Cannibal Holocaust [Deluxe Edition] [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

While Umberto Lenzi began the Italian-made cycle of brutal Amazonian cannibal horrors with Il Paese del Sesso Selvaggio and effectively ended it with the nauseating Cannibal Ferox, it was Ruggero Deodato who directed the subgenre's most enduring film. This popular bloodbath features a fetus ripped from a woman's body, people impaled on spikes, a genuine tortoise-flaying, and numerous other indignities, both real and simulated. The plot concerns the efforts of a group of American explorers to discover the fate of a missing documentary film crew. They receive a scratchy film-reel containing the bloody truth from a tribe of tree-dwelling natives, and the reel's contents make up the bulk of the film. Advertisements claimed that "the crew who filmed it were actually devoured alive by cannibals," yet most of them were spotted alive in future unsavory gore films. While the film is undoubtedly gruesome enough to satisfy fans, its mixture of nauseating mondo animal slaughter, repulsive sexual violence, and pie-faced attempts at socially conscious moralizing make it rather distasteful morally as well. The fact that the film's sole spokesperson for the anti-exploitation perspective is played by porno star Richard Bolla should give an indication of where its sympathies lie. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: All
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • New hi-definition 16x9 digital restoration of the original uncensored Director's cut
  • Spectacular new stereo re-mix and original mono mix
  • Provocative audio commentary by Director Ruggero Deodato & star Robert Kerman
  • Selected on-camera commentary
  • The Making of Cannibal Holocaust
  • one hour Italian documentary featuring rare behind the scenes footage
  • Exclusive on-camera interviews with Deodato, Kerman and co-star Gabriel Yorke
  • Original theatrical trailers
  • Extensive gallery of stills and poster art
  • The original shooting script
  • Necrophagia "Cannibal Holocaust" music video - directed by Jim Van Bebber
  • Liner notes by legendary horror journalist Chas Balun

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Robert Kerman - Professor Harold Monroe
       Francesca Ciardi - Faye Daniels
       Perry Pirkanen - Jack Anders
       Luca Barbareschi - Mark Tomaso
       Salvatore Basile - Chaco Losojos
       Paolo Paoloni - Chief NY Executive

• Director:

  Ruggero Deodato

• Screenwriter:

  Gianfranco Clerici

• Cinematographer:

  Sergio D'Offizi

• Composer (Music Score):

  Riz Ortolani

REVIEW:

• Everything you've heard about Ruggero Deodato's nauseating Grindhouse classic is true; and while it's hard to defend the director for some of the truly repugnant visuals with which he has chosen to convey his message, there is indeed an underlying point to the film, if one is able to look beyond the sometimes unwatchable images that assault the viewer. At one point in the film, a character makes a comment about Western media junkies living to have their senses raped, and in an age where television viewers bear witness on a weekly basis to such acts as game show contestants eating horses' eyeballs to win cash, this sentiment couldn't ring more true. It seems that some of these images shouldn't be as effective as they are over 20 years after the film's initial release, though the animal cruelty, combined with the other unspeakable atrocities that the protagonists commit, ultimately results in a film that does indeed rape the senses of the viewer in a nearly (some might argue entirely) unwatchable manner. While livestock farming and mass consumption has successfully taken the dirty work out of life as a carnivore for most people, many never see the faces of the animals they so readily consume without a second thought. The idea of death and mutilation is so far removed that it's easy to eat meat for one's entire life and never have to witness firsthand the slaughter of the animals one consumes. The actual onscreen killing of animals in this film is almost unforgivable upon initial reaction, though they were (with a few exceptions) consumed in true hunter-gatherer tradition. However, the treatment of the natives by the so-called "documentarians" who set out to expose their "primitive" lifestyles is unforgivable (even though conveyed by use of special effects); it is truly the most horrifying aspect of this film when one stops to consider the results of colonialism and the manner in which many modern societies have arrived at their current states. By the end of the film, the violent (literally and aesthetically) images leave viewers with an unshakable sickness that they won't soon forget. Composer Riz Ortolani's score effectively moves from a familiar, somewhat pensive melody into harsh tones that make viewers actually feel the violence they bear witness to onscreen. This is not a film that is watched, it is a film that is endured, and audiences that have any doubts about their ability to do so are best advised to follow their instincts. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi