WHITE OF THE EYE

Starring: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty, Art Evans
Writers: China Cammell, Donald Cammell
Director: Donald Cammell

*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

Around the area of Globe in Arizona, wealthy women are being murdered and the prime suspect appears to be hi-fi expert Paul White (Keith) who makes a living installing bespoke sound systems for rich clients. As the investigation into the killings continues, Paul's wife Joan (Moriarty) begins to question just how much she really knows her husband...

With a stylish, dazzlingly shot opening murder sequence and a Mahler-loving detective (Evans) on the case, White Of The Eye instantly sets itself up as a whodunit and then almost immediately heads in the opposite direction, delving into the relationship between Paul and Joan and flashing back to exactly how their paths crossed, a time when everyone was in 70s threads, Joan was driving across country with snazzily-jacketed Mike (Alan Rosenberg) and Paul was sporting the world's most spectacular mullet.

At this point, anyone tuning in for a high body count and rivers of gore is going to wonder what the hell is going on and the bulk of the first hour plays out more like a particularly off-beat family drama as the Whites do their best to raise daughter Danielle in the right way and the main threat to their domestic bliss doesn't seem to be an ever-tightening police net but the town's ultimate bored, rich housewife Ann Mason (a disturbingly detached Alberta Watson) who has her sights on Paul.

It's the refusal to stick to the expected template of the serial killer movie which makes White Of The Eye so intriguing. The police investigation runs throughout the movie but the film's unconcerned with the mechanics of that procedure and doesn't really focus on generating much in terms of suspense, even if it does throw in a red herring or two from time to time. Neither does it concentrate especially hard on getting to grips with the "why" much beyond one specific scene in which the killer describes their experience of committing murder.

No, this movie has a unique take on familiar themes and if you don't like how it's going about its business it's not going to meet you in the middle. It isn't even going to take so much as a step towards you. You're going to have to do the work here and if you can tap into its skewed world view then there's a lot to enjoy. if not, this is possibly going to be the longest 111 minutes of your life.

The performances are generally excellent, even if there's an argument that Keith's character seems to be something of a nutjob from the moment we first meet him. Cathy Moriarty is brilliant to watch as usual - Joan is smart, sassy and a real match for those around her. Evans (who you might recognise from more commercial fare such as Die Hard 2) brings a pleasingly three-dimensional portrayal to what could have been a standard quirky investigator role and Rosenberg is impressive as the "before" and "after" version of Mike.

If you even take so much as a cursory glance at Donald Cammell's directorial outings previous to this - Performance (co-directed with Nicolas Roeg) and Demon Seed - these point to a creative talent with absolutely no interest in convention. This holds true for White Of The Eye, contrasting the banality of small town life with the sensationalism of violent, gruesome murders but viewing them through its own eccentrically-crafted filter.

The final act is both disconcerting and absolutely bonkers as Paul totally cracks, becoming a genuine threat to the lives of both Joan and Danielle. It's also time for Mike to make a significant re-appearance, leading to an explosive (in all senses of the word) climax. Even this doesn't quite play out as it would in other serial killer flicks, with the complicated dynamic between the principal characters coming to the fore.

And after all of this, White Of The Eye still has one final slice of oddness to serve up, wrapping up with a strange, almost throwaway scene in a diner which ends on a mundane but at the same time bizarre exchange of dialogue, leading the viewer into the credits with a distinct feeling of "Huh?".

It would be easy to give up on this movie early on and its oblique approach doesn't help but this is not a film which is keen to win you over. This is a singular vision from an artist who made films his way and the very fact that this is such a unique experience should give you all the impetus you need to seek this out and soak up the authentic strangeness within.

Tragically, Cammell took his own life in 1996 shortly after completing his next film Wild Side, a troubled shoot which resulted in a movie which was drastically recut by its producers who disliked the original version. Donald Cammell left a legacy of just four feature films shot over twenty-five years but every one of them is worth your time. White Of The Eye is a fine example of the Cammell experience: weird, exasperating, beautiful, sometimes impenetrable but ultimately unforgettable. And we should all be grateful that it exists.

UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB (SCREENING 1)

Starring: Colin Woodell, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel

Writer: Stephen Susco

Director: Stephen Susco

I don't think I can review this film properly until I've seen a screening of it in which at least most of those who are supposedly watching it aren't talking through most of its running time. So let's review the behaviour of the audience instead.

Okay, so we get the opening bit, in which various passwords are tried on a start-up screen.

"He's trying passwords."

"Heh heh. Password."

"Heh heh. Password. In upper case."

"Heh heh. Did you see what he just typed?" (It was something rude)

At this point I get two teenagers talking about nothing to do with the movie, just for balance.

Then we get the two guys towards the back of the cinema, who seem to be trying material out for their MST3K-style comedy act. It starts badly. No one laughs except them.

A Messenger window appears on screen. Someone reads the entire text of the conversation aloud. The person next to them asks how they can see the text as it's quite small.

There's some text in French. Someone says they can't understand it. Someone else asks whether or not it's in French. Someone else asks how we're supposed to know what it means. I wait to see if the guy uses Google Translate. He does. There's a hush as the words reveal themselves in English. It's like the audience has discovered fire. Maybe this is the point where everyone finally shuts the hell up.

The hush lasts about another five seconds.

The comedy guys give it another shot but there's nothing much happening on screen and it falls flat once again. Timing is everything.

Video files are discovered on the computer and played. It's reasonably obvious what's going on in most of them but there's a very audible "What's going on?" from one of our fellow viewers.

