Written and Edited By: Grave Review Staff
Film Information
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Producer: Mino Loy, Luciano Martino
Screenwriter: Umberto Lenzi
Date Released: 24 April 1981
Cast:
Giovanni Lombardo Radice as Mike Logan
Frank von Kuegelgen as Mike Logan
Lorraine De Selle as Gloria Davis
Danilo Mattei (as Bryan Redford) as Rudy Davis
Zora Kerova (as Zora Kerowa) as Pat Johnson
Walter Lucchini (as Walter Lloyd) as Joe Costolani
Robert Kerman as Lt. Rizzo
Rating = 2/5 graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Gloria is a dissertation student who travels into the Amazonian forest to disprove the theory that cannibalism exists. Accompanied by her friends and brother, their vehicle breaks down on their way to visit a tribal village. Forced to continue on foot, they come into contact with members of the tribe only to soon fall victim and become captured and tortured. The group must try to escape the grasp of this cannibalistic tribe.
The Gore Factor
Cannibal Ferox (1981) is a brutal film with multiple torture and demonic scenes. Given that tribal members are cannibals in this film, the viewer will be subject to scenes that involve stomachs being cut open and other body parts being severed only to be eaten. There is also one notable scene that shows a hook being placed through the woman’s boobs and hung from her skin. Anyone up for some freshly cut testacles? These are only some of the disturbing scenes that are involved in this film.
It should be noted that some animals are killed in this film as well. Most notably, both a turtle and an alligator are cut up and killed to then be eaten by the tribe members. Another scene involves a possible badger being suffocated and killed by a snake. These scenes certainly look real even if they are fake.
The Grave Review
Cannibal Ferox is one of many cannibal films that came out around the late 1970s aand early 1980s. The storyline is always generally the same whereby a group of people venture into the wild to then encounter a tribal group that has cannibalistic tendencies. However, in Cannibal Ferox (1981), there is one aspect of the film that had no relevance to the main storyline. In the beginning of the film, two mob men are searching for one member, Mike, who resided in New York and as a result, the mob members kill one of his friends as a result. This murder sparks an investigation by the police to locate Mike and the mobsters. However there was no relevance to placing this in the storyline. As such, some of the scenes like the one mentioned above did not add value to the storyline as a whole.
In addition, the film felt sluggish in some parts and could have been faster paced. For example, there are numerous transitional scenes that involve walking from one place to another or other unnecessary scenes.
Overall, Cannibal Ferox is worth the watch but there are other cannibal films which may be a little better. For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Cannibal Ferox (1981) two graves out of five graves.
Do you agree with our review? Comment below.
You may also like our review of the film, Cannibal Holocaust.
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