Remade In Mexico

 

LOS QUE VOVIERON-(THOSE WHO CAME BACK)-1948-A plane going from Mexico to Buenos Ares carries an array of rude complaining passengers including a private detective and his criminal, a shrewish old woman and her wimpy husband, a grandfather & grandson and an engaged couple. They discuss fixing the plane, where to get food and argue a lot. They eventually learn to work together (kind of; some have to be forced) and learn late that there are unfriendly natives around. When they are ready to leave, a choice has to be made. 

Excellent Mexican remake of the 1939 US film THREE CAME BACK directed by Alejandro Galindo.

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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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Mexican Trio

PANICO-1970-Three short tales from Mexico. In the first a young woman in her nightgown is pursued  by a crazy woman with a knife. Some guys seem to be hanging around but do nothing. She has a flashback to when he was assaulted by a group of men. After running some more she tangles with the crazy woman and kills her. But things are not what they seem.

In the second story, two men Carlos and Abel try to escape the jungle and an attack of yellow fever. Both have memories of Abel’s dead wife. Due to fatigue they crash their canoe and are stranded in the jungle swamp. Abel seems to take it in stride but Carlos is a mess on the verge of losing it completely but it's more likely guilt than fear that's driving Carlos batty.  In a fit he reveals he had an affair with his friend’s wife! Raging Abel tries to kill Carlos who stabs Abel to death. He buries Abel but he rises from the grave several times (perhaps all in Carlos’ mind) and Carlos loses it completely.

In the third a scientist creates narcotic drug for use in surgery. It mimics death but the patient is still conscious and can see. I'm not sure what makes this a great drug but I believe this segment is actually a comedy. His cat knocks over a beaker of the solution and it spills in to the scientist's coffee. Not realizing what's happened he drinks it and falls into a narcoleptic coma. His wife calls a doctor who pronounces him dead. He hears and sees everything but no one can hear his pleas. His wife's cousin has an inkling he’s not dead but to no avail. He’s buried just as he regains consciousness. His cat who also drank some of the drug and looked dead revives. The wife and the doctor have feelings for each other. Somehow at the end he’s reborn as a maggot but doesn't survive too long. This is very reminiscent of an episode of TV’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Joseph Cotten in a similar situation.

PANICO is a well made psychological horror film but basically the stories aren't that good. The last two go on too long and don't really provide that much suspense (although the last segment tries hard).

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