There's a Skype conversation with a deaf girl and the possibility of an intruder in her place. A voice says "Why doesn't she know he's there?" I feel myself getting more stupid by osmosis.

Someone is shown two people and given a choice of who lives and dies. Reaction: "Why's she crying?"

And so it goes on. And on. And on.

"Who's that girl?" "Isn't she from earlier?" "When?" "Isn't she the girl in the video?" "Which video?"

"He's going to die." "Yeah, he's going to die." "He's going to die."

The comedy guys get louder, but no funnier.

Someone falls from the roof of a building and is seen next face down on the pavement in a pool of blood. The unsolicited announcement which follows is "They're dead". I'm glad they pointed that out as the fate of the character seemed pretty ambiguous to me. Oh no, hold on, they fell from the roof of a building and they're now face down in a pool of blood.

The tension in the movie ramps up considerably. Or it would have done had it not been like sitting in a dimly-lit coffee house trying to watch the movie while trying to ignore the conversations of a dozen other people.

CCTV footage plays - you know what's probably coming next, but someone's there to comment loudly upon it anyway, just to batter any last, tiny iota of suspense out of the sequence.

Two people leave when they think the movie is over, strolling past most of the audience then in front of the screen and out of the door, meaning they miss the final reveal. Clue: it was still pitch black in the cinema, they'll raise the lights when the flick is actually done.

The comedy guys give it one last shot as the credits roll, but yet again their banter doesn't land. The two teenagers continue to babble on as they leave the auditorium, having now managed to chatter continuously since the ads began without pausing for breath.

The credits roll. Someone near me says it was a terrible film, which is amazing considering they spent most of it looking at their phone (thanks for lighting up the surrounding area, it was very considerate of you). I make my way out of the place, passing a guy a few rows from the front. He looks fed up and seems to be shaking his head at the rest of us.

Hey, I felt your pain and at that point I was slightly ashamed of the fact I didn't stand up and say something early on in the film but how do you get a whole bunch of people to be quiet when there's just one of you to do it?

I will go to see this again and I hope to be able to review the film itself next time. At far as this screening goes, I'd like to thank those around me tonight for making it such a wretched, frustrating experience. I'd suggest to them how they'd feel if someone sat next to them and constantly disrupted their enjoyment of something they liked but with such short attention spans I don't think it would make any difference to them.

If I want to talk to someone for 90 minutes, I go for a coffee with them, maybe have dinner. I don't sit in a cinema. Call me old-fashioned. Also, call me very pissed off for having my night at the flicks spoiled. End of message.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames

Writer: Christopher McQuarrie

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

The latest movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise sees Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and the IMF team on the trail of three missing plutonium cores which some very bad guys intend to use in nuclear bombs. In addition to the usual team, buff, perma-scowly CIA agent Walker (Cavill) is also along for the ride.

Hunt's path will also cross not only with that of old foe Solomon Kane (Sean Harris) but also on/off MI6 agent - and cool, classy kicker of arse - Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). What do these two have to do with the plot? I think I know, having watched it, but to quote some dialogue directly from the movie it's "f***ing complicated".

Opening with the classic self-destroying message being delivered to Hunt, MI: Fallout then takes off at a fair old clip and somehow manages to pick up the pace from there, delivering turn upon twist upon double cross upon betrayal as it races from location to location courtesy of a series of dizzying and ever more frantic action set-pieces.

The fact that the movie almost never stops for breath means that you rarely have time to process the quite frankly bonkers plot. Even when Hunt stops off for a drink with shady arms dealer White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) it soon turns into a punch-up. You get the feeling that Ethan Hunt doesn't even get any peace when he goes to the bathroom.

Actually, he doesn't get any peace when he goes to the bathroom as there's a fight in there too which destroys most of the place. You get the feeling that the best thing for Ethan Hunt to do would be to get on his motorbike and take a leisurely ride around the streets of a European city.

Except that the European city is Paris and he's just hijacked a convoy which was transporting a very, very bad guy and now he's getting chased by what seems to be half of the police force there. Oh, and he's going the wrong way around the roundabout at the Arc De Triomphe. What he needs is to see the world from the air, away from all of that chaos on the ground.

Except that he's got himself aboard a helicopter which is chasing another helicopter because on the other helicopter is...I think you get the idea now.

If you saw Mad Max: Fury Road, do you remember just how much action was in it? We're talking those levels here and most of it centres on Cruise in all of his HALO jumping, running, climbing, driving, riding, shooting and thumping glory. It's absolutely bloody exhausting just watching him go about his work.

So, as an action flick this is chock-full of the stuff and there are very few chances to catch your breath even though this is the longest Mission: Impossible film, clocking in at a bum-numbing 147 minutes. In fact, there's so much that there is a slight risk of fatigue setting in. However, Fallout routinely outdoes itself in terms of eye-saucering stunts and, for good measure, throws in a climatic race against the clock where the stakes suddenly become even higher for Hunt.

Yes, it's Cruise's movie but the supporting cast generally get their own moments in the spotlight, even if there's never enough of Ving Rhames. Rebecca Ferguson, so good in Rogue Nation, makes a welcome return to the fold, kicking some serious arse in the process. Simon Pegg has the reluctant geek-turned-field op routine down pat and Cavill makes an impact, both figuratively and literally. The scene where he and Cruise attempt to capture a bad guy in a rather posh (for about 20 seconds) bathroom is a hyper-kinetic, bruising encounter and would be the highlight of most other movies but in this film it's just one of half a dozen sequences vying for that title.

I now feel sorry for any action movie that's released from this point onwards - and that includes the next chapter of this franchise - as it'll almost certainly be judged against this one. For now, choose to accept this mission. This review will self-destruct in five seconds...

