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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: More exotic, hugely padded-out crap from Jesus., 25 October 2007 Author: Bloomer from Sydney, Australia
When a man who doesn't have Alzheimer's can't remember how many films he's made, he probably is the world's most prolific director after all. That man is Jesus Franco, the king of so-called 'eurotrash'. His 1980 flick Devil Hunter is as rushed, opaque, stupid, lazy and exploitative in the truest sense of the word (the film's title is misleading, for starters) as any other Franco film I've seen. That makes it sound pretty awful, and it is... Yet Franco does have some kind of inimitable sensibility, a generous way with the baldly outrageous, with nudity and sleaze and violence, and even with his stupid cheap editing which tries to pave over the extreme haste with which all his films were made. The mix of all these elements causes you to ride his films out, even while you're mostly waiting for them to end because they're so very tedious.Devil Hunter is nigh on incomprehensible for the first half an hour. The kidnap by strangers of a white woman who seems to be a model or film star is intercut with a bunch of native action in South America. There's lots of naked writhing, dancing, and endless repeated zoom-ins on an ugly totem pole. You need to get used to the repetitive zoom-ins and the technique of cutting back to the same shot about three times in a row right away, as these are Franco's main methods of extending a film out to feature length.The monster who looks like the totem pole is actually kind of scary. He has raw bug eyes and his presence is always signalled on the soundtrack by cacophonous groaning, apparently recorded in an echo chamber. Early in the piece he chews on a native lady strapped to a tree, and it's hard to know what really happens here but I think he ate her stomach (or her genitals, sweet Jesus!).Anyway, the adventure begins properly when a studly guy and his freaked out Vietnam vet pal are sent to the island to recover the white girl from the kidnappers. The flakey guy has an accent which, as dubbed, is half Brooklyn-American, half English-Liverpudlian and all retarded. All of the dialogue and dubbing is ridiculous and laughable, making for another layer of the film which can somehow hold your interest.Not too much really happens from here on in, and it happens pretty sluggishly, studded with the odd bit of outrage like a rape. The nebulous action is fleshed out (haha!) by acres of 360 degree nudity from the natives and the two female leads, and even from the monster himself. That he walks around with his penis exposed makes wrestling him an unappetising prospect for the tough guy hero, but it's gotta be done at some point, and it's nice to note that the director will show anyone's genitals on camera.The best feature of Devil Hunter is the location filming. Franco can be extremely cheap with the structural and story aspects of film-making, but he doesn't muck around with sets. You get real islands, jungles, helicopters and mountains, all in widescreen. This is something that is really cool to experience in these days of crappy CGI sets and backdrops ad nauseam.Ultimately, issues of recommendation where this film is concerned seem moot. If you're trying to see all the Video Nasties, you will have to watch this at some point, and you'll be made as restless as I was. If you like Franco, you'll watch this anyway. If you fall into neither of the above categories, the odds are you'll never come across this film. Copies of it aren't just lying around, and I could hardly recommend the seeking out of it. It's Franco. Lazy, crazy Franco.
8 out of 14 people found the following review useful: More Franco ultra-sleaze, 6 December 2005 Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
Lesser known but full-blooded Jess Franco exploitation that cashes in on the popular early 80's trend of European cannibal movies. A successful actress is kidnapped by a gang of thugs whilst shooting a movie in the South-African jungle. She's kept prisoner and gets sexually abused frequently, but this is only the beginning of her misery as the jungle homes a native tribe with strange and primitive beliefs. Their God is a spooky, flesh-eating madman with his eyeballs hanging out of his sockets. Yikes!! "Devil Hunter" features some beautiful filming locations, good atmospheric music and a whole lot of authentic euro-sleaze. Still, there are many tedious moments and redundant sub plots. The amount of gore is limited but several sequences are truly nauseating, notably the one where the lead-cannibal bites off a poor girl's labia and devour it! Oh my God!! According to the VHS-cover it was her heart, but I doubt her heart was located between the legs. Proceed at your own risk!
