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'Cannibal Holocaust'

During the 1970’s Italian cinema, which was not subject to the usual copyright laws, embarked on a spate of copycat productions based on the success of US movies in Italian cinemas. For instance after George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’, or ‘Zombi’ as it was known in Italy, proved to be a gigantic success a ton of celluloid was devoted to numerous “Morti Viventi” schlock such as Lucio Fulci’s rather good ‘Zombi 2’, or ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’ as it was known outside Italy, and Bruno Mattei’s ‘Zombie Creeping Flesh’. Both of these films, among others, increased Romero’s onscreen blood and guts fetish a few notches and generally tried to outdo the American director’s 1978 magnum opus. Each production tried to out-gore the other and up the ante a little more every time. These spaghetti zombie films thrived on ridiculous story lines, fabulous make up and horrific death, and kept the undead alive in the cinema well into the 80’s.

Alongside these zombie massacres arose another more home-grown attempt at pushing the barriers of cinematic revulsion. The cannibal movie subgenre - initiated in 1972 by Umberto Lenzi’s ‘Deep River Savages’ and Ruggero Deodato’s ‘Cannibal’ in 1976 - owed little to the living dead or US box office success even though both types are often linked together. The “mondo movie” was the real father of the Italian cannibal cycle and the undertones of mondo can be seen in most cannibal movies.

Ruggero Deodato’s ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ was one of those movies that made it clear that Italian cannibal productions were born out of the dubious onscreen delights of the likes of ‘Mondo Cane’. It even included a nod to Mondo’s inhibition to placing faked footage alongside genuine documentary footage. One of the Deodato’s characters even states that obvious, genuine, documentary footage of people being executed was being “faked” by Alan Yates (Gabriel Yorke), the leader of a documentary film crew who are at the centre of the movie.

‘Cannibal Holocaust’ concerns itself with the disappearance of the aforementioned TV crew who made their names with hard hitting documentaries about Africa and Cambodia. The crew went missing whilst filming their current project, a jungle travelogue expose of the cannibal tribes of the Yamamonos and the Shamataris in South America called ‘The Green Inferno’.

Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) of New York University is tasked with finding out what happened to Yates and his crew. His search leads him to uncover evidence that the TV crew were, in fact, dead. But he manages to recoup some of the film footage that was shot by them and returns to New York with the unprocessed film cans.

The second half of ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ deals with Monroe’s viewing of Yates’ film and his growing reluctance to have anything to do with the project. Yates’ footage is presented in a quite convincing hand-held 16mm camera documentary fashion, giving the latter half of the movie (including its gory effect’s) a realistic and genuinely disturbing feel.

The documentary footage reveals the extreme lengths that Yates and his crew went through to achieve the fame they desired. Yates and Co. go deeper and deeper into depravity, pushing native tribes people to the point where they eventually turn on the TV crew with a vicious retribution resulting in the liberal use of some very effective gore prosthetics. 

‘Cannibal Holocaust’ is no polished production, though, just as one would expect from a film of this type. But, somewhat surprisingly, it’s no turkey either. The acting of the first half is generally mediocre to bad, which is to be expected in a production of this sort. But the goofball and depraved antics of Yates’ TV crew in the second documentary footage half suits the piece well. This depravity is showcased well in the famous scene where the TV crew come across an impaled native girl and Yates has to be warned to stop smiling as the camera is rolling. The joy expressed at this truly classic 80’s video nasty image by Yates is indicative of the mind-set of the people we are dealing with.

There aren’t many movies like ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ and that’s one of the reasons it deserves its high rating. Those with the stomach to watch it will find that the film exhibits a genuinely creepy and disturbing atmosphere throughout its running time, helped no end by Riz Ortolani’s weird and compelling score. Its convincing atrocity, violent rape, murder, gut chomping and appalling real animal slaughter take the viewer to a level that few movies can manage, or should even attempt to. In short, it does exactly what it says on the tin. In fact, it did it so well that the film was “outed” in some quarters as a genuine “snuff” movie.