4...
3...
2...
1...

....nah, it won't.

HOTEL ARTEMIS

Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella
Writer: Drew Pearce
Director: Drew Pearce

*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ***


In the wake of a bank heist that's gone spectacularly wrong, career criminal Brown hauls his injured self and his even more shot-up brother to the titular hotel where a no-nonsense Nurse (Foster) runs an emergency healthcare centre for those who can't get patched up in a normal hospital without being arrested. The rules of the place? No real names, no guns, no cops and no killing the other patients.

So, period of convalescence, slip out without being noticed by the cops, right? Well, as you'd expect, there are complications. For starters, there's a riot going on in the city and it's edging ever closer to the hotel. Brown's brother needs a 3D-printed replacement liver which may or may not take.

There's a beautiful, deadly assassin (Boutella) with whom Brown has a certain amount of history. There's an arms dealer (played by Charlie Day) whose M.O. is to be a monumental pain in the arse. There's a seriously wounded crime boss on his way in and he's going to cause trouble for absolutely everyone, one way or another.

If you saw the trailer for Hotel Artemis before seeing the movie you'd be forgiven for thinking it would be 94 minutes of breathless, blazing action and to be fair there are effective bursts of the slam-bang stuff, a corridor-set scrap between Boutella and multiple assailants being a highlight. However, it's more of a character-led thriller as our various ne-er-do-wells converge, crack wise and criss-cross each other in a plot that conveniently connects them all without feeling overly forced.

Another thing the trailer arguably teases is a lot more of Jeff Goldblum and Zachary Quinto than you end up getting. Their appearances in this amount to little more than extended cameos, which will inevitably leave some viewers feeling a little short-changed. Goldblum is typically great, though, his trademark laconic delivery laced with real menace. Quinto, as Goldblum's hot-headed son, isn't given enough to work with but still manages to make his mark.

Action fans may be disappointed, sure, and the movie certainly wears a few crime movie tropes on its sleeve - for instance, the characters are given code names based upon the room they're staying in, Brown being given the handle "Waikiki" - but its the back and forth between our anti-heroes which keeps things interesting even if you have that faint feeling of having seen all of this before.

Of course, Hotel Artemis' trump card is having Jodie Foster front and centre amidst the escalating chaos and unsurprisingly she commands the film, dishing out spiky banter to all and sundry, including fellow healthcare professional Dave Bautista. The exchanges between them are amusingly grouchy and yet there's real warmth under the surface as they fight to save their patients and ultimately both themselves and the Artemis.

It may be interesting to know why Foster chose this particular movie as her return to the screen after several years away but to be honest I'm not especially interested in the whys and wherefores, it's just good to see her back. Hotel Artemis is far from perfect and there are points during the story where the proceedings seem to be treading water a tad too much but this is Jodie's movie and she reminds us of how terrific a performer she is, playing a troubled, careworn soul who pulls the viewer into her plight and doesn't let go. She's so good that even the odd clunky line is given resonance and heart.

Elsewhere, Brown is engaging as the default "hero" of the piece and it's good to see that the script resists the temptation to turn him into an irresistible force in the story's climax, staying consistent to the character as he relies on his smarts above firepower as he tries to make it out alive. It's Boutella who is by far the most dangerous here, serving up a smart, seductive slayer who could easily kill you with a piece of a broken coffee cup.

The ending manages somehow to be both messy and a little too neat at the same time (you'll have to watch this to see what I mean) as the various plot strands are yanked together to create even more conflict, leading to one potentially fascinating set of "what happened next?" questions which are suddenly ditched as the story throws in one last twist. 

For me, this did make matters slightly less interesting but this final turn is more of an audience pleaser so it would be churlish of me to gripe about it too much. There's also a hint of a particular character's hitherto unknown fate during a brief sequence which cuts into the closing credits.

Hotel Artemis, as a film, is a reflection of its characters, setting itself up as one thing and then revealing something quite different. Anyone expecting a bullet ballet and nothing may leave frustrated but its quirks and accomplished cast won me over. It may not be getting the highest ratings on Trip Advisor but the stay was certainly interesting and it's worth checking in to if only to see Jodie Foster on top form.

SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH INTO...

CANNIBAL MOVIES

*** THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS AND GRAPHIC CONTENT ***

If you were around in the 1980s and remember the media frenzy which surrounded the films which were deemed "video nasties", chances are that you'd have seen the front cover of Cannibal Holocaust in print and on television. This infamous example of pre-cert video artwork - featuring a primitive tribesman tucking greedily into the entrails of some poor unfortunate - was the literal poster child for those who were all too ready to voice their disgust at those sick, depraved pieces of work masquerading as entertainment.

The video nasties may not have had the corrupting effect on society which was predicted by some but they certainly upset the wrong people. Of the nasties, the cannibal movies were always going to be the most problematic, often featuring animal cruelty and sexual violence in addition to the extreme gore on display. The lurid packaging, as demonstrated above, didn't particularly help their cause either.

These films evolved from the "Mondo" documentaries, which featured graphic depictions of sensational and taboo subjects. The first of these was Mondo Cane (rough translation: A Dog's World), a 1962 production which featured archive footage of cults, strange rituals and violent scenes involving animals. The footage was said to have been assembled from archive material but rumours persisted with regard to just how much of it had been staged.

Nevertheless, it was successful enough to spawn Women Of The World a year later, which used some of the out-takes from Mondo Cane as its basis. Three years further on, Africa: Blood And Guts (also known as Africa Addio!) followed, featuring scenes of animal poaching, executions and more tribal customs.