6 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Efficiently grotesque and surprisingly creepy, 11 February 2006 Author: Helltopay27 from United States
When going into a Jess Franco movie, you have to realize that he's the Ed Wood of European cinema. If you have any expectations coming into one of his films, it's guaranteed that you'll think it's the worst movie you've ever seen. If you come into it thinking that it's the worst movie you'll ever see, then you may find to be pleasantly surprised, just like I was when I watched Il Cacciatore di Uomini (The Man Hunter). Of course, it goes without saying that the movie is incredibly incompetent and horrible through and through, but it still means something that I enjoyed it. I found myself laughing at various parts in the movie at either the acting/dubbing (both are horrible), dialog, or special effects, and yet I appreciate this movie as something other than a "so bad it's good" travesty, like Tarantini's Massacre in Dinosaur Valley. What mainly caught my eye about this film was that though I was aware of how terrible the movie actually was, I couldn't help by find myself being creeped out at different parts throughout, which is something I never expected out of dredge like this.What probably scared me most in the film (yes, believe it or not, SCARED) was the opening credits sequence. It was simply a plain, light blue background with the credits flashing up one by one, with jungle noises, strange music, and tribal chanting. It was seriously an eerie combination. After that, the movie does go downhill. Intermixed with shots of Laura Crawford (our model that is kidnapped) in her hotel are shots of the ritualistic sacrifice of a young woman to the cannibals' Devil god, in a rather grotesque sequence of events. Good taste prevents me from describing them. Anyway, Crawford is betrayed by her friend, is kidnapped, and is brought to the jungle island where the cannibals and their Devil god preside. Not wanting to pay the huge ransom, the people who are doing to photo shoot (which looks like the hotel) get ex-Vietnam vet Peter Weston and his traumatized sidekick to fetch her, using the ransom money as bait. Crawford escapes in a botched ransom exchange on the beach and heads into the jungle, where, needless to say, she's captured by the cannibals and is prepared to be sacrificed. Greed pushes the kidnappers to find her again, and Weston must go up against them and the lurking Devil to get her back. It all ends in a fairly decent, climactic fight scene between him and the Devil.The movie had a very B-movie style to it (not quality, style), which is found in a lot of these low quality movies. It was mainly some action with music overlay, but not a lot of noise and sound effects. That made it rather boring, but the dialogue in the film was the worst aspect. How it was acted out was also terrible, but the lines themselves were outrageously bad (and I'm being generous). So while I ate up some parts of the film, those less than stellar parts bored me to tears. You have to wait about twenty minutes before it gets going, and still, even after that, there's very limited action until Weston arrives on the island. Scenes of characters walking through the jungle looking for Laura got incredibly old incredibly fast, but, just to give it some credit, some of these prolonged scenes were genuinely suspenseful. Though hampered by some obnoxious sound effects, scenes with the Devil slowly stalking various characters had me leaning forward for the result. What I liked most about the Devil character was that Franco used him in a smart way. You'd only see the Devil's mouth, or his eyes (incredibly cheesy, by the way), or his point of view, and he isn't completely revealed until about half way through the movie. Though I knew already what he looked like coming into the movie, I found the appearance rather intriguing, similar to what Ridley Scott did with Alien. Most of the film is pretty predictable, as I knew from the get go which characters were going to be killed (being what type of movie this is), but I was surprised to see many of them go when they did, or left standing longer than I thought they would be. Speaking of the deaths, it's surprising at how little they show. I was expecting a gore fest in order to be as exploitative as they could, but much of the violence is off screen, letting you put together what happened.In the end, however, the errors outweigh the fun. The sound was incredibly obnoxious, with the Jess Franco standard of the same bird being looped infinitely in the jungle sequences. It isn't that hard to find stock rain forest sounds, not just some bird. Some of the gore effects were rather well done, but other than that, the special effects were terrible. I laughed for awhile at the helicopter crash scene, which has three blatant errors that give it away. The Devil's makeup was pretty bad, but I liked it in spite of it. It had a B-movie charm to it, like The Evil Dead makeup jobs. The big problems were the dialog, dubbing, and acting. All of the major errors are present, but I still enjoyed it enough that I didn't want to kill Franco for wasting 90 minutes of my life. It isn't worth a second watch, however. The laughable events are spoiled upon first viewing and whatever little suspense there is will be gone, which would make it incredibly dull a second time. If you're a fan of Franco or horrible movies, this will quench your palate, and is a must for cannibal genre completionists. But if you're someone who enjoys an actual good, legitimate movie, you'd better stay away.
