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glennperry
Reviews
Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977)
Last Cannibal World... A Jungle Nightmare
I got this film as part of the The Shriek Show Presents: Jungle of Horrors DVD box-set, which includes Eaten Alive & Massacre in Dinosaur Valley. All uncut versions & for £9 quid a bargain. I'd never seen Last Cannibal World before (called Jungle Holocaust on the cover... who knows why?, as the credits call it the former) and I was shocked & surprised at how violent, sick but ultimately great it was. I thought the acting was actually quite good and believable. The actual DVD print was nicely presented and the sound also. To be honest I really was expecting a low budget Cannibal Ferox (if thats possible) but for me this is far superior than Ferox with its plausible plot, gory effects and almost great acting by the lead, Massimo Foschi. Me Me Lai is very cute too. I knew buying this was worth it from the gory 'piranha eating leg scene' and the rest didn't disappoint. If though you are appalled by animal cruelty then DON'T watch this as it probably the worst you're gonna see. The slicing up of a poor alligator is particularly nasty. The director makes a big point in his interview that these animal scenes were the producer's doing for 'realism' and he and Massimo fought to get them removed, obviously will no success. This uncut version is the only version I've seen so I assume the cut version is a lot shorter as the alligator scene in particular is quite a long torturous affair. Hell, even I'd have the fast forward that section when I watch it again. This film has been described as "just utterly depressing to experience in the realisation that the viewer has wasted virtually 90-minutes of an all-to-short life. The film is abysmally acted, ridiculously penned, dismally helmed and utterly dire, without redeeming features - much the way it portrays it's native characters." Its a cheap made Italian nasty, what do you expect ? this ain't never gonna win any prizes. It was made to shock, pure n simple. Its 'redeeming feature' is just that 'shock' and in my opinion it certainly does that, with great style.
Antropophagus (1980)
Anthropophagus... a video letdown
Anthropophagus - The Grim Reaper ? Its grim alright. What a disaster this film is. This is a prime example of hype gone mad. I waited for this so called video nasty gem for ages in its uncut form but what a waste of time & money. Its awful. Not awful in an old bad acting video nasty way but plain awful in every way. I'm a massive horror fan, especially the nasties and this doesn't come into either category. One bit of gore at the beginning when a dozy guy gets a meat cleaver in his head (how exactly his brains start coming out I'll never know) then (a big mistake) the director puts a long winded 'plot' into his film ?? 45 mins of nothing. The acting to be fair isn't that bad but the dubbing is as usual awful. The actual monster when you finally see him looks like he feel asleep into his bowl of porridge and didn't bother wiping it off... I thought the film would be saved with the ending gore but nope, afraid not. The bit where he kills a pregnant woman and eats her foetus is over hyped. You hardly see anything. Sticks his hand up her dress while she lays on the ground and pulls out a red bag and puts it to his mouth. This was probably shocking 15 years ago but i've seen worse being served up in my local kebab takeaway. Actually, the owner looks like the monster too. A girl gets pulled through a roof with plenty of blood but again, doesn't look real because its too close up. The monster finally gets stabbed and begins eating his own intestines. Believe me I know how he feels as I felt like doing it also after watching this. The actual print of the film is quite good but the sound is very bad. I kept having to turn it up just to hear what they're saying. You know the films in trouble when the extras are better than the film, right ?!! A long documentary (65 mins) about the director which I thought was very fascinating & the usual Trailers then a Zora Kerova & George Eastman (he played the monster) public appearance thing (11 mins), which was quite good also. As you can probably tell I wouldn't recommend the film.