Taking these examples of ghastly, in-your-face reality and giving them a further, fictional twist, the cannibal subgenre rapidly became one of the most controversial and oft-banned examples of exploitation cinema, upsetting folk left, right and centre but also featuring a cinematic innovation which, decades down the line, we'd come to refer to as "found footage".

It could be a bumpy ride, folks, so buckle up as I take you on a whistle-stop tour of the highlights and lowlights, the landmarks and the skidmarks. A world where academics, documentary crews and more than a few idiots venture into uncharted territory and generally wished they hadn't.

Let's begin with the movie which ushered in so much gut-munching but surprisingly it's one that's lighter on the human buffet than you might expect. Despite this, it almost inevitably found itself in trouble with the censors...

DEEP RIVER SAVAGES (1972)

Alternative titles include: Man From Deep River, Sacrifice!

Resembling a jungle-set remake of the western A Man Called Horse more than the OTT celebration of sensibility-shredding violence than would become his trademark in later outings, Umberto Lenzi kicked things off with Ivan Rassimov as a photographer who likes the odd bottle of J&B whisky and whose trip to the rain forest goes south very quickly as his guide turns up very dead indeed and he's captured by a primitive tribe. This won't be the last time you hear about a trip to the rain forest which goes badly wrong in a cannibal movie.

So if Rassimov's captured, surely it won't be too long before he's the main course, right? Actually that's not the case here because these natives don't have a particular taste for Westerners or indeed any flavour of person. Instead he has to endure numerous trials for the entertainment of his captors, which include being hit with sticks quite a lot and in one particularly painful sequence he's used as a human dartboard.

One of the women in the tribe (played by Me Me Lai - you won't have heard the last of this actress) takes a bit of a shine to Rassimov and, as he's gradually accepted into his new environment, romance blossoms between the pair before, as is this genre's wont, tragedy inevitably strikes. If you're looking for unbridled joy, the cannibal movie is very much not the place to find it.

Originally submitted to the BBFC in 1975, it was refused a certificate but then showed up in the early days of the unregulated home entertainment market courtesy of Derann Video where it proceeded to upset various punters who, it's safe to say, hadn't particularly been exposed to this kind of movie making before.

There are scenes of cockfighting - always a no-no for the UK censors, even now - but those turned out to be relatively minor transgressions compared to a protracted sequence showing a fight between a mongoose and a snake, a crocodile being killed, a snake being cut open as part of a fertility rite and, arguably most disconcerting of all, a clearly terrified monkey being restrained and having the top of its head sliced off.

There is cannibalism here but it's introduced in a subplot involving a rival tribe and compared to other movies of the type it's not awash with scenes of intestines being yanked out, although the brief gore shown here probably caused more than a few palpitations at the time of its release.

A sturdy adventure flick with an unexpectedly tender romance which goes some way to offsetting the unpleasantness going on elsewhere, Deep River Savages firmly established the template for the subgenre going forward and its influence can be seen on most of the movies which were to follow.

LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (1977)

Alternative titles include: Cannibal, Jungle Holocaust

At one point, Umberto Lenzi was slated to direct Last Cannibal World but a final agreement could not be reached and in the end the gig went to compatriot Ruggero Deodato, who'd just directed the thriller Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man. Lenzi would eventually return with Eaten Alive! three years later but Ultimo Mondo Cannibale was to give Deodato's career a boost, leading him to bigger, not to mention more infamous, things.

Released in the UK - missing several minutes of its original running time - under the alternative title of Cannibal (see the video cover above from the jungle horror-friendly folks at Derann), Deodato's first foray into the cannibal genre is effective and this is in no small part due to the central performance of Massimo Foschi as Professor Robert Harper, whose plane crashes in the rain forest and who then falls into the clutches of the tribe who dwell there. By the way, this won't be the last plane crash you hear about in a cannibal movie.

One of the women in the tribe (played by Me Me Lai) takes a bit of a shine to Harper and... hold on, hasn't this happened before in another movie? Well, not quite, although Me Me Lai ends up two for two in terms of not making it to the end credits, her demise both imaginative and spectacular as she's killed for assisting the Prof then sliced open and cooked from the inside using hot stones wrapped in leaves.

Ivan Rassimov - the original Man From Deep River - is involved again but he takes a supporting role, playing the professor's travelling companion who disappears early on in the movie following a rafting accident à la Deliverance but then reappears in the final reel as Harper makes a final, desperate bid for freedom.

As in Deep River Savages, the animal cruelty is often played out as major set-pieces. For me, these do little other than slow down the proceedings as a crocodile is gutted and, in the film's most gruelling sequence, a staked-out bat is slowly killed by a snake. This is every bit as abhorrent at it sounds.

The story goes that the animal killings weren't in the original story, it being the producer who shot these scenes afterwards and added them into the movie, much to the consternation of Deodato and Foschi who asked for them to be removed. Of course, there was no way they were going to be cut out (certainly not in the original version), they were left in to maximise its boundary-pushing credentials.

Those revolting moments aside, Last Cannibal World is actually a rather fine, handsomely shot, surprisingly absorbing, often suspenseful effort and the impressive work from its cast lifts it well above most of the other movies I'll be covering. It also paved the way for Deodato's magnum opus, but more of that after...

PRISONER OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (1978)

Alternative titles include: Mountain Of The Cannibal God, Slave Of The Cannibal God

Taking the genre in more of an action adventure direction, Sergio Martino's movie is a more polished product than you might expect in such grungy company. Here, the familiar plot device of the lost expedition gets an early outing as Susan Stevenson (Ursula Andress) enlists the help of Professor Edward Foster (Stacy Keach) in tracking down her missing husband.