Ruggero Deodato was even taken to court over the “death” of the documentary team, which backfired spectacularly when the actors in question were actually subpoenaed and had to appear in the courtroom.

Despite (or perhaps because of) all of the nonsense surrounding the movie, ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ became a notable success in Italy but was either cut heavily or banned outright in many other countries. It topped the list in Britain during the hysterical (and politically motivated) “video nasties” bill of 1984 and remained unavailable for many years, gaining the film more and more notoriety every time it was mentioned. 

All of this seems rather silly now as mainstream Hollywood productions have continued to push various cinematic taboos over the subsequent decades. But as mentioned earlier ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ offers something that will not be contained in the average Hollywood horror flick or any other flick for that matter and it’s unlikely that such material will be produced in the same manner again. For that reason alone it’s a film that should be viewed by people who are interested in the horror genre or cinema in general. Of course, everyone who approaches it should be aware of its content, particularly the sickeningly real animal cruelty. But few people who’ll look at this film will be unaware of its past or reputation.

8/10

Watched that again the other night. Havent sat down to it in ages. Might give my thoughts on that if it's a slow day tomorrow.

The Brave One

A revenge Thriller on Netflix starring Jodie Foster as a Radio DJ who falls into vigilante acts following a horrific crime.

Just lands nicely on the right side of brain candy.

Some akward plot devices and bad acting from the support can be overlooked as scene by scene its dynamic enough and has some depth to it. Jodie Fosters class also carries it up a few notches above the regular revenge drivel.

I found myself begrudgingly enjoying it , fist pumping and egging her on.

7.6 / 10

I think you are being very generous. I thought it was very average. It looked cheap. I was disappointed in it. Bit like the Bruce Willis version.

Those vigilante movies aren't a patch on Denzel's Equalizer movies (although the third Equalizer one isn't the best).

Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee (2025). Watched this over the weekend and really enjoyed it. While it's not perfect, I'd view it as a return to form for Lee after (for me) a very poor run (Chi-raq, Da 5 Bloods, the Oldboy remake, etc.) I also didn't care much for BlackKKlansman, despite some good performances.

This has Denzel Washington in mega-charismatic form, while not shying away from some darker aspects of the character, even if the resolution is a bit neat. It's a remake of a Kurosawa film, which was itself adapted from an Ed McBain American noir/crime novel. It has a strong cast, is beautifully shot, and switches from family drama to cop procedural to (almost) action movie, without losing its direction at any point.

The main issue is - I'm not sure anyone is going to see it. After what I think was a very limited cinema run, it's locked away on Apple TV, where the vast majority of people will never come across it. It's a sad trend, and one that's likely to continue, with the money Apple are throwing at the likes of Scorsese, Lee, etc. At least Netflix and Prime seem to have a wide enough subscription base to ensure that stuff reaches audiences; Netflix's problem is that the stuff it spends ridiculous money on is so sh!te that it doesn't deserve an audience…

I didn’t know this was on Apple TV, thanks for letting me know, will watch this in the coming weeks.

There was a time when I loved everything Lee made, but that day is long gone. I never got the love from BlacKKKlsman - I think he and Jordan Peele were dining on previous work and their names for that. I wouldn’t even put it in my top 10 Spike Lee movies. Agree on the others too, inferior work compared to earlier glories - and I say this without having watched the Oldboy remake (yet, I do own it on Blu Ray).

'Cannibal Ferox'

Umberto Lenzi's 'Man From Deep River' from 1972 (AKA 'Deep River Savages') is widely recognised as the picture that kicked off the 70's/80's Italian cannibal cycle, even though that movie is mostly a rip off of the Richard Harris 1970 western 'A Man Called Horse'. But, much to Lenzi's irritation, it was Ruggero Deodato's 'Cannibal Holocaust' from 1980 that was responsible for truly giving life to the violent sub-genre.

