Cannibal Ferox
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Cannibal Ferox (1981), also known as Make Them Die Slowly, is an Italian exploitation film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi.
Upon its release, the film made claims to being "The most violent film ever made". Claims were also made in promotional material that Cannibal Ferox was banned in 31 countries, though the official list of countries that have banned it has never been released (also, many countries that originally banned the film have since lifted the bans).
Plot
The film is in the mold of a survivalist adventure yarn set in the Amazon jungle, with set-pieces including animal mutilation, eye-gouging, castration, cannibalism (as the title suggests), and a live and screaming female victim impaled through both breasts by suspended iron hooks, identical to the ritual Richard Harris' character endured in A Man Called Horse. John Morghen (AKA Giovanni Lombardo Radice) stars as a drug-crazed, womanizing lout, and porn star Robert Kerman turns up as a world-weary New York detective.
Cannibal Ferox was released uncut on video in The United Kingdom circa 1982 by Replay, but the film's transgressive imagery prompted it to be quickly banned under the Obscene Publications Act, finding itself languishing for years on the video nasties list. The most complete version currently available on DVD in the UK is missing around six minutes of footage.
Behind the scenes
- In an interview on the old Living-Dead.com horror site, Giovanni Lombardo Radice stated that he wished he had never portrayed Mike Logan in Cannibal Ferox.
- A pig was actually killed, as was also confessed by Radice. He explained further into the Living-Dead interview that he somehow avenged the pig by almost cutting off the 'killer of the pig's' hand because he refused to kill it himself. This happened in the scene as we see it on screen, as Lombardo Radice's job was to somehow hold a bowl under or above the knife. Pressure was applied and the force thereof almost sliced off the stage-hand's hand.
- During an audio commentary track for the film's DVD release, director Lenzi gently ribs actor Radice for not killing the pig. "Robert DeNiro would have done it", says Lenzi, to which Radice replies "Robert DeNiro would have told you to fuck off".
- In Australia this film was titled Woman From Deep River as one of the director's previous films was titled The Man From Deep River in Australia.
- The character Lt. Rizzo, portrayed by Robert Kerman, wears a suit and tie identical to the costume worn in Kermans' previous role in Cannibal Holocaust.
See also