As with Deep River Savages, the cannibalism takes a back seat for most of the proceedings and here it's only in the last third when the natives get to chow down and due to the machinations of the plot they're not actually the villains of the piece. It's the supposedly civilised folk who are the bad guys here, looking to exploit the natural resources of the unspoiled wilderness for commercial gain.

If there's something of a lack of human beings on the menu, Martino doesn't skimp on other types of salacious material including the by now de rigeur scenes of animal cruelty which somehow seem even more out of place here considering "name" actors such as Andress and Keach are along for the ride.

To be fair to them they're both incredibly game. Keach is good value as the adventurer who's haunted by previously having to resort to cannibalism to survive (his delivery of the faintly ridiculous line "You don't forget the taste of human flesh!" is particularly enjoyable) but Andress takes the honours, going the extra mile - make that several extra miles - as she disrobes at the drop of a hat, gets smeared with the putrescence of a rotting corpse and is forced to eat...well, you'll find out if you see the movie.

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980)

So here it is, arguably the most infamous, upsetting and controversial of all cannibal films but also the most complex and well made, interspersing a conventional narrative with what we would now call "found footage" as a documentary film crew vanishes without trace in the wilds of New Guinea and an academic is tasked with discovering exactly what happened.

The first half introduces to the crew in flashbacks and touches upon their decidedly dodgy previous work before noted anthropologist Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) retraces the route taken by the missing film-makers in an attempt to uncover more information about their fate. Not only does he make a gruesome discovery, he also locates several reels of film which they'd shot and he brings those back to New York.

The second half of the movie is almost entirely devoted to that footage as Monroe screens it for eager TV network bigwigs - and us. This is where the movie really ramps up, the true nature of the documentary makers coming to the fore as they stage various atrocities for maximum effect, including trapping some of the natives in their huts and burning them down. This sequence is marrow-freezing, terrifying and repugnant and every time I've watched this I'm gripped by a feeling of dread knowing it's about to happen.

With the film crew now completely out of control, it's only a matter of time before the cannibals take their revenge and the final yards of the footage capture this as they continue to film ("We're going to get an Oscar for this!" is heard just after they've seen their friend and colleague castrated, decapitated and disembowelled). The tears in the film stock, the over-exposure of certain sequences and issues with the sound all add to the realism as well as cleverly taking just enough of the focus away from the special effects. It's an overwhelming, sickening climax.

The last film reel runs out on the close-up, bloodied face of the director and the silent reaction of the viewers in the projection room mirrors the silence that I think would have followed at screenings of the movie, certainly the early ones in any case. You - and those on screen who have just watched exactly what you did -  are sitting there, shell shocked, left to deal with it. You may feel you've been sucker punched but there's little to deny that it's also challenging, skilled film-making from a director who plies his trade with assurance.

The disgusted TV network bods order the footage to be destroyed, Monroe walks out of the building on to a bustling New York street and his voice-over closes the movie with a line that's maybe a little too on the nose but still has a great deal of resonance: "I wonder who the real cannibals are".

Because of its extreme content and its place within the horror genre it would be easy to dismiss Cannibal Holocaust as a mere exercise in testing the viewer's limits in terms of gore and depravity but that would be doing it the most enormous disservice as it's a much smarter piece of work that many would wish to give it credit for.

It raises pertinent questions about what and what isn't "real" in terms of what's fed to us on the screen. Arguably, it's even more relevant now in these times of "staged reality" shows and it asks us to question what we consider entertainment, even challenging what you've just seen in the movie. How extreme are the desires of viewers and are producers providing content which is merely feeding into those desires? 

Away from the main bones of contention, it's worth seeking out the Riz Ortolani score which is absolutely gorgeous. In a total contrast to the landscape of human and animal suffering on the screen, the soundtrack could have been lifted straight from a romance. The contrast between the hideous visual content and the gentle score is stark, creating another layer of disquiet.

A true landmark of horror cinema, Cannibal Holocaust is grim, intelligent and perturbing. You may only want to see it once and you may want to look away at various points during the movie but it deserves to be seen. It's a film that's to be experienced rather than enjoyed and it'll definitely push your buttons but you'll also be wanting to talk about it afterwards.


EATEN ALIVE! (1980)

While in Rome for a couple of weeks to complete his work on Cannibal Holocaust, Robert Kerman met with the producers of Eaten Alive! and pretty soon he was heading back into the jungle but this time for Umberto Lenzi who was also returning to his previous stomping ground.

Again, in a similar subplot to that of Deep River Savages, the cannibal elements in this film come courtesy of a neighbouring tribe. The main thrust of the story concerns Sheila Morris - beautiful Swedish actress Janet Agren re-dubbed as a "well gosh I do declare" Southern belle from Alabama - trying to track down her missing sister with the help of J&B swilling rogue Mark Butler (Kerman) and ending up at the mercy of a Jim Jones-like cult headed by the charismatic Jonas (yes, it's that man Ivan Rassimov again).

Also featured here is Me Me Lai as a native who takes a bit of a shine to...hold on, haven't we been here before? Anyway, she assists Kerman in his attempts to break out of the cult's compound and - in a plot development that will surprise almost no one - she ends up three for three in terms of not making it to the end credits. Her demise is also very similar if you happen to have seen Last Cannibal World, mainly because it uses a portion of those gory highlights from that movie.

Not only does this, er, cannibalise that particular scene from Deodato's 1977 entry into the genre, this also replays footage from Lenzi's earlier Deep River Savages including the draining of venom from a snake in order to coat the tips of arrows with its poison and then utilises a sizeable amount of the bloody attack on a native girl. Saves on the budget, I suppose.

