Review of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) by James O — 16 Jun 2011

I despise Cannibal Holocaust. I hate it deeper than any hatred I have ever felt before. It's vile, shocking, unnerving, sadistic, demented, and not a pleasurable viewing experience. So why the five star rating? Becuse it WORKS.

It accomplishes everything it sets out to do, and that is to horrify you to the point of screaming. I am a strong animal lover, and this could be considered an animal snuff film. The turtle scene was just unbearable, and the muskrat (I think that's what it was) sequence was just atrocious.

I am currently looking in a thesaurus for synonyms of "bad". That's how awful this film is. There's one scene that's too shocking and too grotesque for words, and that is the scene where a woman is being punished for adultery.

After that, you can say you've seen everything that is wrong with this world. The scene where the film crew pillage and destroy a tribe's village right before gathering everyone into a hut and torching it set to some of the most beautiful music you'll ever hear is just downright disturbing.

If you know of a film that is more shocking and grotesque than this, I would really liken to hear of it. This pushes the limits of what a human mind can take. One reviewer on Amazon made a point that the message this film is getting across is that even though we've gone to space and built huge skyscrapers, we are still just as savage as the cannibals in the Amazon, we just hide it from the public.

And I might confuse some people by saying this, but I think this deserves an Oscar. Oscars are given to films that work and really play with your emotions. We just nominate ones that do this for the better; Cannibal Holocaust does everything an effective film should do, and I hate Ruggero Deodatos' guts for it.

Cannibal Holocaust screws with you and it sticks with you for the rest of your life. I really loathe this film, and as one character says at the end of the movie, "Burn the film." That's exactly how I felt about Cannibal Holocaust.

Heck, if this was in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, I wouldn't buy it. This is one of those movies you see once, and once is definitely enough. So let's get down to the point: Is Cannibal Holocaust worth seeing? Well, if you have a strong stomach and have sat through multiple horror movies (especially the gory ones) without throwing up, proceed cautiously.

You might get more than you bargained for.