9 out of 17 people found the following review useful: A chore by anyone's standards, 16 September 2004 Author: world_of_weird from England
The Devil Hunter (this film's UK video title) found itself caught up in the early 1980s 'video nasties' scare, for reasons I find impossible to fathom. It certainly should have been banned, but only because no reasonable human being should have to pay to sit through such junk. As with most of Jesus Franco's films, there are crash zooms to nothing, dreamy music, terrible performances, clumsy dubbing (most of the male characters are apparently dubbed by the same actor!) and several interminable sequences, suggesting that the former musician couldn't wait for a day on the set to finish - so he shot everything fast and cheap in order to get back home to his jazz records and his trumpet. Large parts of the film make no sense, and you'll run out of fingers and toes trying to count the goofs, but the really priceless ones are the actor who actually giggles when a squirt of blood hits him in the face, and the totem pole that bounces when it's supposed to be crashing to the floor. And check out those sound effects - since when did walking through the jungle sound like walking down a gravel drive? If you can find a copy of this tosh anywhere, I'll be surprised, but do yourself a favour and pass it by. If you decide to watch it, you'll want to sue Franco and his colleagues for ninety minutes of your life that you'll never get back.
Lowbrow but endearing jungle trash from Jesus Franco, 13 November 2009 Author: t-birkhead from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I can't really call Devil Hunter a "good" film, as it most certainly isn't, but I'm still a fan and I think it has a sufficient amount of sleaze, cheap-jack grue and genuine interest to be of at least a little worth to trash fans, the more forgiving ones at any rate. The film tells of a beautiful young model, kidnapped by villains and taken into the jungle for a ransom delivery. Quite why the jungle is chosen for the purpose I don't know, but it makes for a picturesque enough location, even though the location is in fact Andalucian woodland standing in for jungle. Fortunately, heroic mercenary Peter Weston is called in to save the girl, something which proves especially handy when it becomes apparent that the jungles are home to a primitive and bloodthirsty tribe with a habit of sacrificing women to their cannibal god. All this could make for an exciting adventure, but regrettably the budget and talent isn't really there, however the film is thematically quite interesting. The film deals chiefly with the exploitation of women, drawing contrasts between the attitudes of primitive and so called civilised society. This intention is signalled clearly by the opening sequence in which a photo shoot and kidnap preparations are inter-cut with sacrificial ritual. The young Laura Crawford is important to her rescuers for money, and to their employers for money gained through her body, on modelling shoots and such, she is treated as nothing more than a commodity to them. And to her kidnappers she is of course the same, just a means of income. To the cannibals though, she is subject of reverent ritual, their intentions for her are pretty nefarious but she is exalted, an important part of their way of life and treated as such. Franco gives the film a slant sympathetic to the natives, demonstrated nicely in the contrast between a rape committed by a white bad guy and the preparation of Laura for the films climax by the natives, the rape is filmed in detached, slightly disinterested, if still uncomfortable fashion, whereas Laura's nudity filled ritual preparation is captured lovingly, positively wallowing in the events. The natives are also far more at ease and in control whereas on the kidnapping and on the rescuing side of the other characters there is one fellow each reacting in terrified, almost farcical fashion to the surroundings. The film regrettably doesn't allow for these two contrasting sides to conflict in particularly interesting fashion, but in its happy ending brute masculine force triumphs as the devil god is defeated in one on one combat, the raw masculinity made blatant by the fact that the devil god is played by a fully nude black man. And as the credits roll there is even the hint of a romance, money and objectification of women forgotten. Of course, though the film lends itself quite easily to such thinking, it is never an especially well done affair. The gore