Although the cannibal tribe is something of an adjunct to the main action there's still plenty of unlucky types finding they're suddenly missing various bits of themselves and being generally chomped upon. Paola Senatore's character gets a particularly gory death in this one, with lingering close-ups of natives feasting on the bits of her they've cut off.

Of course, there's a disturbing amount of animal violence in the unexpurgated version including a snake killing a monkey, another snake killing a bird, another snake fighting a mongoose, even more snakes being stripped of their skins and eaten by the cannibals (what is it with this movie and snakes?) and the mutilations of a crocodile and an iguana.

It does at least attempt to offset its exploitative elements with some form of plot and a bit of globe-hopping as the action switches back and forth from the jungle to New York where Mel Ferrer makes a "special appearance" as an expert discussing the disappearance of Sheila's sister - and subsequently the disappearance Sheila herself - with a generally incredulous police department.

Disappointingly, having set up Sheila as a potentially no-nonsense heroine who looks to be more than a match for Mark, the story then has her turn into the archetypal damsel in distress who's at the whim of Jonas and his rather bizarre rituals, one of which involves a large dildo dipped in snake blood. She's also there to be slapped around by Mark whenever she gets hysterical, which happens far too often in the last act.

If you can ignore the macho posturing and the incredibly dodgy sexual politics, Eaten Alive! moves at a fair old clip and there are bodies littering the place come the end. It would have really come alive had Agren been kicking ass alongside Kerman, though.


THE DEVIL HUNTER (1980)

It's fair to say that Jess Franco is not a fan of this particular subgenre - he's on record saying how much he hated cannibal movies - but that didn't stop him from contributing a couple of flicks of the type, most likely as a favour to the company which was bankrolling his other films.

Franco shot two cannibal movies for production outfit Eurociné in 1980, this and White Cannibal Queen (also known by a slew of other titles including the straight and to the point Cannibals). In both movies, a blonde girl falls into the clutches of a native tribe. In WCQ it's Al Cliver's daughter, in this one it's model Laura Crawford - played by the striking Ursula Buchfellner. In both movies our rugged protagonist mounts an operation to bring 'em back alive so if you're an Al Cliver rescue plot completist then knock yourself out.

Both movies touch upon many recognisable tropes but at least The Devil Hunter approaches them from an odder angle than most, throwing in a "Devil God" who's worshipped by the natives and who also shows up to snack upon various ill-fated folk. It's a distinctive way of tackling the well-worn template of the cannibal film but unfortunately its elements are thrown together in such a haphazard way that it's ultimately something of an endurance test.

Large chunks of the film are taken up by nothing really happening, people show up and then disappear having not moved the story on one jot, Werner Pochath gets to go full-on, scenery-chewing, batshit crazy and if you do manage to soldier on to the climax, no, you're not hallucinating, that is Al Cliver having a fight with a naked guy who's seven feet tall and has plasticine eyes.

The cannibalism sequences are just as strange, mainly consisting of close-ups of the Devil God chewing on something that doesn't even look like human sacrifice, fresh or otherwise. However, it still upset enough people to land on the Video Nasties list even though the gore is as fake as it comes and there's no animal cruelty featured whatsoever. We're an odd bunch in the UK.

CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)

Alternative titles include: Make Them Die Slowly

It's time for another expedition to the rain forest as anthropologist Gloria (Lorraine De Selle) sets out with a couple of friends on a mission to prove her theory that cannibalism no longer exists. Looking at the title of this movie, what do you think she'll discover in relation to said theory?

With a trailer pointing up just how many acts of cruelty are featured in the movie and the list of countries in which this is banned worn as a badge of honour it's safe to say that Cannibal Ferox is not asking those lingering, troubling questions raised by Cannibal Holocaust. As a matter of fact the only question you may be left with at the end of this is "Why?" after having your face metaphorically rubbed in slaughtered animals and human viscera for an hour and a half.

Still, if it's gore you're looking for then step right up. The 42nd Street title of Make Them Die Slowly really fits the bill here, with Euro horror stalwart John Morghen topping the charts for the most gradual demise. First he gets castrated (his penis becoming an afternoon snack for the tribe's chief), a bit later on he loses a hand and finally he has the top of his head lopped off so the natives can pick at his brains. There are also traces of A Man Called Horse coming back into play as Zora Kerova's character is strung up via hooks through her breasts.

Of course, it wasn't only the special effects that gave Ferox zero chance of getting past the censors uncut on its original, BBFC-approved release (or subsequent releases, for that matter). It also contains several repellent sequences of animal cruelty, starting off with a coati squealing in agony as it's very slowly strangled by a snake. It's thoroughly distressing, utterly vile and, according to Morghen, the Italian crew stopped filming and wouldn't continue until it was taken to safety.

If that wasn't enough, there's a monkey being attacked by a jaguar, a fight between a snake and an iguana, a live turtle having its head and legs chopped off and a crocodile being killed and eaten. Whereas these kinds of events are used in previous movies to demonstrate primitive environments as being red in tooth and claw, here it just seems to be an excuse for cramming in as many nauseating moments as possible.

There's little doubt that this and Cannibal Holocaust are the two most talked-about titles in this arena but for markedly different reasons. Whereas Holocaust is shockingly brutal and possesses a chilling air of verity, Ferox constantly rides the edge of gross/cartoony in its quest for ever more bloodthirsty vignettes and it's so wilfully OTT that it risks becoming nonsensical. However, what frequently brings it down to earth with a bump are the moments where animals are genuinely tortured and killed on screen, giving the movie a sobering edge which it doesn't seem to be striving for over the bulk of its running time.

