One Thing I was dreading as we reached the cannibal films was the real animal cruelty which I had heared occurred in some of them. Quite rightly, such scenes are still not allowed by the BBFC but I had set out to see the films that were banned - which means getting hold of uncut imports and seeing even atrocities like this in full.
Some of the scenes I had here were in Cannibal Holocaust are present here too - including a scene where a Live Turtle is dismembered and eaten. I do not know if the 'tribes people' in this movie were real tribes people, or just south american actors, unfortunately I believe the latter. I had managed to live with the idea of the turtle and monkey deaths in Cannibal Holocaust as follows:
The tribesmen in Cannibal Holocaust are real - These people kill animals in that way and eat them all the time, the turtle and monkeys in Cannibal Holocaust were eaten by the tribes that killed them, although they may have been directed to kill and eat then, on cue, it is something that would have happened anyway and, while I do not agree with their methods, nothing really died only for our supposed enjoyment.
With this movie however, I don't feel that's the case; and even if it is, the mongoose that was tethered to a stake and fed to an anaconda was certainly staged purely for our 'viewing pleasure' - snakes eat mammals, I get that, and I'm fine with it - but should that mammal really be tethered and offered up just for entertainment? I say "No".
Even if you're okay with all the animals which were killed and eaten in a manor aproximating the natural order of things, there's the fact that the mongoose was firs swung out of a moving Jeep by his lead, and the boar which is stabbed quite cruelly by a western actor (actually a stage hand - the actor refused) in a staged 'defending the group' scene.
But enough of that, assuming you get a cut version, what of the movie itself?
First of all, you won't actually miss anything; the animal killings do not add to the story, and were clearly added in a "look at us, hardcore! snuff'n'shit!!!!" way.
The film opens with a reasonably neat 'trick'; all the way through the opening credits' cheesy disco music, we follow a man through the streets of New York City. Normally this would be our main character, but no sooner does he arrive at his destination (the apartment of his dealer, Mike) he is killed by mobsters who are also looking for Mike (he owes them money) and the action cuts to the Amazon jungle.
To me, the action should never have cut back to New York, as the scenes of the police and mob looking for Mike are the weakest in the film, and the NY prologue would have been well served as an interesting mislead, and as a demonstration that the mob mean business, to illustrate why Mike ran.
Anyway, over in the Amazon, we meet Gloria, who has come away with her brother, Rudy, and thier promiscuous (and non-too picky) friend Pat, to find evidence to support her theory that "Organised cannibalism in human society does not exist, and that historically it has never existed" in order to write her Phd thesis.
Eventually our hero's stumble across 2 dead natives, impaled on what appear to be bamboo booby traps, and 2 westerners; one is Mike, the dealer mentioned in the NY opening, the other is his sidekick Joe, who is badly wounded.
Mike tells how he and Joe were buying coke (not the soda) when they decided to go prospecting for sapphires, having received info that the river in rich in them; he tells of a Portuguese guide that they employed. Mikes story continues that he, Joe and the Portuguese dude were captured by natives, who locked the 2 Americans in a semi-submerged cage with leaches, and tied the Portuguese to a stake, torturing him and removing, then eating, his genitals! It seems the 2 villagers in the man-trap had helped Joe and mike escape, and been killed just seconds before out trio arrived.
Of course, it turns out that Mike's story isn't entirely true, and it's not long before he shows his true colours, killing a native girl for shits and giggles, and taking a little too much joy in killing a boar that was attacking Pat. He also charmingly re-christens Gloria "Twat", and referring to her that way, throughout the rest of the movie.
The natives, of course, turn on our five... white folk ("hero" didn't work, "westerners" would include the Amazonians... the only other thing out key 5 have in common is their skin colour...) and (inbetween animal killings) you'll get to see some fairly decent gore, as people are graphics castrated, gutted, have thier skulls popped open like boiled eggs and, in the movies most iconic image) hung up by hooks through their breasts.
Which really is what the movie has going for it - gorehounds who are okay with the animal snuff (shame on you) or those who get the cut (by over 6 mins!) BBFC approved version will lap up the nasty, and for the most part well done, human-on-human violence.
Unfortunatly, I saw the uncut version, and as such, have already spent more time on this vile abomination that I'm happy to.
Body Count: 10
Animal Body count: 8 (a shocking 7 of which are real)
Boob count: 8 pairs (mostly toppless mud-covered natives, including one or two that are possibly under-age)
Most Memorable Death: The Turtle...
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