Emanuelle and Cannibals

 

 (themoviedatabase.org)

EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS-1977-At a mental institution, a patient bites a nurse. Emanuelle (Laura Gemser), doing some investigative reporting, visits the now straitjacketed woman. She discovers the mad woman has a tattoo from a tribe in the Amazon jungle. Her editor wants her to go there and get the story on the last cannibal tribe. She contacts anthropologist Mark Lester (Gemser's real life husband at the time Gabriele Tinti). After they have sex, he agrees to lead an expedition. 

After arriving, they meet Isabelle (Monica Zanchi), a reporter. She joins them along with a nun. When Emanuelle is attacked by a snake, hunter Donald McKenzie (Donald O'Brien; DOCTOR BUTCHER MD) shows up and shoots it. Then he, his wife (Susan Scott) and their guide join up. They wander around being unknowingly watched by the locals. After the nun is cannibalized, McKenzie and his wife go off to get diamonds from a helicopter crash (their real reason for being there). The natives attack, wound McKenzie and kidnap his wife. 

Later they get Isabelle. Emanuelle and Lester watch from afar as the wife is cannibalized and McKenzie is squeezed in half. 

To save Isabelle, Emanuelle poses as a goddess.

This starts out as a typical soft-core porn, that turns into a pretty disgusting display of the Italian cannibal genre at its worst. This was the fourth “Black Emanuelle” movie director Joe D'Amato (born Aristide Massaccesi) made, followed by several more in the series. He later made ANTROPOPHAGUS (1980) and its sequel ABSURD (1981) and many others.

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Jackson Before Rings

 

 (imdb)

BAD TASTE-1989-Cannibalistic aliens invade a small town in Australia in this bloody gore filled serio-comedy with extreme slapstick. Heads explode, limbs are torn off, entrails pulled out. Four guys from a special agency discover the aliens (who disguise themselves as humans) want humans for their intergalactic fast-food chain. Future Academy Award winner Peter Jackson co-wrote and directed as well as playing the role of Derek.

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More Gore

 

 (imdb)

CANNIBAL FEROX-1981-NYC Police Lt. Rizzo (Robert Kerman aka porno star R. Bolla) and Sgt. Ross (Venantonio Venantini) investigate the murder of a junkie. Then three people Rudy (Danilo Mattei), Gloria (Lorraine De Selle) & Pat (Zora Korova) set out to the Amazon so Gloria can prove there is no such thing as cannibalism. After they have trouble with their jeep, they hike in the jungle and discover a decrepit man eating maggots. They meet cocaine traffickers Mike Logan (John Morghen aka Giovanni Radice) and his wounded pal Joe (Walter Lucchini) who were attacked by cannibals. Stupidly Logan kills an Indian girl and Joe reveals in flashback that Logan is lying. Looking for emeralds Logan tortured a young native to death. After Mike and Pat run out on Rudy & Gloria and the dying Joe, the story switches back to NYC for a bit as Lt. Rizzo still investigates the murder which Logan is attached to. Back in the Amazon, Joe dies and locals dine on his intestines. The natives capture all four and Logan is strung up and tortured. His…um…manhood is cut off and eaten. Then his wound is cauterized. Rudy is killed trying to escape. Gloria and Pat are put in a pit and sing "Red River Valley". Logan tries to escape and they cut off his hand. Then the movie's most infamous scene. Pat has hooks jabbed into her breasts and is left to die hanging on a pole. Then the top of Logan's head is lopped off and his brain is eaten. A sympathetic native helps Gloria escape. When he's impaled, Gloria considers suicide but is rescued. Back in NYC, she writes a book, receives her doctorate and still looks traumatized from her ordeal. 

Extreme gore and real animal killings make this real sick.

And why did the clowns who made this thing have the explorers/troublemakers being from America? Italian Umberto Lenzi wrote and directed it! 

Radice/Morghen was also in Antonio Margheriti's CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS and Lucio Fulci's THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (also with Venantini). I originally saw this in a theater (on 42 street) as MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY.