A couple of Cannibal Holocaust alumni can be found here too, notably Robert Kerman who stays firmly in New York this time as a detective investigating a murder which takes place early in the movie. An uncredited Perry Pirkanen - one of Holocaust's doco crew - also shows up briefly as another nasty piece of work.


CANNIBAL TERROR (1981)

And here's the nadir of the entire cycle, the third cannibal movie made by Eurociné in a very short space of time and somehow the very worst out of the three which is really saying something. Cannibal Terror tries to recreate the Italian formula and manages to fail on absolutely every level. In fact, it probably fails on levels of which we may not be fully aware for years to come. Alain Deruelle - who may or may not be the director of this, the details are confusing to say the least - looks to spin gold out of rubbish but the hoped-for alchemy only results in an even more monumental pile of clag.

Not only is this, in my opinion, the worst cannibal movie ever made (even edging out the aforementioned White Cannibal Queen which takes some doing), this is also a genuine contender for one of the worst movies ever made. The gore is laughably fake, the Spanish countryside locations don't convince in the slightest as "the jungle" and the cannibals themselves are unintentionally hilarious, spending more time dancing to their tribal music than posing any sort of threat to whoever wanders in.

The gore is about as unrealistic as it's possible to be, relying on mannequin limbs with a bit of offal smeared on the end and substituting what looks to be a pig carcass for the odd moment where someone's getting their insides pulled out. Despite the amateur hour effects, it did qualify as a Video Nasty in the UK. If you watch it - and I'm not saying you should - you'll almost certainly be wondering why.

The English language version is sunk even further by an atrocious dubbing job. Almost none of the dialogue is synced up to the lip movements of the actors and just wait for the bit where someone plays an acoustic guitar. The threadbare plot, meanwhile, takes an age to go anywhere and it's a test even for those of us who revel in trash. One thing I can say about Cannibal Terror is that there's no animal cruelty in this one. The cruellest act was foisting this one on to an unsuspecting audience.


AMAZONIA: THE CATHERINE MILES STORY (1984)

Alternative titles include: Cannibal Holocaust 2

Mario Gariazzo's film was given the title Cannibal Holocaust 2 in some territories and the opening title music riffs heavily on Riz Ortolani's beautiful score from Deodato's classic. In actual fact, it's nothing to do with that movie at all and an example of a notorious title being used to drum up interest in a "sequel" that isn't anything of the sort.

It's slightly surprising then that the obvious marketing ploy gives way to a movie that's actually pretty decent, even if it does risk disappointing the fans by featuring absolutely zero cannibalism. That's right, no one gets served up as the chef's special at any point. There's mention of cannibals in the area but you don't get to see them going about their business.

The featured tribe here are headhunters so what you do get to see is a few gory (but not especially convincing) decapitations and some wince-inducing eye trauma via blow darts but the film's more concerned with the story than most of its ilk, weaving in a revenge plot, themes of honour and a gender reverse of Deep River Savages' romantic undercurrents into its familiar trope of "first world inhabitant(s) captured by third world natives".

The framing device - a court case where everything is told in flashback - is clunky and often seems to be there to pad out the running time but overall this is one of the better efforts of its type and it's rather watchable.

CUT AND RUN (1985)

This started out life as a production called Marimba which was being touted at Cannes in 1980 and with none other than Wes Craven slated to direct. Fast forward a few years and the project had developed into Cut And Run with Ruggero Deodato in the chair.

Even in the company of the other movies in this list, Cut And Run is a bit of an odd beast, mixing plots involving the search for a TV exec's missing son, the machinations of a surviving disciple of the Jim Jones cult (played by the ace Richard Lynch) and a series of attacks by natives on Westerners working at drug-producing installations in the jungle, all culminating in a reporter and her cameraman venturing into the badlands of South America to broadcast their findings to the world (the Italian title, Inferno in diretta, translates as Hell, Live! which I think is terrific).

It's to Deodato's credit that it all just about works, even if some of the subplots drag. There are some lovely touches, such as the insertion of Lynch's character into actual footage of Jim Jones (take a look behind Lynch and you can see Deodato himself). The opening, pre-credits massacre is also brilliantly handled, the only problem being that you're wondering how the rest of the movie is going to top it and unfortunately it never really does.

I remember seeing the Medusa Video release of this a long time ago and wondering just what the fuss was all about in terms of the supposedly ultra-gory violence. Turns out the UK version was watered down for our delicate sensibilities with alternate, less problematic takes being deployed at key moments. For other markets, extra gore sequences were added and it has to be said that the longer version does pack quite a gruesome punch.

Even if you do get to see the shorter cut it's worth it for the performances, notably those of Lynch and John Steiner who are both excellent. The latter is such a reprehensible bad guy that you can't wait to see him get his comeuppance. And what a comeuppance it is, at least in the full-strength version.

In fact, the cast in general is a, ahem, cut above, with Lisa Blount (from An Officer And A Gentleman and Dead And Buried) as the reporter and horror icon Michael Berryman as a mute Indio tribesman who can't wait to get busy with his machete. It's a shame that Berryman isn't used more but he certainly makes an impact with the limited screen time he has and he's responsible for the jump scare towards the end that any viewers of this will have seen coming a mile off. Still fun, though.

