Cannibal Holocaust

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

The movie opens up with a news story about a group of documentary filmmakers that are missing after heading into part of the Amazon called the Green Inferno to film the natives. The network they worked for is putting together another team to retrace their steps and try to find out what happened to them. The team is lead by Professor Monroe, an expert anthropologist that has been hired by the network. They manage to retrace the original group to a tribe of cannibals where they discover dozens of film cans. They trade for them and return to NYC. Monroe is hired by the network to narrate the documentary based on the film they recovered. He is horrified by what he sees on the film, as the filmmakers brutalize the natives and stage horrible events all in an effort to get the best footage for their “documentary”.

Well this is one of the most difficult movies that I’ve ever had to review. Not because it is a bad movie, because it most certainly isn’t. The story seems to be very simple with the documentary film crew wandering off in the jungle only to have terrible things happen to them. But it is so much more than that. The movie deals with the media and what seems to be “civilized” society’s insatiable need for violence and pain. This is juxtaposed with the savages and cannibals that are abused by those seeking to feed that civilized society’s need. Even after the abuse the savages greet the rescue team with distrust, but not violence. So you see there is so much more going on here than just the gore and violence. The movie is actually trying to make a point about our love of violence, while entertaining you with the very same thing. Which I find fascinating because it seems to me that the film sort of points at the audience and asks us, “Why do you like this?” Enough of this serious talk that others have spent far more time explaining better than I ever could.

One of the most overlooked and underappreciated things about this movie is the cast. I suppose they get lost in the story and the controversy (more on this later) surrounding the movie. But this is a damn shame because they are very good in some very difficult scenes. Much of the power that comes from the film can be attributed to the cast, especially to those that portray the documentary team. Especially Gabriel Yorke, who has the key role as the leader of the filmmakers Alan Yates. There are so many great moments, but the one that sticks out for me is the expression on his face when they discover the native woman on the pole and how it changes when he is told he is on camera. Such a simple little thing, but it stuck with me and shows how the little things can make or break a performance.

The movie is a masterpiece of filmmaking. How they managed to shoot in the remote locations with a smaller budget and still get the results on screen just goes to show how much talent was behind the movie. The special effects are incredible, when they are special effects. You have everything from bodies being hacked up to one of the most iconic images ever to come from an exploitation/horror movie with the native woman on the pole. The fact they accomplished this in the difficult environment of the Amazon is again just incredible. Also while watching the special features they mentioned that the whole movie was shot using natural lighting. Cannibal Holocaust also has one of the greatest musical scores I’ve ever heard. It is immediately recognizable and just perfect for the film.

This review is not only for the movie, but also the two disc special edition DVD from Grindhouse Releasing. The second disc is filled with extras, a couple of which I wanted to mention. First of all there is a making of feature that details how the movie got off the ground, shooting the movie, composing the music, and the incredible story of the movie being banned. They interview many of those involved with the making of the film, including director Deodato, who has some interesting stories to tell. The other special feature that I really enjoyed was an in depth interview with actor Gabriel Yorke, who had the unique experience of coming onto the movie a couple of weeks after everyone else had already started. This is an excellent interview where he is completely honest about his feelings of working on the movie.

Well there I’ve avoided talking about the one thing that really bothers me about Cannibal Holocaust for as long as I could, so here goes. I find the killing of animals on screen for entertainment to completely and utterly reprehensible and disgusting. The fact that this movie does this not once or twice but four times (five if you include the second take on the monkey) is mind boggling to me. And before you think I’m some sort of wimp I’ve hunted and killed animals. Not only that but I’ve seen animals slaughtered in a slaughterhouse before as well. So I know that the hamburger on my plate was once a cow. But you can say that they ate the animals they killed or that monkey brains are a native delicacy, but those are excuses. They set up cameras and shot animals being killed to disgust and/or titillate that part of the audience’s brain that wants to see this sort of thing. Not only that but at least in the case of the muskrat they made the animal suffer to get more out of the scene. That is just wrong. I’ll leave you with a quote from the Gabriel Yorke interview when speaking about how he felt about the animal killings, “…the level of cruelty on the set was new to me…”

I was thinking about why Cannibal Holocaust is infamous for the animal killings when other movies did similar things before and after it came out? My only explanation is that most of those other movies were nothing more than disgusting attempts to shock the audience. Cannibal Holocaust is an excellent movie that just happens to contain some scenes with animals being killed. From a personal view I think that is what really pisses me off about the animal killings in Cannibal Holocaust. I can dismiss the crappy movies, but I just can’t ignore such a great movie. While I wouldn’t show this to my wife I do think that anyone with any interest in the genres of horror or exploitation needs to see this movie. For more information on how you can get a copy of the excellent DVD from Grindhouse Releasing go to http://www.grindhousereleasing.com/

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer