) | Finland:(Banned) (1984-2001) | Hong Kong:III | Japan:R-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (re-rating: 2001) (heavily cut) | UK:X (self applied: 1981) | Philippines:(Banned) | New Zealand:(Banned) (2006) | Denmark:15 | Brazil:18 | Mexico:C | France:-16 (original rating) | Australia:R (re-rating: 2005) (uncut) | Ireland:18 (re-rating: 2006) | Germany:18 (heavily cut) | Ireland:(Banned) (1984-2006) | Finland:K-18 (re-rating: 2001) | South Africa:18 | France:-16 | France:-18 (DVD) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) (heavily cut) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating) | Germany:Not Rated (uncut DVD version) | Italy:VM18 (1980, cut) | Iceland:(Banned) | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:(Banned) (1984-2001) | USA:Open (rating surrendered: 1985) | USA:X (original rating: 1984) | West Germany:(Banned) | Canada:R | Italy:(Banned) (1980-1984) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Amazon Rainforest, Colombia

Company:

F.D. Cinematografica

Trivia:

The in-film-documentary, "The Last Road To Hell", which features several executions, consists of authentic footage supposedly from Nigeria and South East Asia.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the crew first find the impaled native girl, her legs hang down limply, but in later shots her legs are crossed at the ankles.

Quotes:

[first lines]
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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005) (V)

Not the campfest I expected

"Cannibal Holocaust" is not the campy little horror flick I expected. It's a "serious" and well-made movie and it's an experience you'll hardly ever forget. According to IMDb's trivia section the movie can "only be seen completely uncut in the EC-UltraBit DVD", which means that I've seen a tamed down version and that, my friends, is insane! "Cannibal Holocaust" is easily one of the most graphic movies I've ever come across. The violence is incredibly realistic. It's no wonder that director Ruggero Deodato was taken to court to prove that he hasn't slain real people for his motion picture. (I still think the real animal slaughtering in the movie was unnecessary. Screw you for that, Deodato!) It's hard to tell if there really is a message or if the "moral" is just an excuse for all the gore. In a strange way the violent scenes somehow speak for themselves and do deliver some kind of message, but that's open for discussion.

If ever a movie deserved the label "disturbing", it's "Cannibal Holocaust". It's controversial, but totally worth watching, if you can take some seriously sick images.