Review – ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ (1980)

This would have been my second time viewing Cannibal Holocaust and boy, it is not for the faint of heart. I watched the film the first time for a university assignment, and had heard previously that it was extremely controversial and not for the squeamish, but also a solidified part of horror history that was essential viewing for the hardcore horror fan. I remember watching the first time and not being able to watch the real animal killings, and feeling extremely uncomfortable at the overall general tone of the film. As part of Joe Bob Briggs The Last Drive In Season 2, Cannibal Holocaust was the midway point through the season. Usually if there is a film I have already watched being shown on there, I’ll skip it or at least watch the Job Bob segments just to gain the information and humorous moments. I was initially going to skip this one, after having watched it last year, but I decided to watch it again, god knows why, I felt as if I should write a review on it and release my thoughts to the internet.

Cannibal Holocaust, for the uninitiated, is the white whale of horror films, a film even the most seasoned of veterans will not watch on principle, a depressing and vile tale that ends in bloodshed. On the other hand, however, it is also a film with a clear yet intriguing message that hits home, superb and grisly special effects that are as realistic as you could get, and the birth of a subgenre that would take the horror film industry by storm two decades later. As Joe Bob eloquently puts, it is a combination of three genres of film. 1. The Mondo film, a format of film dedicated to travel, and is essentially a travel documentary with exploitation style scenes. 2. The cannibal film, which is pretty much non-existent now but especially in Italy, was rampant and frequent, Italian directors attempting to one up each other on gore, shock, and controversy. 3. The Found-Footage film, a horror film with a format consisting of “found footage”, and is presented as real and deliberately shoddy camerawork in an attempt to portray the film as real. Most of the general audiences believe that The Blair Witch Project was the first to invent this sub-genre, although Cannibal Holocaust had taken the world by storm before.

Cannibal Holocaust involves a professor from a New York university, attempting to find footage from a documentary crew who have been killed in the jungle while trying to film cannibal tribes. Once he finds the footage, in the possession of the tribe, he uncovers a horrific story, full of blood, gore and depravity.

Despite being an extremely controversial film, I think it is a well made, interesting film. The message behind the film is a thought provoking one, the fact that while we label these cannibal tribes as savage and monstrous, yet in reality, we are equally as monstrous, perhaps more so, due to us having the tastes and civilised society that the modern world brings us. If a cannibal tribe doesn’t know any different, who are we to barge in there and tell them how to run the show? The film essentially does a switcheroo, and while what happens to the crew is horrible, what is equally as horrible is what they do to the tribe beforehand. I will stress the fact that this film is not for the faint of heart, and most certainly not a “sit down with the family and watch a scary movie” type film, this is more an exercise in education.

What is perhaps the most controversial aspect of this film, is the real animal killings. Yes, real animals are killed in this film. A muskrat, a turtle and a monkey are the worst scenes, and I found it difficult to watch these scenes in particular. The director, Ruggero Deodato, did time for these scenes, and served 4 months in jail for them. Once the film was released, he was arrested and put on trial for murdering his actors. In reality, he had made them sign a year long contract to essentially disappear, to give the impression that it was real. This is in actual fact, quite revolutionary marketing for the time, so good that it convinced people that real people had been murdered. Deodato had to bring them into the courtroom to prove that they weren’t dead. The Blair Witch Project would use a similar marketing strategy years later.

The acting is shockingly good, with the camera crew being relatively realistic in terms of their characters being in front of the camera and being “normal”. One thing that really does stick out to me is the score, which can be at both times horrifying and beautiful and almost…relaxing. The main theme is a great main theme to have, so good that it almost doesn’t belong in the film, especially when being put over the horrific scenes.

Cannibal Holocaust is a controversial film, to say the least, and on the surface is a tough watch, yet it does provide other intricacies despite the negative reception, and is most definitely the grandfather of the found footage film and in the history books of horror for decades.

#1980 #horror #cannibal #Holocaust #Doctorhorror