Entry 64: Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Entry 64: Cannibal Holocaust

Dir: Ruggero Deodato

"The one that goes all the way!"




Today is my birthday!  Yes, dear reader, a woman actually gave birth to me; I didn't just crawl out of a rat-infested gutter somewhere.  In order to celebrate, Mrs. Basement of Sleaze makes her triumphant return to join me for a film from my birth year.  Yes, it's one of my all-time favorites, Ruggero Deodato's immortal 1980 classic, Cannibal Holocaust.

When a documentary film crew disappears in the Amazon while shooting a film about cannibalism, Anthropologist Monroe (porno actor Robert Kerman, who also had non-porn roles in Night of the Creeps and Spider-Man) is dispatched to discover what became of the vanished videographers.  After a harrowing jungle journey, Kerman returns with reels of film documenting the film crew's abuse and torture of the native people, culminating in an orgy of violence as the subjugated natives take their revenge against these "real professionals."

Despite some indefensible on-screen animal deaths, this is a great film.  It's stomach-churning gore serves a purpose, as the film is meant to be an indictment of media culture's need to seek out more sensationalistic and violent material to showcase.  It's breathtakingly lensed by Sergio D'Offizi and features a beautiful, iconic score by Riz Ortolani.  This is perhaps the most influential horror film of the past three decades, as it's the first "found footage" flick, which means you can blame Deodato for Paranormal Activity 37 or whatever piece of shit will be clogging up the multiplexes this October.  Anyway, you get to hear from me all the goddamn time; let's hear what my better half has to say:

Holy fuck, I enjoyed this film. It was well done and looked amazing. I was anticipating more gore, (shame on me?) so it was easier to handle than expected. (We did watch the animal cruelty free version so maybe that had a little something to do with it). I'm not hip to actors names and previous flicks they've been in like MJH but I'll tell you, naked Miguel, OH YEAH! and when the professor skinny dips with the native ladies and one of them playfully splashed him and CUPS HIS BALLS...I laughed. It was great! After that I was in, unfortuately almost everyone else naked had something awful happen to them so, buzz kill. The scene that impacted me the most was after they gang rape the poor native girl, find her dead on a post ritualistically murdered and gaze at her body, both intrigued and enamored with what had just been done. Also, when Faye is captured, raped dragged off to certain death, BOOM! Vag shot, slit and all..dang girl, sorry about your head. In the end these smug jerks get what's coming to them. (They chop off a guys dick! Just because!) I enjoyed the message of the film. Who are the cannibals, really? ....Us, we are...in case you didn't know what I was getting at.

Thanks for your comments, Mrs. BoS...We'll catch you guys later!

"I wonder who the real cannibals are..."