Review of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) by Matthew R — 18 Apr 2011

There is no possible way to walk away from watching Italian horror maestro Ruggero Deodato's magnum opus, Cannibal Holocaust, without being changed by it. Quite possibly one of the hardest and most savagely unwatchable films I have ever struggled to watch succeeds what it sets out to do, make the audience feel completely awful that they are watching this movie.

The acting is unbelievably realistic, adding to the further hyperrealism horror that this film is so famous for, and with the actual killing of seven animals, all filmed, the animal cruelty in this film cannot be matched by any film I have seen (From a pig being kicked and shot with a rifle to a turtle being decapitated and disemboweled).

This is one of the most horribly graphic films made and it is made even more disturbing by Riz Ortolani's score, and most prominently the frequently reoccurring love theme song. The footage is shot using the cinéma vérité technique, thus adding further realism and depth to the characters and environment, but this also increases the realism of the graphic violence, gang rape and cannibalism.

This is like the works of David Cronenburg and Pier Paolo Pasolini, much less of a horror film and much more of an endurance test, how much can you watch before you cannot stomach it any further. A recommendation for only the most die-hard horror and gore fans, because this compared to Saw or Hostel is like comparing Care Bears with The Exorcist, others don't compare in the slightest.