Review of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) by Cory T — 21 Oct 2011

It's an ironically venomous counterpoint to have melodic, almost beautifully serene music to play over pornographically violent images and Deodato masters it. In the sprawling jungle, barbaric, "backwards" tribes live by their own "rules of conduct" which include a baneful punishment for adultery and cannibalism.

This is one of the first examples of cinema verite for horror and while it's influential and certainly jolting in its ultra-realistic mutilation, it's only moderately successful. The appearance of validity is definitely virtuoso (ex.

Some of the production "rushes" are devoid of NAT sound) and most of the animal vivisection was not simulated (a turtle is cruelly eviscerated). Deodato is stupendous at unwinding the haughty American ego of creating the news when none is extant and underestimating the superstitious locals who believe Kerman captured someone's soul on a tape recorder.

The auteur director and his accomplices' comeuppances are outlandishly raw in a fly-on-the-wall vantage point. Overall, the film admirably skirts camp value and retains a disturbing verisimilitude despite the desynchronized dubbing and lack of emotional attachment to the filmmakers who torch the village to spur the cannibals' retribution.