Extreme Cinema: The Final Day

Day 7: Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980)

Much has been said about Cannibal Holocaust and to this day, it still remains heavily cut in the UK due to scenes of animal cruelty and graphic sexual violence. However, as horrible as it is (and believe me, it really is) Deodato’s film rises above its exploitation brethren (Zombie Flesh Eaters, Faces of Death, etc) to become a flawed yet fundamental landmark in the horror genre, spawning the “found footage” sub-genre and using some of the most visceral cinema verite committed to film to disorientate and sicken its audience.

Like Zombie Flesh Eaters though, Cannibal Holocaust’s reputation precedes it to the point where anything short of a transcendent experience will be a disappointment and while this transcendence did not occur, it packs enough of a punch to make the, quite frankly, difficult watch worth while.

The premise is as follows: we open in New York some two months after a documentary crew on the hunt to document a tribe of cannibals has failed to return home. A rescue mission is sent to find the crew and recover the footage. Upon finding the footage intact but the filmmakers dead, the team returns home to review the film in the hopes that their work and deaths are not in vain. What follows are the last few days of the filmmakers and their descent in hell and madness.

What has become familiar now in terms of the “found footage” moniker was completely fresh and original in the 80’s and to see Cannibal Holocaust during its initial run must have been a brutal experience. As it stands, with the help of The Blair Witch Project and last years Paranormal Activity, when we finally come to the horror show that is the crew’s film, the sucker punch that was their upon its release has been dulled. Back in 1980, most thought parts were made up of a genuine snuff film. Now we know it’s fake. Audiences are attuned to the illusion.

That’s not to say what is shown isn’t tough. Quite the contrary in fact. The version I saw was the full, uncut print available on it’s original release (type in Cannibal Holocaust into Google videos and you’ll find it) with all the sexual violence and animal killings intact. Whilst one particular scene where a tribal woman is raped with a wooden spike as punishment for adultery is particularly harsh, the real animal killings are far worse. At one point, the film crew are seen decapitating a live turtle before disembowelling it for food. We see them laugh as the head still tries to bite and the legs still move but the knowledge that they have just genuinely murdered a turtle, for the purposes of film, is unforgivable. I’m not a proponent of animal rights but even I have to say that this should not be condoned for the use of entertainment. Other animal deaths, including a pig being shot at close range and a monkey having its face sliced off are also terrible.

There also seems to be an abundance of rape and as the crew’s footage gets more disturbing, the male members of the crew have their way, one at a time, with a local native girl. Even more shocking is that the only female member of the crew (who is herself gang raped by the local tribesmen and then beaten to death in the climax) objects on the grounds that, by filming their molestation, they’re wasting too much film. It’s funny then that the only genuine consensual sex scene, between Alan and Faye in celebration of their day’s filming, is the least titillating sex scene committed to film.

But with footage like this it becomes obvious that Deodato was not wishing to make a safe film and, like Eden Lake of Day 5, it aims to be blunt and confrontational, and on that front, he has succeeded quite admirably. At not a single point could this be considered entertainment, in the popular sense of the word at least. Behind its barbaric façade lies a social commentary on civilised society and how, when thrust into a world we don’t fully understand (in this case, the filmmakers venturing into the Amazon) we become just as violent as the natives. Watch as, in order to get a more dramatic shot (to secure them their millions, as they state on a number of occasions), they burn down an entire village with the natives still inside. Funny then, that they seem genuinely surprised when fate turns on them.

As an end to my extreme cinema week, Cannibal Holocaust seems to fit the bill nicely. Despite being a perfect example of a film killed by its own hype, it manages to balance the difference its filmic styles perfectly (it is, after all, a film of two halves) and creates a film that if difficult yet fundamentally brilliant. It doesn’t want to hold your hand; it wants to push the realms of realism and, arguably, taste in order to put the viewer through an extreme and visceral experience.

Even so, those animal killings are still questionable.

4/5