It's impossible to talk about Cannibal Holocaust without mentioning The Blair Witch Project. Blair Witch is (wrongly) labelled as 'inventing' the 'found footage' genre, when, in fact it simply 'rebooted' it. Cannibal Holocaust did it almost twenty years previous.

We hear at the beginning how four young film-makers travelled deep into the jungle, only to never be heard from again. A professor, curious as to their fate, retraces their path and finds their footage. What you have here is two stories in one. You have the more 'traditional' Hollywood story-telling of the professor talking to TV executives about showing the found footage on network television and the footage which was retrieved from the jungles (first person, ala Blair Witch).

I only got to see the edited UK version of this film, but the footage, both from the professor who follows them and the film-makers themselves remains as shocking today as it was at the time. Cannibal Holocaust was banned at the time of release and even had claims of being a 'stuff' film (i.e. one where real people are killed on camera). This maybe untrue, but viewers should be warned that, although the people who die are all just covered in fake blood and prosthetics, REAL animals were killed for the making of the film. Those with strong views on this may wish to steer clear.

However, the animal cruelty is only fleeting. What you have are pretty strong scenes of torture which make the Hostel franchise seem tame in comparison. The footage, being shot in the eighties and on 'non professional' cameras, gives the film a deliberately 'raw' feel about it which even the Blair Witch Project can't even match. Plus you have the music which is both creepy and tranquil at the same time.

As you have probably guessed, the film-makers (on film) meet a grisly end at the hands (and teeth, obviously) of the cannibals in the jungle. Although, where we probably felt sorry for those behind the camera in Blair Witch and other such films, here the film-makers were pretty horrible. Some may see that they got what they deserved.

It's hard to 'enjoy' this film in a traditional viewing sense. Yet it remains a deserved lynchpin in the horror genre's history.

Bottom line: for those with strong stomachs ONLY.

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Now if you are an animal lover - why are you here? Believe me you don't want to see this! You won't even mind for why animals were abused in this. Mostly the animals killed here (yes they actually did that!),were for food. So while especially the scene with the shelled "friend" seems like torture, it is not something that is not happening to other animals most of us eat daily.

I'm just trying to give you a perspective so you won't feel like a hypocrite after you say certain things. Not to excuse what is being depicted in this. And while that may sound like a weird warning to a cannibal movie (and no human was harmed in the making of this - at least not in a deadly way),but it is important to note such things, so you are fully informed when it comes to deciding if you want to watch this or not.

The other thing is the movie became infamous and Ruggero knew what he was doing. Nowadays this is almost unthinkable. Apart from Blair Witch Project, where the filmmaker apparently never had seen this, otherwise he wouldn't have made his movie which changed the landscape ... but this one changed a lot of things too. While the movie pretended that its actors were dead (told them not to involve themselves in other projects after this was finished),the filmmaker got into legal trouble, because people believed this was completely real. The real animal torture killing and the overall realistic looking effects did the rest ... especially one impaling scene! Ruggero has since explained how he did (quite "easy" faked),but still many are awed by how it looks.

So to summarize, this is depraved, this is dirty, this is appaling and this will make many sick to their stomach ... mission accomplished

The director Alan Yates (Gabriel Yorke) and his crew, formed by Faye Daniels (Francesca Ciardi),Jack Anders (Perry Pirkanen) and Mark Tomaso (Luca Giorgio Barbareschi),head to a rain forest in Amazonas called Green Inferno to shoot a documentary about the primitive tribes of cannibals that live in the area. They vanish and the American anthropologist Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) travels to the area with the experienced guide Chaco Losojos (Salvatore Basile) and his assistant Miguel to seek the team out. The trio is received first by the Yacumo tribe of warriors and then they approach to the wild Yamamomo that is in a permanent war against the Shamatari. They find the remains of the documentary team and their reels, and they successfully negotiate with the savages. Back in New York, Professor Monroe watches the disturbing footage and discovers the fate of the team.

I finally have had the chance to watch "Cannibal Holocaust" and I found it an extremely realistic, disturbing, cruel and sick. The movie is so realistic that gives the sensation of a documentary; disturbing because of the unpleasant and gruesome subject – cannibalism; cruel with the animals – the turtle, the pig, the monkey; and sick since the abnormal behavior of Alan Yates and his crew is mentally ill and nauseating. The bold director Ruggero Deodato depicts an explicit violence that Hollywood would never dare show. The make-up and choreography are impressive, but this movie is recommended only for specific audiences – sensitive people must not watch. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available