is fairly sparse and somewhat inept, with only a couple of effective shots and while the film has some passages of compelling sleaze it does tend to drag somewhat, it is also somewhat lacking in tension or real excitement. But the gore makes me chuckle and the sleaze is fairly satisfying, with the full male nudity an endearing touch. Al Cliver (The Black Cat, Zombie Flesh Eaters and others) makes for a gruffly efficient if not particularly interesting hero, with a nervy sidekick in Antonio Mayans. Antonio de Cabo is an interesting enough arch baddie, accompanied by an amusing turn from Werner Pocath (Ratman and others) and a cool and attractive girlfriend in Gisele Hahn. Uschi Buchfellner does well enough as Laura Crawford, though it isn't that interesting a role and she doesn't bring much in the way of real emotion or compelling interest to it. All in all, I'm somewhat of a fan of this one, though I suspect most will have little but disdain for it. Even Franco-philes don't tend to like it, and "normal" film fans will want to steer well clear, but I'll maintain that it definitely has legitimate good points amongst the lacklustre pacing and amusing ineptitude. One to approach with caution then, but trash addicts of an adventurous and tolerant nature could do far worse than giving it a shot.
1 out of 2 people found the following review useful: More coma inducing Franco rubbish., 30 May 2009 Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England
Of the three titles from Jess Franco to find their way onto the Official DPP Video Nasty list (Devil Hunter, Bloody Moon and Women Behind Bars) this is perhaps the least deserving of notoriety, being a dreadfully dull jungle clunker enlivened only very slightly by a little inept gore, a gratuitous rape scene, and loads of nudity.Gorgeous blonde Ursula Buchfellner plays movie star Laura Crawford who is abducted by a gang of ruthless kidnappers and taken to a remote tropical island inhabited by a savage tribe who worship the 'devil god' that lurks in the jungle (a big, naked, bulging-eyed native who likes to eat the hearts of nubile female sacrifices).Employed by Laura's agent to deliver a $6million ransom, brave mercenary Peter Weston (Al Cliver) and his Vietnam vet pilot pal travel to the island, but encounter trouble when the bad guys attempt a double-cross. During the confusion, Laura escapes into the jungle, but runs straight into the arms of the island's natives, who offer her up to their god.Franco directs in his usual torpid style and loads this laughable effort with his usual dreadful trademarks: crap gore, murky cinematography, rapid zooms, numerous crotch shots, out of focus imagery, awful sound effects, and ham-fisted editing. The result is a dire mess that is a real struggle to sit through from start to finish (It took me a couple of sittings to finish the thing), and even the sight of the luscious Buchfellner in all of her natural glory ain't enough to make me revisit this film in a hurry.
1 out of 2 people found the following review useful: This movie is so bad it's hilarious!, 12 May 2008 Author: orlando-gomez from Dominican Republic
How can you tell that a horror movie is terrible? when you can't stop laughing about it of course! The plot has been well covered by other reviewers, so I'll just add a few things on the hilarity of it all.Some reviews have placed the location in South America, others in Africa, I thought it was in some random island in the Pacific. Where exactly does this take place, seems to be a mystery. The cannibal tribe is conformed by a couple of black women some black men, and a man who looks like a young Frank Zappa banging the drums... the Devil God is a large black man with a terrible case of pink eyes.One of the "freakiest" moments in the film is when, "Pablito" find his partner hanging from a tree covered in what seems to be an orange substance that I assume is blood, starts screaming for minutes on and on (that's actually funny), and then the head of his partner falls in the ground and "Pablito" kicks it a bit for what I assume is "shits n' giggles" and the eyes actually move...But, of course, then the "freak" is gone when you realize the eyes moved because the movie is just bad...I hadn't laughed like this in a loooong while, and I definitely recommend this film for a Sunday afternoon with your friends and you have nothing to do... grab a case of beers and start watching this film, you'll love it! If you are looking for a real horror or gore movie, though... don't' bother.