Although the pic is frequently cited as a part of the cannibal movie cycle (and forms the final part of Deodato's Amazonia trilogy), it's another of the films in the list in which no absolutely cannibalism is featured. A fair amount of gore, yes, but no cannibalism. In the final analysis this matters little because Cut and Run sets itself up as an action flick with its own brand of particularly vicious violence. Despite a few flat spots and a disappointingly maudlin ending, it's an entertaining enough diversion.

MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY (1985) 

Alternative titles include: Cannibal Ferox 2

Michele Massimo Tarantini - under the pseudonym of Michael E. Lemick - edited, wrote and directed this cheerily knockabout and casually offensive slice of jungle shenanigans in which the cannibalism and animal cruelty are kept to an absolute minimum while the leery sexism is wound up to dial-breaking proportions. It also bears very little resemblance to anything related to Cannibal Ferox and anyone watching this expecting it to contain the same level of gore and violence is going to be extremely disappointed.

The opening act does at least show some promise as a bunch of disparate characters (adventurer/paleontologist, Vietnam vet, boozy wife of said vet, professor, professor's daughter, photographer and two models) are brought together to take a plane ride which - you're ahead of me here - ends in the plane, yes, you guessed it, crashing in, yes, you guessed it, the rain forest, where inexplicably ineffective cannibals attempt to track the group down.

More of them perish as a result of their general incompetence rather than at the end of a spear and as a result the only thing ending up on the tribal menu is the heart of the vet, which is a blessed relief considering how terrible his acting is. With just over half of the film gone the only main characters left are our cut price Indiana Jones (played by Michael Sopkiw), the professor's daughter and one of the models.

The three of them launch a desperate attempt to flee the arguably not very bloodthirsty natives - and succeed fairly quickly. With a whole half hour still to go the film changes tack and has them captured by a group running a slavery racket and, with no budget to allow for an action-packed last third, the running time is padded out with the thoroughly unnecessary menacing and assaulting of female characters who a) don't fight back, b) offer themselves up as target practice and c) magically forget their ordeal by the closing credits when they're given shiny jewels.

Anything positive to report? Well, the movie does steal, sorry, use some of Fabio Frizzi's ace Blastfighter soundtrack which is always worth a listen. There's a further connection to that movie in the casting of Sopkiw but he's actually not that good here and he turns in a much better performance in Lamberto Bava's superior wilderness actioner.

NATURA CONTRO (1988) 


Alternative titles include: Cannibal Holocaust 2, The Green Inferno

Bringing an end to the main cycle of cannibal movies was Antonio Climati's 1988 eco-adventure outing. It's another movie also known as Cannibal Holocaust 2 - how can that movie have two second chapters? - and another movie that really is nothing like its supposed predecessor. It's also known as The Green Inferno, which would eventually become the title of Eli Roth's 2013 homage to the genre and is also the title of the "film within a film" featured in Cannibal Holocaust.

It's also fitting that both Climati and Franco Prosperi (who contributed to the screenplay) should be a part of the film which was the parting shot of the subgenre, considering that they were involved in the original Mondo Cane (Climati as the cinematographer, Prosperi as one of the co-directors) and subsequently worked on Africa: Blood and Guts.

Here again, though, the turn these movies took is once again evident as there is no cannibalism to be found in Natura Contro. Yes, there's a missing professor and yes, a group bands together to go looking for both him and the legendary tribe for which he was searching. However, our "heroes" end up against a bunch of treasure hunters and also uncover a scheme to ship native children back to civilisation in order to harvest their organs.

Although this does feature a monkey being hit by a blowdart, this makes a point of not showing any animal deaths. In fact, at one point the main characters end up saving a jaguar which has fallen into a pit. There are several moments when this movie goes out of its way to make it very clear that it's not into the killing of animals.

Natura Contro finds itself, and with it the subgenre, spluttering to a uninspiring halt. Its main characters are remarkably unengaging, their climactic team-up with the natives to win the day smacks a little too much of "Hail Whitey" and the whole enterprise lacks both tension and excitement. Our heroes may lack the evil streak of the treasure hunters but they're still dicks, a bunch of irritating chancers who I secretly hoped would be double-crossed and eaten by the natives at the very end in an unexpected twist. Doesn't happen. Sorry.



EPILOGUE

If Natura Contro was an indication of where the cannibal movie found itself towards the end of the 1980s then it was probably no great loss that the cycle came to a halt there. Sixteen years' worth of movies wasn't a bad effort for a niche so specific and the subgenre even managed to produce one acknowledged classic of the horror genre.

In fact, it was another sixteen years before another cannibal film surfaced - actually, make that two cannibal films, both from the same director, the late Bruno Mattei (who has been referred to as "the Italian Ed Wood" in some circles). This information will bring a smile to the face of some and strike terror into the hearts of others.

Mondo Cannibal bears more than a passing resemblance to Cannibal Holocaust, with an almost identical story and even lifting some of the dialogue word for word. In The Land Of The Cannibals is a cross between Cannibal Holocaust and Predator as a team of commandos embarks upon a mission to rescue a person of interest who has been captured by a cannibal tribe.

Unsurprisingly, this didn't lead to a revival of the cannibal film but movies continue to feature cannibalism - to a greater or lesser extent - as part of their stories. Eli Roth's The Green Inferno is a straightforward homage to the cannibal movies of which he's obviously a big fan, whereas S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk takes a classic Western set-up and spins it into an ultimately gruesome tale.

So what's next? Big screen remake of Cannibal Ferox? I'm thinking that's probably not going to happen. As the uncharted areas of our planet become smaller and smaller, it would seem the possibility of new films set in the darkest recesses of the wilderness reduces accordingly. However, with the number of horror remakes out there, who knows? All I know is that I'll be watching them and I'll be back to tell you about them.