A
vile and singularly repulsive entry into the horror genre is the best way to
describe this notorious Italian cannibal film from the infamous Umberto
Lenzi. That is if you are viewing the UNCUT version from Europe or the US.
If however, you are watching the heavily censored UK version then perhaps a
stupid, exceptionally cheesy, low-budgeted piece of crap would be more apt.
Anyway, a group of New York University students go into the Columbian jungle, to disprove the theory that cannibalism is still practised by tribal people (which begs the question, how exactly do you prove a negative?). When they cross paths with a couple of small time drug dealers, who are coincidentally also from New York, and claim to have been attacked by they very natives the students claim to have been looking for (and what is the likelihood that 2 groups of people from New York would just randomly bump into each other in the middle of the jungle?).
However, it turns out the two have severely upset the locals, after they tortured a tribesman to death, believing there to be a stash of emeralds in their village. So when the natives finally catch up with them, they decide not to split any hairs as to which ones were responsible, and instead begin lopping off various parts of their bodies. Much to the dismay of the students who had nothing to do with it.
Some of the more interesting scenes include one of the girls in the student group (Zora Kerova) being strung up by steel hooks through her breasts and one of the drug dealers (played by video nasty regular John Morghen) learning the hard way that it's not advisable to spit in the chief's eye whilst he's brandishing a machete in front of your nether regions....
Whilst the gore is perhaps no worse than any mainstream horror film, where the film becomes quite vile are the scenes of genuine animal slaughter and mutilation, which are shown throughout in graphic close-up. Ranging from a crocodile and turtle being split open and gutted, to a muskrat being fed to an anaconda.
Cannibal Ferox has been hailed as the most violent film ever made, and you'll get no argument from me there (though some would argue there are more violent Japanese horrors out there). Whilst the heavily censored UK release omits the animal cruelty, it also cuts out a couple of the more infamous death scenes, producing a number of awkward plot holes as to what happened to them. The uncut print though, is nothing more than downright nasty and I would defy anybody to sit through it without puking!!!!!.
