I just bought Cannibal Holocaust........

[Trevor]

............I've heard so much about it but never seen anything of it, as it's been banned here up until recently. The running time says 92 minutes.

What am I in for? 

[Jim H]

Hmm.  Some very dull moments early on, a couple of moments with the natives that touch on being emotionally satisfying..  Some pretty disgusting and effectively brutal real violence against animals..  Then a truly grueling ordeal of a found footage horror story, almost two decades before the Blair Witch Project made the rounds. 

It's kind of interesting, I think if the found footage stuff was re-edited into a short movie, with maybe some black text introductions and intertitles, it'd be one of the best (or worst, depending on your POV) horror films of all-time. 

The stuff in the city with the other people and the early bits with the guy looking for the footage are just not nearly as good.

[The Burgomaster]

I saw this on VHS many years ago and didn't think it was anything special.  But I bought the DVD anyway and I still don't think it's anything special.  Not sure what all the hype is about.  I think CANNIBAL FEROX (aka MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY) is more shocking and entertaining.

[lester1/2jr]

in my opinion it is realy one of the greatest movies ever.  I'm not the biggest horror guy, and various elements of it are not the greatest like the acting or whatever but overall it is a real hurricane of a movie, despite the animal cruelty which is a little more authenticity than I personally needed

[Jim H]

I saw this on VHS many years ago and didn't think it was anything special.  But I bought the DVD anyway and I still don't think it's anything special.  Not sure what all the hype is about.  I think CANNIBAL FEROX (aka MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY) is more shocking and entertaining.

Really?  I found Cannibal Ferox to be dull, plodding, and a pretty blatant ripoff of Cannibal Holocaust.  Not to mention the score of Ferox was bland, whereas the score of CH is good.  The main theme in particular is a fitting counter-part to what happens on screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf1Vt6r-sj8
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[voltron]

the found footage segment was interesting, but overall, the movie felt a bit too slow for my tastes. the "turtle" scene was pretty gruesome, though.

[The Burgomaster]

I saw this on VHS many years ago and didn't think it was anything special.  But I bought the DVD anyway and I still don't think it's anything special.  Not sure what all the hype is about.  I think CANNIBAL FEROX (aka MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY) is more shocking and entertaining.

Really?  I found Cannibal Ferox to be dull, plodding, and a pretty blatant ripoff of Cannibal Holocaust.  Not to mention the score of Ferox was bland, whereas the score of CH is good.  The main theme in particular is a fitting counter-part to what happens on screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf1Vt6r-sj8

The first time I saw CANNIBAL FEROX was in the theater at a midnight show (under the alternate title MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY).  Everyone in the theater was really into it . . . it was like we were all friends enjoying a movie together.  I bought the DVD a few years ago and enjoyed it just as much.  Oddly enough, I find CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST to be dull and plodding . . .

[vukxfiles]

How brutal would you say it is? I wanted to see it, but I just don't have the guts to do that, and I'm 16 years old. I don't want to see it if it's something like Snuff.

[D-Man]

I love some blood and guts in a horror movie, but this one, I found just a little off-putting.  Specifically the animal killings.  When it comes to both animals AND humans on the screen, when it's real death just for a movie, I have a problem with that.  The human killings were of course fake, but it was done in a way that made it look very realistic, and also disturbing, to me. 

I think I'd have a hard time watching this film again.  As for Cannibal Ferox, I stopped the disc in the middle of the movie, because the word "ripoff" rang in my head too many times. 

[Trevor]

I watched it over the weekend and was impressed mostly by the theme tune ~ I don't think that Riz Ortolani watched the film before composing the music ~ great score. 

The animal violence ~ yuk: I could have done without seeing that. 

The footage entitled The Last Road To Hell ~ yikes! 

The human violence ~ fake, but very realistic indeed.

Trevor's reaction: worth the money (it was a bare-bones DVD, no extras and no pun intended) but I don't think that it lives up to its' hype. A good film though. 

[the ghoul]

Both Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox are very entertaining flicks.  After all the hype I had read about them, neither one was as over-the-top violent/gory as I was expecting.  I watched them both without knowing or thinking about which one came first, so I had no bias about one being a "rip-off" of the other, and I remember definitely liking Cannibal Ferox better.  I also don't think they were similar enough (except for the titles) to care about whether or not it was a "rip-off."

Cannibal Apocalypse is another fun one.  And it has a storyline that is very different from either of the aforementioned films.

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

I actually liked the setup part of the film where the anthropologist is trying to find out what happened to the filmmakers more so than the found footage. Maybe it seemed a little more genuine to me in the context with the interactions and negotiations with the natives.

Of course going by the first half it would have been a rather run of the mill jungle exploration film (animal killings and rape scenes notwithstanding), until the revelation of what actually happened to the lost filmmakers, and the subsequent footage. As repulsive as I found some of it, one cannot deny the impact of the last half hour of the film has.

Deodato's mistake is in trying to make a statement about who the real cannibal's in society are, and at the same time using actual violence against animals to get that point across. You can't have it both ways, and while those scenes may have given the film a legitimacy in some circles that special effects can never duplicate, imo it undermined whatever valid criticism he was going for and simply became exploitation. I think Cannibal Holocaust is actually a well made film, especially compared to some of its contemporaries, but it is not one I care to see again.

[Jim H]

Deodato's mistake is in trying to make a statement about who the real cannibal's in society are, and at the same time using actual violence against animals to get that point across. You can't have it both ways, and while those scenes may have given the film a legitimacy in some circles that special effects can never duplicate, imo it undermined whatever valid criticism he was going for and simply became exploitation. I think Cannibal Holocaust is actually a well made film, especially compared to some of its contemporaries, but it is not one I care to see again.

This point is underlined by the turtle scene, which is endlessly dragged out and has incredibly sad music.  As if to say, "LOOK AT WHAT THEY'RE DOING!! IT'S AWFUL!".  Which, of course, came across as a little ludicrous since the scene was created for this fictional film.  The scene really is stating, "Look at what I'm doing!  I'm so awful!!".  Somehow, I don't think that's what Deodato wants us to think.

[Caronte]

The animal violence ~ yuk: I could have done without seeing that. 

yes, the scene of the turtle is shocking. In this time, there werent's laws against animal abuse on movies.

If you have seen blair witch project you will notice that the (blair witch directors) COPY scenes of cannibal holocaust...

my favourite scene is when the CEO of the TV says, watching the videos of the journalist, "this is why people want to see" (I saw it in spanish).

[Criswell]

i watched google video. its ok, but overrated and not as bad as i thought it would be, it has a good soundtrack though.