Review of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) by Crystal C — 21 Feb 2009

I found out that this movie was forbidden in number of cities, but really didn't know what to expect. The version I saw was the uncut version which included the scenes with the slaughter of several wild animals. The movie has its flaws but certainly has a lot of advantages aswell.

To give the movie a realistic feel they have decided to build the movie upon the making of a documentary by 4 young americans. The 4 people never came bac on a trip to the amazon - a bit simmilar to Blair Witch - and a professor has been given the assignment of finding out what went wrong with the group. The movie in its whole is therefore the recordings of the professors journey, the missing recordings of the lost group and finally the discussion between the professor and the tv-company whether to broadcast these recordings or not.

The acting is not paticularly great in 'Cannibal Holocaust', however, the theme and grotesque imagery certainly is very powerful to watch. The professor recovers the missing recordings because he acts sincear and honost towards the cannibals and it's this mutual understanding the movie want's to emphasise - We're not a hell of a lot better than a bunch of "uncivilised" cannibals if we put ourselves under the loop. Unfortunately the movies doesn't allow us to make these conclusions ourselves because the professor, who also is the narrator of the movie, constantly reminds of these facts. This makes the movie somewhat irritating, because it regards its viewers as plain stupid.

The intentions are good though and the scenes with the group of four raping, shooting, torturing and burning the cannibals are truely horrible ot watch, however, they do have a deep impact on its viewers. As I understand, this movie is a bit of a milestone in the exploitation genre and I can certainly see why. I succeeds to have a substantial morale and support this with several morbid scenes. Deffiantly a movie worth watching if you're not too repellent to these type of movies.