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Cannibal Camera Work

 

 (imdb)

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST-1980-After an expedition disappears into The Green Inferno, a jungle in the Amazon rain forest, Prof. Monroe (Robert Kerman) wants to find them and hires a guide named Chaco. After they discover the remains of the missing expedition and Monroe eats some human intestines, the story abruptly cuts back to NY (?) where the professor has returned to civilization and plans to broadcast a film the doomed expedition shot. But before that Monroe interviews many of the victims' relatives. In the found footage, the group butchers a live turtle (worst scene). Their guide dies and they avoid a caiman attack. Then they discover a tribe killing animals and drinking blood. Other animals are killed. Then to get some sensational footage they burn down a hut with women and children in it. They become quite callous and superior and rape a local woman. Then the natives have had enough.

This is pretty much a sickening piece of exploitative bs, made basically to disgust rather than horrify with animal killing, rape, male & female frontal nudity and disembowelment but the found footage scenes are very well done. Better executed than most of the found footage dribble that became well known 20 odd years later. 

The musical score by Riz Ortolani is excellent. Director Ruggero Deodato had made LAST CANNIBAL WORLD in 1977. Top billed Robert Kerman acted on Broadway and TV in the US and was in other Euro productions including Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE! (1980). He also had a small role in Lenzi's CANNIBAL FEROX (1981). In the late '70's, he used the name “R. Bolla” and appeared in “over 100” porno films. He gave up acting in the mid-'80's but returned in the role of a tugboat captain in Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN (2002). He passed away in 2018.

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Early Color Horror

 

 (tcm.com)

DOCTOR X-1932-Reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) investigates cannibalistic murders (The Moon Killer) that seemed tied to the medical research facility run by Dr. Jerry Xavier (Lionel Atwill). A few of his eccentric suspicious staff have had brushes with cannibalism. After he meets Xavier's daughter Joanne (Fay Wray), Taylor's almost done in by a cloaked monster but a trick cigar saves him. To avoid a scandal, Xavier asks the police to give him 48 hours to discover if the killer is on his staff. He sets up an elaborate machine that measures subjects' blood while recreating the murders. 

This early two-tone technicolor horror has great direction (from Michael Curtiz, who made MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM the next year), is very creepy in spots, has lots of suspects and some weird sfx but is brought down a bit by a static screenplay and an annoying wisecracking performance by Tracy.

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France

 

 

 

 (imdb)

A TASTE FOR WOMEN-1964-Jerome (Guy Bedos), a writer meets Violette (Sophie Daumier) by accident and falls madly in love with her. Many stupid events happen when he's around including two murders. It all leads to a secret sect that eats women. I found this black comedy from France very annoying and unfunny, but you might like it.

 It's the only feature directed by Jean Leon, assistant director to Alain Resnais on HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR and LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD.

Thanks for reading! Au Revoir!

Real Cannibal

 

 

 (cnn)

EXCUSE ME FOR LIVING-1993-This is a horrific documentary/biography about Issei Sagawa (who died in November 2022), a Japanese citizen who murdered and cannibalized a young Dutch woman in France. Though arrested and imprisoned, a technical glitch in the justice system freed him after a mere two years in an asylum. He's a pathetic guy who probably needed help for many years, but no one realized it and he committed a pretty heinous crime and became a minor celebrity who wrote several books and gave interviews. 

He expounds on his lifelong obsession to kill and eat someone and his fascination with actress Jean Seberg. His later life wasn't so pleasant. His “celebrity status” in Japan is blown out of proportion as most of the country were fairly outraged by his infamy.

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Cannibal Horror

 

LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (aka JUNGLE HOLOCAUST)-1977-Searching for oil, Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi) and his friends Rolf (Ivan Rassimov), Charlie (Sheik Razak Shikur) and Swan (JudyRosly) crash land in a jungle in The Philippines. While contending with alligators and boas, they explore. At night Swan disappears. The men search for her and Charlie is impaled by an obvious trap.Later the guys spy a group of savage cavemen like cannibals enjoying a guest. They assume it's Charlie so they go off and build a raft to escape but a rapids and a rock put an end to that and Rolf's life. Robert is now all alone in the cannibal jungle! After wandering, eating poison mushrooms and vomiting, the natives capture him, chain him to a rock and tear off all his clothes (warning: full frontal male nudity). After he survives a fall (they wanted to see if he could fly) he's put in a pit and native kids piss on him. A native woman  (Me Me Lai) seems to take a liking to him. A snake eats a bat and the bizarre savages disembowel a crocodile. Robert manages to escape his prison and run away, forcibly taking the native girl with him. While running through the jungle they see a woman give birth. After an encounter with leeches the girl runs away. He pursues her. When he catches her he punches her, slaps her, bloodies her nose and rapes her doggy style. She seems to have a change of heart though and later brings him food. Seeking shelter from a storm, they hide in a cave and find Rolf alive but wounded. The trio wander some, can't attracted a helicopter looking for them and almost get eaten by crocodiles. Despite their best efforts, the tribe catches up with them. They kill the girl, eviscerate her, cook her entrails and eat them. Near the end Robert fights and kills one of the natives and eats his heart. He and Rolf (who takes a spear in the chest) make it back to the plane but Rolf dies. Said to be based on a true story. This cannibal craziness was directed by Ruggero Deodato who later made another exploitative cannibal movie CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and other violent low budget dreck. Lamberto Bava is credited with script continuity.

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Fulci

 

ZOMBI-2-1979-A mysterious boat is discovered in the NYC harbor. It seems abandoned but 2 coast guard members discover a rotting flesh eating zombie on board which kills one of the guards. It turns out the boat belongs to a missing scientist. His daughter Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) teams ups with a NYC based British reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) to find his whereabouts. They hitch a ride with another couple (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay) on their boat to reach the island of Mantool where it turns out Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson) is trying to stave off a zombie invasion. After an underwater zombie fights a shark, the quartet meet up with Menard. Meanwhile the doc's mistreated wife (Olga Karlatos) is killed and eaten (a splinter going through her eye is an infamous scene). Eventually zombies start turning up everywhere and the four take refuge in Menard's church/hospital.

 It's very gory and fast moving but director Lucio Fulci ran into a lot of problems with the producers (their original choice for director was Enzo Casarelli) and he wasn't that happy with the results. The ending is kind of laughable. Still it was a big hit. Called ZOMBIE in the US, it's original title was ZOMBI 2 since George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD was called ZOMBI in Europe.

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"It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters"

 

MOTEL HELL-1980-At the Hotel Hello where the “o” burns out Farmer Vincent (Rory Calhoun) rescues Terry (Nina Axelrod) from a motorcycle crash and brings her to his hotel/farm where he lives with his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons; later in the PORKY'S series of movies). A nosy animal doctor finds out the farmer's secret. He's “harvesting” kidnapped people to make his famous sausage products. He sets traps that make a rock band's van crash, then plants them. The same goes for an S & M couple (Elaine Joyce and Dick Curtis) while a TV preacher (Wolfman Jack) is on TV. Jealous Ida tries to drown Terry but Vincent saves her (it looked like an accident) and Terry agrees to marry him! Bruce (Paul Linke; later a regular on the TV show CHiPs) the stupid sheriff discovers Vincent is up to no good. Some of the victims get loose and kill Ida. Bruce fights Vincent (in a pig mask) in a chainsaw battle finale. He kills Vincent and saves Terry before she's chopped up. A clip from THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD shows up on TV. 

This weird horror comedy was directed by Kevin Connor (THE LAND THAT TIME FORGET, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT) who went on to direct many US TV shows and movies (He made GOLIATH AWAITS with Christopher Lee and John Carradine the next year).

Star Rory Calhoun had been in the successful TV western "Tales Of Welles Fargo" (1957-1962). 

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What Day?

THE DAY-2011-This mean spirited nonsense combines elements of THE HUNGER GAMES meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with a splash of 28 DAYS LATER and probably a bit of THE ROAD.

The self important action gore mess has some young survivors of an apocalypse hold up in an abandon house to stave off an army of flesh eating humans (not zombies for a change). Ashley Bell (THE LAST EXORCISM) is Mary, a reformed cannibal out to kill the invading cannibals. But the group doesn't trust her so they wind up torturing her. Eventually she helps them (unsuccessfully) fight the invading horde. Everyone is killed which means nothing since there are no likable characters except Mary who in the final scene decapitates a little girl (ok, so it's a cannibal little girl....). With the usual jerky camera work, overacting and violence.