Lenzi would go on to make 'Eaten Alive!', filmed before 'Cannibal Holocaust' was released, but it was the crazy circus that followed the release of Deodato's movie that tempted Lenzi to once again head back into the South American jungle and essentially cannibalise Deodato's infamous shocker in an effort to capitalise on its dubious success, even though 'Cannibal Holocaust' got banned in Lenzi's native Italy and Deodato even ended up facing serious legal trouble. But none of that would bother the master of schlock and Lenzi set out to try and repeat what Deodato accomplished.

'Cannibal Ferox' begins a junkie's long walk from the Metropolitan Hospital Center in East Harlem all the way to an apartment on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The apartment is the home of drug dealer Mike Logan (John Morghen or Giovanni Lombardo Radice, depending on who you're talking to), who's skipped town due to the fact that he's ripped off the mob to the tune of a hundred grand. Mike and his buddy Joe Costolani (Walter Lloyd) have been gallivanting around the South American jungle looking to steal precious stones and cocaine from the natives along the Amazon.

Into this mix are thrown brother and sister, Rudy (Bryan Redford) and Gloria Davis (Lorraine De Selle), and their friend Pat Johnson (Zora Kerowa) who are down in Colombia so that Gloria can prove that cannibalism is a myth and present her findings to academia back in New York. The trio bump into Mike and Joe, who claim to have been attacked by cannibals. Joe is fatally wounded and spills the beans regarding his and Mike's true intentions and also that it was Mike that goaded the tribes people into violence. The tribes people, who are hunting Mike now also see Rudy, Gloria and Pat as enemies and hunt them down as well, eventually capturing them and bringing them back to their village where they subject them to torture.

While 'Cannibal Holocaust' was certainly an exploitation movie, 'Cannibal Ferox' takes things to another level in those terms. Holocaust, in fact, was relatively well made with a found footage angle that was quite a fresh concept at the time, and Deodato was undoubtedly a better film maker than Lenzi. But Ferox is pure exploitation trash with a raw 80's grindhouse vibe. It was even shot entirely on 16mm film and has an incredibly grainy look, with dreadful acting and line delivery as expected from an Umberto Lenzi picture.

All of those elements have their dubious charms if one is in the right frame of mind, of course, but 'Cannibal Ferox' is just a little too similar to 'Cannibal Holocaust' that it's almost impossible to separate the two, even down to Lenzi copying Deodato and inserting scenes of gruesome and completely unnecessary animal cruelty. In fact, today those two films are the most remembered out of all the movies that make up the Italian cannibal boom.

They're also well remembered for being front and centre in the UK "video nasties" moral panic of the mid 80's and scenes from it were used to demonstrate the depravity of horror movies and thus moves were made by certain forces to ban it. In the UK and Ireland 'Cannibal Ferox' would remain technically unavailable until a cut DVD release in 2001 where it was missing 6 minutes in order to pass BBFC requirements. Today, it still won't be passed fully uncut there, although the trims are now merely a matter of seconds for an 18's certificate. This would have been catnip to the exploitative Lenzi, who claimed without evidence that his picture had been "banned in 31 countries" as part of the original publicity blurb for the film, and in the US under the title 'Make Them Die Slowly' it proved to be a relative success...in the cinemas that it could actually play in. Ferox's limited theatrical availability wouldn't have bothered Lenzi too much as there was probably enough profit made on its 42nd Street run and video releases alone to satisfy him and the distributors.

'Cannibal Ferox', however, is not a good movie by any standard, even if it has a certain disgusting impact. It's completely a product of its time and limited sub-genre, and will generally only appeal to genre fans and fans of obscure, gory, horror movies. It's not well scripted and it's not well acted, but in its favour it does have a great score by Fiamma Maglione who also has a part in the movie as Mike's girlfriend. Keep an eye out, too, for Robert Kerman who was also in 'Cannibal Holocaust' and 'Eaten Alive!' and shows up here as NYPD cop, Lt. Rizzo.

If one were to suggest a single prime example of this repugnant series of pictures, then 'Cannibal Holocaust' would be it. But if you absolutely have to put yourself through another one then, perhaps, 'Cannibal Ferox' might be worth a look.

