Cannibal Ferox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cannibal Ferox | |
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 Cannibal Ferox DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Umberto Lenzi |
| Produced by | Antonio Crescenzi Mino Loy Luciano Martino |
| Written by | Umberto Lenzi |
| Starring | Giovanni Lombardo Radice Lorraine De Selle Danilo Mattei Zora Kerova Walter Lucchini Robert Kerman |
| Music by | Roberto Donati Fiamma Maglione |
| Cinematography | Giovanni Bergamini |
| Editing by | Enzo Meniconi |
| Distributed by | Grindhouse Releasing (USA) |
| Release date(s) | April 24, 1981 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Language | Italian Spanish |
| Budget | Unknown |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Cannibal Ferox (1981), also known as Make Them Die Slowly, is an Italian exploitation film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. It is often compared to Cannibal Holocaust for similarities between the two films. Both movies have similar plots, similar messages (which are expressed directly in this film), and have similar content (both are two of the few films that show a castration on screen).
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, countries that originally banned the film have since unbanned it).
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[edit] 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's 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 (the star of Deodato's film) turns up as a world-weary New York detective.
Cannibal Ferox was released uncut on video in England 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.
[edit] Trivia
- 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 Lombardo Radice. He explained further into the Living-Dead interview that he somehow avenged the pig by almost cutting the 'killer of the pig's' hand off 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.
- Umberto Lenzi also directed several other films in the Italian Cannibal Genre including 'Deep River Savages' and 'Eaten Alive'.
- In Australia this film was titled Woman From Deep River.
- Robert Kerman, who starred as Lt. Rizzo, was also a well known name in the genre, having starred in both 'Cannibal Holocaust' and 'Eaten Alive'.