Dominic Monaghan (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy) is killed early (he was one of the producers too). 

The director Douglas Aarniokoski was a second unit director on many films before obviously graduating to full director on second rate films.

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German Horror

THE DEPRAVED-2011-In Berlin, four young people (3 girls, 1 guy) go on an illegal underground tour to a secret Nazi bunker. At the bunker they find it full of weird 3^rd Reich graffiti. Unfortunately on the way back their German guide is badly injured in a fall after one of the girls takes his picture. Two of the girls go for help. The other two stay behind and meet a laughing German who turns out to be a crazy cannibal who likes to torture and kill. He holds the duo prisoners but the girl escapes into the subway. He follows her and re-kidnaps her despite the presence of many passengers. The killer even cleans up his mess at a station where he kills someone. The ridiculous story ends with the killer brushing his teeth with an electric toothbrush. I'm not sure if the title describes the killer or the director Andy Fetscher.

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Canadian Cannibals

CANNIBAL GIRLS-1973-This seldom seen low budget horror film from Canada was the second film directed by Ivan Reitman.

After their car breaks down, a couple, bushy haired Clifford (Eugene Levy) and Gloria (Andrea Martin) hear the local legend of 3 cannibal girls who killed and ate their victims. They go to a local restaurant (actually an old house) run by the weird Rev. St. John who is assisted by three women. A menacing servant hangs around too. St. John talks very over the top and acts mysterious. When they decide to stay the night St. John and his ladies attack Clifford and Gloria. She escapes somehow and is helped by a doctor. Later she's reunited with Clifford who under a spell leads Gloria back to "the restaurant". A hypnotized Gloria then kills Clifford and he's served as dinner with Gloria joining in. It ends (sort of like MANTOS, HANDS OF FATE) with a new couple going to the old house for dinner.

I think this was suppose to be a comedy-takeoff but I found it pretty boring. From one short scene it seems to imply that the reverend is the vampire head of some kind of blood cult but what's really going on is never actually explained. He's not even mentioned when an old lady first relates the legend of the three girls.

The original theatrical version featured a "warning bell" to tell viewers when a grisly scene was about to appear.

The similar US produced TERROR HOUSE (aka TERROR AT THE RED WOLF INN) was filmed the year before.

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The Maddest Story Ever Told!

SPIDER BABY or THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD-1968-This quirky black and white horror film may not be the maddest but it's certainly one of the strangest!It starts out with the legendary Lon Chaney singing the title theme over the credits!

The story concerns the Merrye family who suffer from "Merrye Syndrome", a genetic disorder caused by inbreeding. Lon Chaney is great as Bruno the insanely smiling family caretaker, chauffeur and guardian of the three Merrye children: Ralph (Sid Haig, still doing mostly TV at this time), a bald mute lunatic, the homicidal Elizabeth (Beverley Washburn) and the spider obsessed Virginia (Jill Banner). A few cannibalistic aunts and uncles also live in a pit in their basement. After Virginia kills a messenger (the great Mantan Moreland) the family is visited by Peter (Quinn Redecker) and Emily Howe (Carol Ohmart from THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL) distant relatives who want the family house. Also along is their weaselly lawyer Mr. Schlocker (Karl Schanzer) and his secretary Ann (Mary Mitchel). When the guests decide to stay for dinner Ralph kills a cat so they have food to serve. Though everyone else acts disgusted and snobby, Peter seems oblivious to the macabre surroundings. He's very cheerful and nice to his hosts. After Peter takes Ann out for a drink Schocker snoops around.  The girls slice him up because he doesn't like spiders ("This isn't right. There are proper procedures!"). Later the girls chase Emily (clan in black underwear) through the forest and Ralph rapes her (off-screen). When Peter and Mary return Elizabeth and Ralph kidnap Mary while Virginia ties Peter up and does her spider dance. Emily now crazy finds Ralph and blinds him. Peter manages to break his bonds and flee with Mary just before Bruno blows the place up. Peter (who narrates at the beginning and the end) 10 years later lives happily ever after with his Mary, now his his wife and their young daughter...or do they?  

