Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This highly-controversial exploitation film is basically made of two parts. It begins with a news reporter talking about how a documentary film crew went to the Amazon to film a documentary on a place no civilized person had ever been before and that the people were never seen again. A university professor (and others) go to the Amazon, discover the crew is dead, but are able to recover the footage. The second half of the film is their footage. The first half isn't all that bad. It's reasonably interesting and not all that violent. The second half; however, is much less entertaining. While it is well done in the sense it seems like uncut documentary footage, nothing much happens other than tons of pretty intense violence.

Almost immediately after its initial release (in Italy) the film was banned and the director of the film was arrested for murder. It turns out none of the actors in the film were killed and charges were eventually dropped. The controversy does not end here; however, as six animals were actually killed in the film, often in a rather violent manner.

Although the film does offer some social commentary by demonstrating that "civilized" people today are actually the savages, I think this could have been done in a better way. Although not as violent as I was expecting, this film is very violent and should be avoided at all costs by anyone who thinks they might not enjoy tons of violence. There's a few interesting moments in here, but to me it seems like this is nothing but shock value.

60/100
D-

UP NEXT: A much less controversial film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

sounds weird

detroitwings82 wrote:

sounds weird

It was sort of weird. PETA probably isn't a big fan of this movie. I mean I don't mind killing spiders (or even the snake they killed) but the other animals they killed were just awful to watch.

what is it like very gory and so forth

Erm. What other animals were there?

gdennis59 wrote:

Erm. What other animals were there?

Let's see if I can remember....

There was a muskrat or something and they slit its throat.
There was a giant turtle (probably 2 feet across) and the cut its head off and then cut its shell open
There was a small monkey and they cut its head in half
There was a pig that they kicked and then shot in the head
There was a snake they cut in half
There was a tarantula-sized spider they killed with a knife

NOTE: They actually killed 2 monkeys - they didn't like the way the first one died so they didn't use that take and had to kill another one. It is worth noting that the monkeys that died were eaten by the natives who consider monkey brains a delicacy.

eww

SoulRat wrote:

eww

It's a horror movie - you might like it

There's lots of...umm....adult content that might keep you interested as well.

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

eww

It's a horror movie - you might like it

There's lots of...umm....adult content that might keep you interested as well.

:haha: I don't like the whole killing monkeys angle, I get plenty of adult content in my B horror flicks I just watched the Poison Ivy trilogy and um, wow,

Just shut your eyes when they kill the monkeys

This has every kind of adult content though, not just horror movie-type. While unrated in the US, if rated it would surely be NC-17 even if you got rid of the violence....then again, some of the adult content is violent. Still, it wasn't as violent as I was expecting.

catbox_9 wrote:

Just shut your eyes when they kill the monkeys

I had to do that when I watched Hostel. I spent a very good portion of that movie with my head under the pillow

The monkey killing wasn't all that bad. I didn't like killing the turtle since they tore its shell open (turtles look weird inside - nothing like humans) or when they killed that muskrat because it didn't seem to enjoy dying and made a lot of noise while they vivisected it.

Turtles are gross inside. They are always smashed on the highway. I seen a dead muskrat once. In a drainage ditch at my grandmother's house. It was gross. It stunk really bad. What does this have to do with your movie? Nothing

It sort of has something to do with it....dead animals are dead animals. I ran over a squirrel once in Tennessee. I drove back like half an hour later and it was gone. The locals must have eaten it...people eat squirrels in that part of the country.

that movie sound werid i might have to watch it

detroitwings82 wrote:

that movie sound werid i might have to watch it

Go for it! Lucky for you it's not rated...if it was rated it'd surely be rated NC-17 and you wouldn't be allowed to see it.

what u mean..i kan wathc any movie i wont my parents dont care

detroitwings82 wrote:

what u mean..i kan wathc any movie i wont my parents dont care

It's difficult to get a hold of an NC-17 movie though....even if your parents are with you a movie theater wouldn't let you see it, you can't check it out at a video store, etc.

i could try to get off internet

The premise sounds a lot like "Blair Witch Project"!!

SoulRat wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

eww

It's a horror movie - you might like it

There's lots of...umm....adult content that might keep you interested as well.

:haha: I don't like the whole killing monkeys angle, I get plenty of adult content in my B horror flicks I just watched the Poison Ivy trilogy and um, wow,

Poison Ivy II....Alyssa Milano.....OMG!! SHWING!!

tigersaint wrote:

The premise sounds a lot like "Blair Witch Project"!!

Wikipedia said something to that effect.

i watched this movie like a couple weeks ago and i cans ay it is really weird and i might not watch it again.