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:

Escape Attempt | Sinister | Insanity | Head Split In Half | Gory Violence

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giovanni Bergamini	...	Hotel Administrator (uncredited)
Riccardo Petrazzi	...	Hunter (uncredited)
Perry Pirkanen	...	Paul, blond mobster (uncredited)
Dominic Raacke	...	Man in New York (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Rudy (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Jake Teague	...	College Professor (uncredited)
Frank von Kuegelgen	...	Mike Logan (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Umberto Lenzi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Umberto Lenzi		screenplay
Umberto Lenzi		story

Produced by
Antonio Crescenzi	....	executive producer
Mino Loy	....	producer (uncredited)
Luciano Martino	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Roberto Donati		(as Budy)
Fiamma Maglione		(as Maglione)

Cinematography by
Giovanni Bergamini

Film Editing by
Enzo Meniconi

Production Design by
Giuseppe Bassan

Costume Design by
Giuseppe Bassan

Makeup Department
Giuseppe Ferranti	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Vito Di Bari	....	unit manager
Evi Farinelli	....	unit manager
Giovanni Masini	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Riccardo Petrazzi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Sergio Basili	....	special sound effects
Aldo Ciorba	....	special sound effects
Ezio Marcorin	....	special sound effects
Raul Montesanti	....	sound

Special Effects by
Gino De Rossi	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Roberto Belli	....	chief electrician
Renato Doria	....	camera operator
Giorgio Garibaldi Schwarze	....	still photographer
Mario Pizzi	....	key grip
Maurizio Zampagni	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Alessandro Gabriele	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Carlo Maria Cordio	....	music arranger
Carlo Maria Cordio	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Dania Film
• Medusa Produzione
• National Cinematografica

Distributors

• Replay Video (1981) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO) (1981) (UK) (VHS)
• Commodore Films (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• Aquarius Releasing (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Video Classics (1984) (Australia) (VHS)
• Thriller Video (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• MPM Production (1991) (France) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• Grindhouse Releasing (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Grindhouse Releasing (2000) (USA) (all media) (restored) (uncut)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Laser Paradise (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Another World Entertainment (2006) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Continental Film Distributors (CFD) (????) (Hong Kong) (VHS)
• Neo Publishing (????) (France) (DVD)
• Ropponica (????) (Japan) (VHS)
• Video Invest AB (????) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Video Programme Distributors (VPD) (????) (UK) (VHS)

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

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

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Amazon Rainforest, Colombia

Company:

Dania Film

Trivia:

Like Cannibal Holocaust (1980), this movie contains several actual animal killings. Though his character kills an animal in the film, Giovanni Lombardo Radice strongly objected to the animal killings and refused to participate in them (a double had to be used). Director Umberto Lenzi tried to convince Radice to do the killings by telling him, "De Niro [Robert De Niro] would do it," to which Radice responded, "De Niro would kick your ass all the way back to Rome."

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the man at the beginning of the movie is shot, the bad guy attaches a silencer onto the gun, but you can hear a very loud bang when the trigger is pulled.

Quotes:

Gloria Davis: [Pat runs to eat a piece of meat] No! Stop! It might be Rudy!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Geheime Kino, Das (2007)

Soundtrack:

Red River Valley

The living nightmare of every censor!

I love this flick, so am I perverted or even totally weird?!? None of both, because "Cannibal Ferox" is a great guilty pleasure and an excellent stare-if-you-dare-movie! It is banned in 31 countries and there are truly good reasons for that: nearly no film delivers such an immense load of explicit gore, blood and guts, castration and sadism as this one features! But even though you like to hear it or not, Lenzi´s film is pretty suspense-packed, full of dramatic and entertaining from beginning till the end! Once more the a whole zoo of animals was slaughtered and the most disgusting take is when in a nearly heart-braking scene a little tethered and despaired screaming anteater gets strangulated by a huge Anaconda! However this shot has an almost symbolic character in view of the plot... The cast includes such exploitation-greats like Robert Kerman ("Eaten Alive"), John Morghen ("Cannibal Apocalypse"), Perry Pirkanen ("Cannibal Holocaust") and in the first line the wonderful Zora Kerova ("The New York Ripper"), who makes some really bad experiences with meathooks at the unhappy end..! Faint-hearted persons will surely turn away in deeply disgust, however all those who threw their political correctness over board may surely enjoy this sick symphony of sheer cruelty!