SPIDER BABY was pretty much ignored in it's initial release (according to director Jack Hill it was hard to get a distributor because by 1968 black and white films were out of date) but since then it's become a cult movie and it's easy to see why. Chaney really throws himself into his demented role lecturing the murdering brood:  "How many times have I told you it's not nice to hate?" "How many times do I have to tell you just because something isn't good doesn't mean it's bad!"  His career was really almost non-existent by this point and his health problems were getting worse but he still puts in a memorable performance.

It's really strange to see a once funny guy like Mantan Moreland getting stabbed to death while caught in a window. It's not graphic though except for a quick shot of his severed ear. He made a few more movie and TV appearances before dying in 1973. Quinn Redeker was a familiar TV actor and screenwriter who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1978 for co-writing THE DEERHUNTER. Both Karl Schanzer and Mary Mitchel had been in DEMENTIA 13 in 1963. Beverley Washburn was a former child actress who was on many TV shows. Her Elizabeth is very whacky and frightening.

But Jill Banner steals the whole show as the alluring, innocent but bloodthirsty Virginia who really loves her spiders. She was in a few other movies (THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST & A MAN, A HORSE, A GUN) and TV shows (she was in around 5 episodes of DRAGNET!) but quit acting soon after. She was killed in a car accident in 1982.

Director Jack Hill made this around the same time he filmed Boris Karloff's American scenes for his last 4 film appearances (produced in Mexico).

http://www.spiderbabyonline.com/

Happy Halloween and thanks for reading!

Primal

PRIMAL-2010-Somewhere in Australia, 6 people explore some ancient cave paintings. A woman in the party gets bitten by a rabbit with extremely long teeth. Leeches and bugs plague the camp. The woman becomes an animistic cannibal and she kills and eats a kangaroo. Later she terrorizes her remaining live ex-friends until most of them are killed. But one guy she kills comes back to life and joins her in eating and screwing. The climax is stupid and drawn out with a nasty scene featuring a pregnant woman disemboweling herself and the sole survivor violated by some kind of worm blob. Director Josh Reed as of this writing has yet to venture into another feature film production.

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Spanish Vampires

THE VAMPIRES NIGHT ORGY-1974-A busload of workers traveling to a castle make an unplanned stop in a strange village after their driver dies. The village is devoid of people but the weary travelers decide to stay in the cozy empty inn anyway. One person does show up though, a guy named Luis (the ubiquitous Jack Taylor) who says he got lost while driving around. When Ernest, one of the group goes out for a smoke he's attacked and killed en mass by some weird looking vampires. The next morning the remaining members are greeted by the town folk. A sort of town leader name Boris, who everyone calls Major (Jose' Guardiola) explains that the reason no one was around the previous night was that they were all attending a funeral. When the guests want some meat with their breakfast a big bearded cook chops off a villagers leg and it's serves it to them. One of the travelers goes on and on about how “different” tasting the meat is, much to the amusement of Boris. ”In no other place will you find a roast like this"...

Around this time a pasty faced Ernest shows up and later their bus won't start. Stranded with no money the visitors must accept the hospitality of The Countess (Helga Line', from several Paul Naschy movies), an aristocratic beauty who promptly seduces the young school teacher in the group, bites him on the neck and throws him to her hungry minions. Later the hairy cook hacks off a villager's arm (while a child watches) to serve as dinner. Luis suspects trouble (“There are too many strange and dangerous things going on”) and tries to save the remaining passengers including Alma (Dyanik Zurakowska from FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR) who finds a severed finger on her dinner plate! For some reason the one child, a girl passenger goes off with a mysterious boy and gets trapped in the cemetery. After her mother is killed the boy tries to save her the girl but winds up killing her instead. Luis and Alma flee in his car with the bloodthirsty villagers in hot pursuit. They escape but like in HG Lewis' 2000 MANIACS (and BRIGADOON) the evil village disappears once the pair bring back the authorities.

Director Leon Klimovsky made several films with Paul Naschy. He usually provides a lot of atmosphere and action but this Spanish production is pretty standard and way too dark. The vampires are strange enough but some things are left unexplained. Star Jack Taylor (from Oregon in the USA) made (and is still making) many Euro-films including some with Naschy and some for Jess Franco.

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