Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977)

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Tito Carpi (screenplay)
Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror

Tagline:

Can this modern man survive in a Stone Age world?

Plot:

An oil prospector escapes from capture by a primitive cannibal tribe in the Philippine rain forest and heads out to locate his missing companion and their plane to return home.

Plot Keywords:

Cannibal | Escape | Jungle | Heart In Hand | Actual Animal Killed

Cast

Massimo Foschi	...	Robert Harper
Me Me Lai	...	Pulan
Ivan Rassimov	...	Rolf
Sheik Razak Shikur	...	Charlie
Judy Rosly	...	Swan
Suleiman	...	Native
Shamsi	...	Native

Also Known As:

Cannibal (UK) (video title)
Carnivorous (USA) (reissue title)
Jungle Holocaust (USA) (DVD box title)
Last Cannibal World (International: English title)
The Last Survivor (USA) (censored version)
Cannibals (Greece) (video box title) [el]
De sista kannibalerna (Sweden) [sv]
Fases da Morte 8 - O Último Mundo dos Canibais (Brazil) [pt]
Horror Cannibal (France) (video title) [fr]
Kannibaalit (Finland) [fi]
Le dernier monde cannibale (France) [fr]
Mondo Cannibale 2 - Der Vogelmensch (West Germany) [de]
Mondo cannabale 2 (Poland) [pl]
Mundo Canibal (Brazil) [pt]
Mundo caníbal (Spain) [es]
O Último Mundo dos Canibais (Brazil) [pt]
Viimeiset kannibaalit (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

92 min | Sweden:82 min (heavily cut) | USA:82 min (R-rated version) | South Korea:85 min (heavily cut) | UK:87 min (heavily cut) | Australia:82 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (re-rating: 2005) (uncut) | Norway:(Banned) (1982-2005) | Australia:R (re-rating: 1984) (heavily cut) | USA:X (1984 release) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | UK:18 (re-rating: 2003) (heavily cut) | USA:R (heavily cut) | Australia:Refused Classification (original rating: 1977) | UK:X (original rating: 1977) (heavily cut) | USA:X (1984 re-release) | Germany:Not Rated (DVD rating) | West Germany:18 (uncut) | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating: 2007) | Finland:K-18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | France:-18 | Iceland:(Banned) | Italy:VM18 | South Korea:18 (1995) | Sweden:15 (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

Malaysia

Company:

Erre Cinematograsica S.r.l.

Trivia:

First part of Ruggero Deodato's "Cannibal Trilogy" also including Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Inferno in diretta (1985).

Movie Connections:

Edited into Mangiati vivi! (1980)

If you don't take it too seriously, and don't object too much to the gratuitous animal slaughter, it's sleazy, trashy entertainment.

Ruggero Deodato's name is forever linked with the cannibal movie genre mostly because of his infamous 'Cannibal Holocaust', a movie which I've yet to see uncut. 'The Last Cannibal World' (aka 'Jungle Holocaust') was his first cannibal movie, and isn't as well known or talked about. If you don't take it too seriously, and don't object too much to the gratuitous animal slaughter, it's sleazy, trashy entertainment. Deodato by the way didn't start this movie cycle, Umberto Lenzi did, but Lenzi later recycled some Deodato footage, and cast Ivan Rassimov and Me Me Lai in his 'Eaten Alive'. Anyway, Massimo Foschi plays an American, Robert Walker. The plane he and his colleague Rolf (Rassimov) are traveling on crashes and they get separated in the jungle. I forget where the setting was supposed to be. It doesn't really matter as these cannibal movies are fantasies with no basis in reality. They usually film them in the Philippines and get the locals to wear dirty wigs and ham it up, which is alright by me if it's alright with them. It's a living, right? Walker gets caught by a primitive cannibal tribe, who tie him up, rip his clothes off and play with his penis. Maybe they are impressed, I don't know, but instead of eating him they imprison him. He witness all kinds freaky stuff while caged, but eventually escapes and takes Pulan, a beautiful local girl, as a hostage (Me Me Lai, also in Lenzi's 'Man From Deep River', made before this, and his 'Eaten Alive', made after). Their relationship is difficult to fathom and depends a lot on which cut of this movie you see. Walker is eventually reunited with his old pal Rolf and then decides to kick some cannibal butt. Really the plot is slim, and who cares? This is just an excuse to see lots of gross stuff and Me Me Lai's breasts. If I was forced to defend this type of movie I really couldn't, but hey, I enjoyed it while it lasted. My favourite cannibal movie is still Sergio Martino's unfairly dismissed 'Mountain Of The Cannibal God', starring Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach, which was released the year after this. It isn't as hardcore as the Lenzi and Deodato movies but it's lots of fun.