Cannibal ferox (1981)

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Umberto Lenzi (screenplay)
Umberto Lenzi (story)

Release Date:

November 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror

Tagline:

They raped and killed his sister while he watched helplessly. Now it's his turn to Make Them Die Slowly

Plot:

Three friends out to disprove cannibalism meet two men on the run who tortured and enslaved a cannibal tribe to find emeralds, and now the tribe is out for revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Tribe | Jungle | Anthropologist | Cannibalism | Emerald

Cast

Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Mike Logan (as John Morghen)
Lorraine De Selle	...	Gloria Davis
Danilo Mattei	...	Rudy Davis (as Bryan Redford)
Zora Kerova	...	Pat Johnson (as Zora Kerowa)
Walter Lucchini	...	Joe Costolani (as Walter Lloyd)
Fiamma Maglione	...	Myrna Stenn (as Meg Fleming)
Robert Kerman	...	Lt. Rizzo
John Bartha	...	Brooklyn Mobster
Venantino Venantini	...	Sgt. Ross
'El Indio' Rincon	...	Native who helps Gloria

Also Known As:

Make Them Die Slowly (USA)
Woman from Deep River (Australia)
Caníbal Feroz (Portugal) [pt]
Caníbal feroz (Spain) [es]
Cannibal ferox (France) (video title) [fr]
De kannibalen vallen aan! (Netherlands) [nl]
Die Rache der Kannibalen (West Germany) [de]
Jaget af kannibaler (Denmark) [da]
Kannibalen massakren (Sweden) [sv]
Lefki sarka sta dontia tous (Greece) [el]
Los últimos canibales (Argentina) [es]
Na pethanoun arga (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Terreur cannibale (France) (video box title) [fr]

Runtime:

93 min | South Korea:85 min (heavily cut) | UK:86 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | UK:18 (re-rating: 2000) (heavily cut) | Norway:18 (re-rating: 2005) (uncut) | Norway:(Banned) (1984-2005) | UK:(Banned) (1984-2000) | Canada:R (Alberta) | Sweden:15 (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | West Germany:18 (cut) | Finland:K-18 | Italy:VM18 (VHS rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:(Banned) (Ontario) | France:-16 | Italy:VM14 | New Zealand:R18 (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Amazon Rainforest, Colombia

Company:

Dania Film

Trivia:

The Australian title "Woman from Deep River" was made to cash in on one of Umberto Lenzi's previous films, Il paese del sesso selvaggio (1972), which is known in Australia as "Man from Deep River".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Rudy wears a neckerchief bearing the OshKosh logo, but the lettering seems to switch between being a 'mirror image' of itself (so it reads hsoKhsO) and appearing as it should, often several times within one scene.

Quotes:

Pre-credits disclaimer: The following feature is one of the most violent films ever made. There are at least two dozen scenes of barbaric torture and sadistic cruelty graphically shown. If the presentation of disgusting and repulsive subject matter upsets you, please do not view this film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Cannibal Apocalypse' Redux (2002) (V)

Soundtrack:

Red River Valley

Just one of those Italian "Cannibal Holocaust"-wannabees.

"Cannibal Holocaust" really spawned a whole bunch of cannibal movies during the '80's. Of course all these type of movies are more or less the same but this movie doesn't even try to be original or hide that it was heavily inspired by "Cannibal Holocaust" and uses lots of elements from the successful "Cannibal Holocaust" but it doesn't really succeed with any of its elements as well as "Cannibal Holocaust" did.

The story, settings and atmosphere are all very uninvolved feeling. The movie features lots of random sequences, mostly which feature real animal killings. You're just waiting for the first killing to occur but it actually takes quite awhile for the cannibal themes of the movie kick in. The story wastes too much time on building up stuff that just isn't interesting. It develops its characters but what do we care, since we know that most of them are probably going to die soon anyway. Besides, they are not being played by very great actors, to put it mildly.

But once the cannibalism kicks in the movie becomes quite good. It becomes an entertaining movie, that of course also features lots of graphic sequences, though it never feels as anything too shocking, since the movie doesn't really feel involving in any way.

The movie also made an odd choice to feature also quite some sequences set in New York, at several points in the movie. It's really distracting for the movie and doesn't work well for the pace. The movie has too many slow points and its gore/horror is not quite enough to uplift the movie to great heights.

Yet it's also far from the worst genre movie I've seen. Even though the quality of the directing and such isn't always top-notch, it's a well enough put together movie that features ingredients to please the genre fans, even though they will also probably be disappointed by the fact that this movie wasn't trying to be a bit more original of its own.

Entertaining but not really pleasing enough.

5/10