Cannibal Ferox (1981)

"A Sleazy Kind of Wonderful"

Oh yes indeed. One of the best / worst / of the infamous video nasties (because if you saw it back in the early 1980s it didn't take long to realise why lots and lots of people would think banning this wasn't such a bad idea), CANNIBAL FEROX comes to UK Blu-ray courtesy of Shameless.

Ah, but does it? Those picky individuals who, despite the film being available elsewhere if they really want it, won't be satisfied unless every single frame of a film is restored (and look pristine to boot, mind you, or very, very stern messages will be left on the label's website / facebook page / any forum that hasn't banned them yet) should probably be aware (and to be honest they should be able to guess) that the animal cruelty that seemed to be de rigueur for these sorts of things is still not present. Actually, even that's not strictly true. Anyone not keen on seeing scenes of graphic scenes involving animals should be warned: there's still a fair bit of real animal-on-animal violence as well as the killing of a turtle so it can be cooked.

After the success of Ruggero Deodato's infamous CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, a film I will admit had me on the edge of my seat for much of its running time, the job of creating the ultimate ripoff, the film that would be nastier, grosser, sillier and do away with any concept of subtext, was given to the man responsible for kicking off the whole cannibal sub-genre with THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER (1972) as well as films with titles like SPASMO, EYEBALL, EATEN ALIVE and NIGHTMARE CITY. Yes, Umberto Lenzi, a man not known for restraint, sensitivity or tact in his horror film executions, was sent off into the jungle with a small cast and crew and some 16mm cameras.

The producers were not to be disappointed.

CANNIBAL FEROX is quite possibly the sleaziest, daftest, grossest cannibal film ever. Which makes it perhaps the ultimate grindhouse film. It exists solely to shock, to titillate, to nauseate, to leave 1980s audiences open-mouthed in a 'I can't believe they just did that' kind of way. It has a music score that is both potty and perfect. It also moves at a clip and has some utterly terrible dialogue. It is a strange and sleazy kind of wonderful.

The worst equipped team in the history of Italian anthropology set off into the Amazon rainforest with only a crate of White Horse whiskey and a red polka-dot neckerchief to get them through. Oh, and a jeep that gets driven straight into a pond so they have to walk. The team, consists of PhD student Gloria Davis (Lorraine de Selle), beefcake fashion victim Rudy (Danilo Mattei) and Elizabeth Berkeley's character from SHOWGIRLS (Zora Kerova). 

Traipsing through the jungle after their pond-vehicular interface they meet up with limping Joe (Walter Lucchini) and his friend Mike (Giovanni Lombardo Radice). Mike seems to be having some terrible allergic reaction to the jungle because he has to keep using his Vicks Sinex nasal inhaler. He and Joe claim they've been attacked by cannibals but in fact it was they who attacked a village and tortured some of the inhabitants when Mike overdosed on his nasal medication. 

Our motley team of hopeless wanderers find themselves back at the very same village where they decide to stay because that's exactly what should happen in a film like this. Cue returning natives and lots of gory revenge stuff.

There's a little note at the start of Shameless's transfer that tells us they have done their best with their 2K scan to make Lenzi's grainy 16mm film look the way it was intended. Seeing as nobody involved probably cared how it looked as long as people paid to see it, we do get a pretty good, grainy transfer that evokes the feel of watching this in a more upmarket grindhouse cinema with a projector that has a decent bulb, making the jungle locations look like the kind of place nobody would ever want to visit for a holiday.  As I said above, bits of animal stuff have been removed, and the action around them slowed a little to make up for it, meaning you can't go by the running time of this one if you're a completist.

Extras include a new interview with the late director. If you've seen any previous interviews with him (NIGHTMARE CITY comes to mind) you'll know what you're in for. If not, be prepared for a certain skewed take on his own work. There's also a new interview with star Giovanni Lombardo Radice. Again, if you've seen him interviewed about this film before you'll be prepared. If not - be prepared!

Sadly we don't get the infamous Lenzi / Radice commentary tracks offered on region 1 / A discs that offer widely differing accounts of the production. But you do get a photo gallery and a free customised vomit bag in the package. There's also one of those restoration comparisons to show you just how much Shameless have cleaned this one up, if that's a phrase one can sensibly use with a film like this.

The sleazy kind of wonderful that is Umberto Lenzi's CANNIBAL FEROX is out on UK Blu-ray from Shameless on Monday 30th July 2018