3 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Incredibly dull cannibal movie despite the sex and violence, 8 April 2006 Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
An actress making a movie in Africa is kidnapped and taken into the jungle where she is held for ransom. The producer hires some one to go and bring her back. Complicating everything are the cannibals in the jungle who worship a really ugly looking "god" who likes to eat naked women.This is a gory sleazy movie. There is copious amounts of nudity and violence, not to mention violence against nude people. Its an exploitation film designed to appeal to the deepest darkest parts of our being, and if the movie wasn't so boring this film would be a classic. Lets face it, despite the gore, the nasty sex and abuse,and the ugly monster this movie is a snoozer. The pacing is all off kilter and it puts you out. There are multiple plot lines that all seem to be happening separately from each other, even though its ultimately all one story. Worst of all, almost no one says anything. Most of the minimal dialog concerns the cruelty or one characters protestations that "I'll do what I want". Its such a quiet and dull movie that if it weren't for the frequent screams of the victims I'd recommend this as a sleep aide.This is a movie to avoid unless you need sleep, or unless you need to see every Euro-cannibal movie.(An aside. VideoAsia just released this as part of their Terror Tales series. Their print is oddly letter-boxed which looks to be the result of taking their print from a Japanese source (there is fogging) that was cropped to remove the subtitles. Their print also has no opening titles)
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Not bad Jess Franco horror film, 7 October 2009 Author: MovieGuy01 from United Kingdom
I have been looking for this film for ages because it is quite rare to find as it was one of the video nasties. I finally found it on DVD at the end of last year it is a very low budget movie The story is set around amazon jungle tribes that are living in fear of the devil. Laura Crawford is a model who is kidnapped by a gang of thugs while she is working in South America. They take her into the jungle Laura is guarded by some ridiculous native who calls himself "The Devil" she has to go though all unpleasant things until they are happy. Maidens are Chained up. The devil demonstrates eating flesh in a horrible manner. Peter Weston, is the devil hunter, who goes into the jungle to try and rescue her,
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Welcome to the jungle...Jess Franco style!, 13 September 2009 Author: udar55 from Williamsburg, VA
or anyone who was praying for the sight of Al Cliver wrestling a naked, 7ft tall black guy into a full nelson, your film has arrived! Film starlet Laura Crawford (Ursula Buchfellner) is kidnapped by a group who demand the ransom of $6 million to be delivered to their island hideaway. What they don't count on is rugged Vietnam vet Peter Weston (Cliver) being hired by a film producer to save the girl. And what they really didn't count on was a local tribe that likes to offer up young women to their monster cannibal god with bloodshot bug eyes.Pretty much the same filming set up as CANNIBALS, this one fares a bit better when it comes to entertainment value, thanks mostly a hilarious dub track and the impossibly goofy monster with the bulging eyes (Franco confirms they were split ping pong balls on the disc's interview). Franco gets a strong EuroCult supporting cast including Gisela Hahn (CONTAMINATION) and Werner Pochath (whose death is one of the most head-scratching things I ever seen as a guy who is totally not him is shown - in close up - trying to be him). The film features tons of nudity and the gore (Tempra paint variety) is there. The highlight for me was the world's slowly fistfight between Cliver and Antonio de Cabo in the splashing waves. Sadly, ol' Jess pads this one out to an astonishing (and, at times, agonizing) 1 hour and 40 minutes when it should have run 80 minutes tops. For the most part, the Severin DVD looks pretty nice but there are some odd ghosting images going on during some of the darker scenes. Also, one long section of dialog is in Spanish with no subs (they are an option, but only when you listen to the French track). Franco gives a nice 16- minute interview about the film and has much more pleasant things to say about Buchfellner than his CANNIBALS star Sabrina Siani.
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