Cannibal Ferox (1983)

Wonderful character development!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Three friends out to disprove cannibalism meet two men on the run who tortured and enslaved a cannibal tribe to find emeralds, and now the tribe is out for revenge.Of the Italian cannibal films, this is the first one I ever saw. It did not offend me as it does many people, but it certainly intrigued me. Was the film defensible? Were the acts of animal violence cruel, or were they natural? And could they be explained away by this being a very thin metaphor for European colonialism? I do tend to think most of the animal violence is not as bad as many think. It may seem cruel, but if the natives truly eat the animals, how is this different than what we (Americans) do to pigs and cows? For all practical purposes, there is no difference.The film itself is decent, though not great. The dubbing is rather silly at times, and the soundtrack could use a few more tracks. We hear the same musical cue over and over. But for the sort of low-budget stuff Lenzi was pumping out, this may be among his better works.

There is only one reason why this movie is God awful bad. It's not the acting, the plot, or anything you would expect. It the fact that no movie, ever, EVER MADE, needs to have real animals tortured and killed on camera.People on here are ridiculous, suggesting this movie is great. What is so great about a defenseless animal being tied to a post and watching it try to get away from a massive snake, that proceeds to very slowly strangle the life out of it, all the while it is screaming with a high-pitched voice at the top of its lungs? It is disturbing and sick. I am not a panzy when it comes to horror and violence but watching animals brutally killed is disgusting and anyone on here that says this movie is good is mentally ill. Just like Cannibal Halocaust this movie had no right being made. I hope there is a Hell and the director burns in it.

The film begins with the murder of a drug addict in an unknown apartment by some gangsters looking for a man named Mike Logan. As the police begin their investigation into the shooting, the action relocates to the Paraguayan jungle, where two students, Gloria (Lorraine De Selle) and Rudy (Danilo Mattei), and one tag-along Pat (Zora Kerova) are making their way into the heart of the jungle looking for native tribes who have been accused of cannibalism. Gloria is out to disprove the claims of cannibalism for her dissertation, and after they come across two mangled bodies of tribesmen, they also come across Mike Logan carrying his injured partner Joe (Walter Lucchini), who both claim to have been attacked by savage cannibals.Between 1977 and 1981 there was a huge boom in cannibal films. They boasted exotic locations, horrific gore, real animal killings, and the threat of the unknown in the primitive tribes. It was Ferox's director Umberto Lenzi who kick-started the sub-genre with Deep River Savages in 1972, but they only really hit their stride in 1977, when the Grindhouse theatres were at their most popular. The cannibal genre died out pretty quickly, thankfully, as they represent everything that is ugly about the horror genre, and Cannibal Ferox, possibly the second most notorious after Cannibal Holocaust, is no exception.The gore and violence is by no means convincing, or even disturbing, but it is clear from the off that the film's sole purpose is to be more repulsive than anything else before it. Multiple cocks are hacked off (and one is eaten - yummy), a woman is lifted into the air with fish- hooks through the breasts, there is an eye-gouging, and of course, no cannibal film would be complete without a bit of the ol' brain eating. This is all well and good and what can be expected from an Italian exploitation film at the height of the nasties era, but the animal killings are simply needless.I always found myself defending Cannibal Holocaust for the animal cruelty, as that is a genuinely good film, and the horrific animal scenes really do add to the horrible and deeply unsettling atmosphere. But after seeing Ferox, I realised there is really no excuse for it. Regardless of the film's quality, there is no place for the pointless killing of animals. Radice refused to wield the knife during the pig- killing scene, and in the DVD commentary, director Lenzi said 'Robert De Niro would have done it!', to which Radice replied 'Robert De Niro would have told you to f**k off!'Anyway, the film really is pretty damn awful. Why the action keeps shifting back to New York is anyone's guess. Mike is a wanted drug pusher that legged it off to Paraguay in search of cocaine and a fortune in gemstones, but surely knowing this is enough? There is a rescue attempt near the end that looks like joining the two stems together, but nothing comes of it. It seems to be there only to add a few more minutes onto the running time, allowing the film to render itself a feature. As you would expect, the acting/script/story is guff, but the strange thing is the moral message it seems to be putting out. When it revealed that Mike was lying and it was in fact him that attacked the tribe (shock horror), it seems to be a 'don't judge a book by it's cover' type message. But when the tribe acts out their revenge, they revel in the torturing.Well anyway, the real torture victim was me, who had to sit through this. There's a few more cannibal films to get through for the nasties project (maybe I'll leave them to Marc), and although I'll welcome (if that's the right word) another viewing of Cannibal Holocaust, I have to say that I would be happy not to have to sit through another cannibal film. And there's always the Mondo sub-genre I suppose!www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Despite it's notoriety, I was so surprised that CANNIBAL FEROX was so positively dull. The film concerns a student of anthropology, Gloria(Lorraine De Selle) her research assistant brother, Rudy(Danilo Mattei)and gal pal(..with loose morals)travel to the Amazon to prove that cannibalism doesn't exist. They encounter a vile, violent coke-addict diamond hunter, Mike Logan(Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and his poisoned friend, Joe(Walter Lucchini) soon discovering that they had attacked primitives in a nearby village, setting off horrifying circumstances.The premise is indeed a yawner as is Lenzi's unbearable pace as he relies heavily on the killing of animals(..villagers feasting on turtle and gator;a tiger eating a monkey;an anaconda smothering/squeezing the life out of a rat in it's massive tail as the poor creatures cries out for help)and the Americans wondering/contemplating how they would be able to get out of their present situation intact. There's a lot of conversation, but the dialogue is painful to listen to. The approach is straight-forward yet stretches the action beyond what needs to be, letting the viewer sit impatiently on an alternate plot regarding a detective seeking out the whereabouts of Mike due to his involvement with drug dealers, including his girlfriend who may know where he is. I think the film could've trimmed the New York City scenes practically altogether, but alternating between the jungles of Amazon and the "civilization" of a big city does provide an interesting sub-text, but the heavy-handed message of who is actually the savage is rather loud and pretentious. Anyway, Gloria and Rudy are a sympathetic pair, but their decision to descend into the depths of a jungle without a guide is sheer lunacy. And, Pat(Zora Kerova), the wild friend who accompanies them, makes a really bizarre decision to mess around with Mike, an obvious cretin from the get go. MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY differs from CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST(..for which it's often compared)in that, this time, you have people who aren't to blame for what happens to the villagers, yet in associating with scum like Mike, place themselves in great jeopardy.I will say that the film delivers in the grisly violence. A top of a victim's skull is chopped off, his brains eaten..the same victim's pecker is hacked off and his testicles eaten! A female victim is hung by hooks through her breasts as she slowly dies. One is hiding from the villagers, during an escape attempt, in a watery hole containing piranha which gnaw at his knee wound. A poor villager is bound as his eyeball is plucked out. A victim dies from a blood disease, he's disemboweled, his innards removed and eaten. A villager is shown eating slithery bugs. A villager is helping Gloria to escape and pays a great price when he sets off a spear trap that stabs him in the chest. Plenty of ultra-violence with Lenzi attempting to dethrone Deodato in sadistic grue. Radice is gleefully obscene and viciously ruthless in his treatment of the villagers which provides the viewer a chance to cheer for his execution. Radice's Mike Logan is a selfish sadist, coked up beyond the normal limits, and actually coerces Pat into leaving her friends without any supplies, to die. I'm pretty sure Lenzi directed this as a message movie, but that got lost within the blood-letting and unnecessary sub-plot involving the police's search for Mike.