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| Gangsta |
On the boat |
Take this...animal |
I don't know why I got this film. Maybe I just chickend out of Cannibal Holocaust; although I can't find it in a
reasonable price range on eBay. I've kicked my eBay habit anyway. Having no money helps a bit, but the bidding
wars get to be a pain to keep after. You have to be there at the instant the auction closes to guarentee getting
it, or someone else will have plenty of time to snag it from you. But enough about eBay; I didn't even buy it via
them anyway. This is some second generation at least, that I got for $4. It's on DVD now, but I don't think I care
enough to spend money that I don't have on it.
Once the king of all cannibal moives, Cannibal Holocaust came out in '78, everyone ran out to make their own.
'Everyone' happened to be only Italian people, but the movie was banned in every other country so the span of
influence was short ranged. The only other clone I've seen is Slave of the Cannibal God, which was pretty much
the same except it had an evil midget cannibal, who's brains fell out at the end from falling down. Once I get
a DVD-rom, or someway of capping from DVD's, I can get that up here. It was sorta dumb though.
On to this movie. Some girl is doing her thesis on proving that cannibals don't exist. For the most part they
don't, but just her luck, things change just in time for her arrival. She's got to be pretty dedicated to travel
all the way down there just for a degree. As lazy as I am, I'll be content with knowing that I don't have the
willpower to risk life and limb for educations's sake. Plus how do you determine something doesn't exist just by
poking around the first area of the jungle you happen to crash into. I don't know, but I'm not getting a degree
in anti-cannibalism.
But before this there's a rumble in New York where some guy named Mike is missing and his homey who just returned
from the hospital gets shot because Mike stole a lot of money. Done with that
The girl, her brother and her friend all arrive in Brazil to set off for their expedition. After getting some
guidance from the locals. They take a boat out to the jungle. Some guy grabs a butterfly and eats it in front
of them, and another woman gives them some furry animal for good luck, I assume.
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| One ugly dude |
It's Mike |
Stock Footage |
Once there, they all hop on a jeep and promptly get stuck in the mud. They push themselves out and flip a coin
to determine whether or not to go on. It lands on heads, so they push forward and get stuck in more mud. So they
give up and keep moving on foot. They find a real ugly dude just sitting there eating some sort of larvae,
totally oblivious to the people around him.
They call in a night and go to sleep. The next morning their furry animal gets attacked by a snake and they
just stand there and watch. They didn't attempt to save it, but I bet they felt bad. After soem more random poking
around, they find two natives dead, after seemingly getting caught on some traps. Two other guys pop out of the
bushes, one limping and the other with a grimacing face.
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| Tied up at the moment |
Getting out of the pit |
Mike's homey is sick |
Turns out this is Mike from the beginning of the movie. He talks about how some cannibals attacked him and his
homey. The horror. They decide to help each other out. After another night's sleep, the thesis girl is missing.
They split into two teams and go out to find her. The thesis girl's brother and Mike's partner find a village
with old native and seom dead bodies lying around. The old people don't seem too responsive to the newcomers and
just sort of sit there and stare. Mike discovers thesis girl first in a pit with a pig. He jumps in and
stabs the pig, and if you've seen Survivor 2, it's about as shocking, and just as real.
So at this point we've had 3 animal killings, but no cannibals. Once the group gets back together, they camp
out in the village. Mike goes off to torture villagers while his partner tells thesis girl and her brother the
real story behind the cannibals. In reality, there were no cannibals (yet). Mike had stolen some money in New
York from gang members who are not very happy, and traveled to Brazil to escape. There they met a local who
promised some jewels, and Mike made him and the villigars he led them to, sift through the river to find more.
When there wasn't any more, Mike got too much cocaine in his system and went on a rampage. This destruction caused
the natives to rebel and chase Mike and company out, where they met the thesis girl and her friends.
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| Bloody cannibals |
Mike venting |
The irrelevent tour guide |
Mike's partner gets sick and eventually dies. But before that, we move back to New York where the police pull
a tour guide off her shift and question her about Mike. She doesn't know much, so we go back to the jungle.
Okay, now, Mike's partner dies. Thesis girl and her brother wande arond and find out the Mike and the other girl
have left and take all the supplies. Even the credit cards, which seem to be the biggest worry right now. They walk
back outside and see 3 natives walk into the village, so they hide. Now these natives are the healthy males, while
the ones they've seen before were only the elderly. The natives find Mike's homey all dead inside, so they drag
him out of the hut and cut him open, then enjoy tasty guts.
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| Hiding from the natives |
Trapped in a cage |
70's style action |
They run away from this horrid mess, but dopn't get far before they are surrounded by natives with pointy sticks.
They get dragged back to the village where they meet Mike and the other girl being dragged back as well. Everyone
except Mike is put in a big wooden cage. Mike receives various forms of torture similar to what he did to the
natives he tortured.
But that's boring, so back to New York where the tour guide is roaming around a park and two gangsta's hassle her
because she knew Mike, and they're gonna bust some caps. But luckily the cops have been following the woman and chase
away the bad guys.
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| Boat rides, sweet |
Evil fish |
Silly Brazilian guy |
Over night, they hear screams from Mike, who is having his wounds burnt shutso he'll stay alive longer. Then they
get a complimentary boat ride to some other village. Thesis girl and her brother plot a scheme where they will
distract and run. The brother gets away but trips and then gets his leg eaten by a fish. He jumps out of the water
and tries to plead with the natives, but nooo, they shoot him. Back at the village, they put Mike in an underground
pit and the girls in a carved out hill. They begin to sing and annoy everyone, so they pass down some guts, but of
course they don't want that.
Now more, subplots involving tour guides and NYPD that go all the way to Brazil to track a guy who stole money
from gangsters. Dedicated people, they are. First research papers, then police work. No wonder the 90's are so
unproductive, people won't go to Brazil for the little things. Anyway, I don't know what happens here. I think they
talk to the police guy from the beginning of the movie about Mike. Then that's over.
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| Mike, help us |
No escape |
I give you this subplot |
One of the native boys who was saved from Mike earlier in the movie tries to help the girls out, but mike escapes,
chases the boy away, and cuts the rope that would allow the girls to escape. What a stinker. He runs away and tries
to flag down the sea-plane that's being driven by the New York tour guide and police guy. But after no luck, he
is recaptured by the cannibals and his hand is chopped off, then dragged back to the village.
Thesis girl's friend is then taken out of the cave and is killed off in a disturbing way, which I won't tell you
about. The tour guide lands the plane and finds the jeep that was stuck in the mud. Some native gives her clues to
the whereabouts of the rest of the people, but this never ends up helping.
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| Brain appetizers |
Whoops |
Cheer up, you got your degree |
Mike gets his head placed in a cutting board and his head is chopped off. The top part anyway; then they eat
his brains. Thesis girl, later that night, is helped by the native boy, and they escape. but he trips on something
and gets stabbed by some spikes. Later some random fishermen find thesis girl and she gets her degree.
They all live happily ever after.
Well, what you have here is a movie about guts, eating guts and killing animals to make a movie. PETA would
not be pleased if this movie came out today, and soccor mom's would protest. This got banned in many countries,
like 31-33 or something. It can be a bit shocking to see and is pretty raw. The animal parts are by far the worst,
although after the discovery channel and the health channel, the blood and animal vs animal footage is pretty much
the same.
What do others think:
Teleport-City - Liked it
HorrorDVD - Review of the DVD format
Jax Film Journal - Brief synopsis
Aylmer's Grisly Grimy Page - Enjoyable
More General Info
IMDB listing
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