Last Cannibal World

Alternate titles : Ultimo Mondo Cannibal, Mondo Cannibal 2 : Teil Ver Vogelmensch, Cannibal, Carniverous, Jungle Holocaust, The Last Survivor, De Laastse Kanninbalen.

Tagline : "A Stone Age World of Horrors... Only One Survived".

Prior to making the infamous "Cannibal Holocaust", Italian director Ruggerro Deodato made his debut in cannibal country with this lesser known entry into the flesh eating sub-genre, with a number of familiar faces from Umberto Lenzi's earlier "Deep River Savages".

Set in the Philippines, a group of oil company representatives fly out into the jungle, to visit a site they believe is rich in untapped oil resources. Unfortunately, when they arrive at the site, company Boss Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi), is alarmed to find no trace of his workers, and only the remains of the tents and equipment they had set up.

With it being close to nightfall, they're forced to wait until morning before attempting to take off again. But their hopes of leaving at first light are subsequently dashed, when the female crew member goes missing. A subsequent search proves disasterous, as after finding her body being hacked up by primitive natives and turned into barbeque. The co-pilot then gets killed by a spike ball trap, and Rolf get's seperated from his friend Rolf (Ivan Rassimov).

Poor old Robert then finds himself being captured by the natives, who drag him back to their cave, strip him naked and subject him to various indignities, before caging him up for use as future alligator bait. Not overly keen with this depressing prospect, he manages to escape with the help of a sympathetic native girl (played by Me Me Lai). Where he then begins the arduous task of trying to find his way back to the aeroplane.

Fans of Deadato's later film "Cannibal Holocaust" will undoubtedly be interested in seeking out this film, although whilst it is an entertaining watch, it doesn't have the same style or grace. Also, like almost every other cannibal film, there's the usual depressing bouts of animal cruelty, which range from an anaconda swallowing an iguana, to a live alligator being gutted. So this probably won't appeal to many.

Overall Marks : 3/10 (would have given it a 5, but gets down voted due to the animal violence).

Terrifying Trivia

• The film was apparently intended as a sort-of follow up to Umberto Lenzi's "Deep River Savages" (aka Man from Deep River). Lenzi was originally approached to direct, but declined. So the job was offered to Ruggero Deodato, who then went on to direct "Cannibal Holocaust".
• Ivan Rassimov and Me Me Lai both previously starred in Umberto Lenzi's "Deep River Savages" and were cast in this as the producers wanted to try and capitalise on the success of the earlier film. They went on to appear together in Umberto Lenzi's "Eaten Alive" (Mangiati Vivi).
• Released to UK cinemas as "Cannibal", this version was cut by the BBFC before being given an "X" certificate in 1977. This shortened all the animal cruelty scenes, and some of the gorier moments. This same cut version was released onto VHS by Derann in the early 80s, which although escaped inclusion on the Govts "Video Nasties" list, was later banned under Section 3 of the Obscene Publication Act. The version released to UK disc only trimmed the scene of the Alligator being gutted and the rape scene, which was surprisingly left intact in the old VHS release.
• In the English language theatrical trailer, Ruggero Deodato's voice was dubbed by Franco Nero.
• Original US theatrical release, under the title "The Last Survivor", kept the blood and violence intact, including the unsimulated scenes of animal cruelty. But removed virtually all the nudity, using alternate scenes, where Massimo Foschi's character keeps his underpants on after being stripped by the natives and Me Me Lai's character wears a less revealing loin cloth and an animal hide over her torso. This also removed the scene where Foschi's character rapes Me Me Lai, instead ending the scene after he hits her.
• As Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi) spends most of the film naked, many of the promotional posters had to have either a loin cloth, or underpants, painted on his picture. Similarly, some of the theatrical trailers showing him being hoisted up above the natives in the cave, used the alternate footage, where he is still wearing his black underpants.
• In an interview for the US DVD in 2001, Ruggero Deodato claimed that he did not film the scenes featuring animal cruelty and that these were shot by the producer, as he disagreed with them. However, this goes against his comments made in earlier interviews, where he said that he was just filming the natives killing animals because they were going to eat them anyway.
• The film is available uncut on Disc in the US and in Europe.

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