4/10

Yes. I saw it in an Odeon, but it was in others too. It surprisingly stayed for a few weeks too - I say surprisingly not because it’s bad (it’s not!), but relatively low budget and non-hyped films like this tend not to.

Just finished watching Khartoum starring Charlton Heston and Lawrence Olivier .

Good film I thought, classic old fashioned historical drama, shows how costly dithering by politicians can be.Heston was excellent as always although not sure he 100% nailed the british accent as he still sounded like Charlton Heston but he played a really good role I thought.

One Last Deal

Danny Dyer is the only actor we see, and it is set in one room. But this movie actually works. Dyer is very good in it. Obviously has to carry the whole project himself. He's not going to win any oscars on foot of it. But it's his usual foul mouthed , smart-arsed dialogue. But the film is really good. Builds good tension through-out.

Cal (Pat O'Connor, 1984)

Not watched this for a long time. Remember the queues outside the cinema at the time. Bleak story - a doomed romance - with flashes of humour. Helen Mirren is wonderful as always, John Lynch plays the part perfectly. Funny to see Daragh O'Malley as a scarred RUC man. Nice score from Mark Knopfler too. 4 stars

Keys To The City (Chris Brennan, Mel Cannon & Laura Way, 2012)

This made by a trio of Digital Feature Film masters students in conjunction with Filmbase and Staffordshire University. A recession-based drama with three interlinking stories. Very evocative footage of the city centre and brings back a lot of memories of my time working there. The desperation of the financial crisis is depicted very well with some excellent performances. 3.5 stars

Backrooms in the cinema and yet another A24 vehicle that I inevitably find myself drawn to. I have to admit to knowing nothing of the YouTube series/game etc. so went into this blind (with the exception of the trailer which I did see once at a different movie). I found it to be an interesting concept but the execution didn’t pay off as hoped. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person In The World) are both solid in this but ultimately I left feeling a bit meh about it all. I do like an awful lot of A24’s output, but the standard does vary. This isn’t their best work IMO. 5/10.

Excalibur on 4K Blu Ray, which I’ve now watched twice in the last week. Though there are some issues with voice syncing on this release (that I discuss in a little more detail in the physical media thread), it really is – and I don’t say this lightly – a masterpiece. The 4K restoration looks absolutely stunning. The Limited Edition I purchased has 2 cuts of the film, a 50 minunte documentary on the making of it, 3 commentaries, and a tonne of extras. I’ll (honestly!) make my way through those over time.

Filmed entirely in Ireland in 1980 you can’t but admire the sheer scale of the production and the ambition on display here. How on earth something like this was made in this country at that time is frankly, hard to comprehend; and it’s a testament to director John Boorman that he managed to pull it off. I’m sure everyone knows the bones of the story being told here so no real need to go into that. 

It’s a film I first saw as a teenager in the late 80s, possibly early 1990s and liked it then. I hadn’t seen it in quite some time and though I own both DVD and Blu Ray versions I hadn’t rewatched in full in one setting until this week. The standout performance for me from that first viewing all those years ago was that of Nicol Williamson, and it remains so on repeat viewings. It would be easy to ask why he wasn’t a bigger star, but some research suggests he was shall we say “difficult to work with” and also had a dislike of fame. A real shame, he steals every scene he’s in in this role. 

The cast includes Helen Mirren, Nigel Terry, Nicolas Clay, Patrick Stewart, and relatively early in their careers appearances from Irish actors Gabriel Byrne, Ciarán Hinds, and Liam Neeson. A young Charley Boorman makes an appearance too.

You can also see the influence the film had on wider cinema and tv shows for decades, from Robin of Sherwood to Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones and much more. I know medieval fantasy films aren’t for everyone, but this is truly epic.

9/10.

The thing about LOTR and Excalibur is that John Boorman actualy wanted to adapt Lord of the Rings but with the effects of the era he couldnt make it work with a budget. He brought elements of his script into Excalibur especially in the dialogue for Merlin and Morgan eg the 'word spell duels' he had something similar for Gandalf and Saruman.

