"At
that time on television we were always seeing death scenes, they were
the years of terrorism and my film was also a condemnation of a certain
type of journalism. The technique and the basic themes of the film have
since been appropriated and adapted by many others..."
Ruggero Deodato on his Cannibal Holocaust
Deodato was referring to Stone's Natural Born Killers but the biggest
Cannibal Holocaust influence can be seen on the low budget smash, The
Blair Witch Project. I enjoyed that Blair Witch tried to bring HORROR
back to the genre by avoiding cutesy television stars and cliché
horror movie jokes, but let's be honest - they ripped Deodato right
the fuck off! I read many an interview with the fellows that directed
Blair Witch and I never once heard them mention Cannibal Holocaust.
It's almost a crime, instead of cannibals its a witch. Both revolve
around a cocky documentary crew that gets in over its head. Both films
consist primarily of discovered footage that the crew shot themselves.
Coincidence? I think not. I have no problem with directors being influenced
by another but damn, give credit where credit is due. Bastards.
Anyway - Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is the most fascinating in a
series of Italian cannibal films of the seventies/early eighties. It
has to be on any true cult fans list of the top ten most repulsive films
of all times. Unlike Blair Witch, Deodato punishes the viewer with graphic,
sickening depiction's of rape and slaughter. Ruggero Deodato savage
film has received both damnation and praise worldwide, being confiscated
and banned in a large part of the world, while grossing 200 million
worldwide since its release (Cannibal Holocaust is the second highest
grossing film in Tokyo behind E.T.).
We
follow an annoying documentary team searching for an Amazon tribe called
the Yamamomo. We find out the famous documentary crew gets a kick out
of setting up shots that add flair to their films. The honky crew burns
down a village of innocents which they will blame on the "savage" Yamamomo
tribe. They brutalize the terrified, peaceful villagers in various horrific
ways. The perverted crew captures a girl and brutally rape her, unaware
that in the distance a Yamamomo tribe member is watching. The raped
woman is punished by her tribe by being impaled on a huge stake that
goes through her vagina and out of her mouth (a sickening, completely
realistic effect).
Well - the Yamamomo's are really pissed off now and all hell breaks
loose. The last fifteen or so minutes of the film consists of the tribes
shocking, violent retribution. The documentary crew deserves to die
but the viewer can't help cringing at the brutality of the revenge.
Besides
the intense violence and scenes of rape it's the torture and murder
of real animals that has brought both lawsuits and intense debate over
this and lesser films of the genre (For three years Deodata was banned
from making films in his native Italy. Copies of the film were destroyed
due to a law prohibiting the torture and killing of animals for sport).
The animals killed were eaten by the tribes but the idea of killing
animals to make the fictional deaths of the humans more realistic is
a really sinister, but unarguably effective device.
