La montagna del dio cannibale (1978)

Director:

Sergio Martino

Writers:

Cesare Frugoni (screenplay)
Cesare Frugoni (story)

Release Date:

April 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

When the price of lust is death..!

Plot:

A girl and her brother fly to New Guinea to look for a lost expedition, led by her husband, which has vanished in the great jungle.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Cruelty | Animal Cruelty | Iguana | New Guinea

Cast

Ursula Andress	...	Susan Stevenson
Stacy Keach	...	Professor Edward Foster
Claudio Cassinelli	...	Manolo
Antonio Marsina	...	Arthur Weisser
Franco Fantasia	...	Father Moses
Lanfranco Spinola	...	Consul Burns
Carlo Longhi	...	Phil, the pilot
Luigina Rocchi	...	Sura
Akushula Selayah		(as Akushla Sellajaah)
Dudley Wanaguru
T.M. Munna
M. Suki
Giovanni Masini
Franco Cuccu		(as Franco Cucco)
Franco Coduti		(as Gianfranco Coduti)

Also Known As:

Mountain of the Cannibal God (USA) (DVD box title)
Mountain of the Cannibals (Philippines: English title)
Primitive Desires (UK)
Prisoner of the Cannibal God (UK)
Slave of the Cannibal God (USA) (censored version)
The Mountain of the Cannibal God (International: English title)
Bergets grymma hemlighet (Sweden) [sv]
Die weiße Göttin der Kannibalen (West Germany) [de]
Góra Boga kanibalów (Poland) [pl]
Jakten på bergets hemlighet (Sweden) (video title) [sv]
La montaña del dios caníbal (Spain) [es]
La montagne du dieu cannibale (France) [fr]
Lanetliler dagi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
To vouno ton kannivalon (Greece) [el]
Viidakon julma salaisuus (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

99 min | Sweden:92 min (heavily cut) | USA:103 min (extended version) | USA:86 min (R-rated version) | UK:96 min (cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 (heavily cut) | UK:18 (re-rating: 2001) (cut) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | UK:X (original rating: 1978) (cut) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) (1978) | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) (1993) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1987) | Australia:(Banned) | Australia:R (cut) | West Germany:18 (cut) | New Zealand:R18 | Ireland:18 (cut UK version) | UK:(Banned) (1984-2001) | USA:R (cut) | West Germany:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Central Province, Sri Lanka

Company:

Dania Film

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the snake eats the monkey, it is supposed to be natural footage of one animal eating another. There are many leaves around the shot, and one of them is very clearly added during editing to hide a device to launch the monkey into the snake's mouth. (A frame by frame analysis of this is on the unrated Blue Underground DVD.)

Movie Connections:

Edited into Mangiati vivi! (1980)

Very well-made jungle adventure

"Mountain of the Cannibal God" may disappoint those looking for a hardcore cannibal flick, but if you're willing to accept it as a jungle adventure with occasional doses of gore it works better. The production is colorful and polished; this movie really looks great on DVD. Sergio Martino does a solid job with the direction; apart from "Predator", I don't think I've seen a film with a better sense of place during its jungle scenes. The plot has a good build-up, and even attempts a couple of twists. Ursula Andress handles her physically demanding role well (no wonder the cannibals mistake her for a goddess; that's what Ursula is. And did anyone else find one of the cannibal girls that were painting her up quite hot?). Stacy Keach is a solid lead and has the best (and best-delivered) line in the film: "You never forget the taste of human flesh!". By the way, I watched a 97-minute version which was quite gory, but had some "extreme" scenes that others have mentioned (bestiality) missing. (**1/2)