'Masters of the Universe'

There would be few people of a certain age in the US, UK and Ireland (and most of Europe too) that would be completely unaware of 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe' seeing as it would have been a feature of most kid's lives to some degree in the 1980's. Essentially it was an animated children's show that was produced with the primary purpose for selling toys to kids and proved to be quite successful at doing so for a period of a few years during that decade. Towards the end of the 80's a big(ish) budget live action movie was also made starring Dolph Lundgren titled merely 'Masters of the Universe', but it failed badly to generate the interest that the producers had wished for because by 1987 most people had moved on and many fans complained that the story spent too much time based on Earth and not on He-Man's homeworld of Eternia. But, in reality, He-Man's moment had simply passed and he was to be largely relegated to the pages of 3rd tier comics and the world of action figures.

But there has always been a cadre of people who've held onto their love of the ludicrously named He-Man, mostly born out of their nostalgic grasp on childhood, and it's these people that have spurred on the likes of Netflix to produce some new material in recent years in the hopes of revitalising the He-Man universe. This interest has now been eyeballed by Hollywood, again, and has resulted in a new $200,000,000 dollar action movie starring British actor Nicholas Galitzine in fine physical form as Adam/He-Man.

In the movie a pre-teen Adam is transported, along with the Sword of Power, to Earth by some nebulous hocus-pocus when the evil Skeletor attacks his home in the city of Eternos. Unfortunately he loses the sword and then spends the next 15 years stranded on Earth looking for it, while in the meantime getting a job in HR and paying rent on some apartment in (presumably) California. How, exactly, he's survived to being a 20 something on Earth with no family isn't elaborated on, but instead the audience is fast-forwarded to "now" where Adam's humdrum life consists of unexciting work and constantly telling incredulous listeners about his past. Eventually Adam finds the Sword of Power and gets transported back to a ruined Eternia where, after he utters the immortal words "By the power of Grayskull…I have the Power", he's transformed into He-Man and must do battle with Skeletor and his minions in an attempt to restore Eternia's past glory.

It is, of course, as ridiculous as it sounds and that issue isn't lost on the film makers to any degree. In fact director Travis Knight goes out of his way to constantly drive home that all of this bunkum is just a bit of a laugh. A staggering 200 million dollar laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. And laugh I did, a number of times I must say, because there are some genuinely funny lines and a bit of "adult" humour scattered throughout the movie. But, unfortunately, there's just not enough laughs and 'Masters of the Universe' suffers from being not funny enough to be an outright comedy/farce and not "serious" enough to be standard fantasy adventure fare, al la 'Lord of the Rings' or even 'Krull'. It therefore attempts to straddle both areas and fails at confidently standing in either. It's also way, way, too long and goes on for an incredible 140 minutes, stretching out the threadbare material to an excruciating length.

But there is a general sense of mirth coming out of those on the screen as everyone accepts that the movie they're in is laughably silly. Leads, Nicolas Galitzine, Camila Mendes and (surprisingly) Idris Elba are all game and throw themselves into their roles playfully. But it's Jared Leto (as Skeletor) and Alison Brie (as Evil-Lyn) that are clearly having the most fun as the baddies of the piece and they take great delight at hamming it up for the camera. In fact, outside of his turn as Rayon in 'The Dallas Buyers Club', Skeletor may be a career best for Leto!

But, really, there's not an awful lot to recommend in 'Masters of the Universe' it must be said, especially as a night out to the cinema. It's drenched in unconvincing CGI, the fight scenes carry no weight, the story isn't enough to justify the movie's length, the pacing is awful and even the music (supplied by Queen's Brian May) is lacklustre. Also, at the time of writing, unless something changes it looks like 'Masters of the Universe' is on the way to being a bit of a flop, too, so those sequel teasing post-credits scenes may all be for nought.

However, if the goal of the film makers was to make an mediocre product that was to appeal to certain people over the age of 45 or 50 then they achieved it...kind of.

4/10