Cannibal Holocaust
Directed by Ruggero Deodato
A documentary crew get on the bad side of the cannibals they're filming in this gruesome exploitation classic. A researcher recovers footage a crew of filmmakers shot before they disappeared. But when he watches it, he sees horror far worse than he imagined. Made in 1979, but not released here until 1985, this controversial film quickly became a grindhouse smash. But it's biggest impact on horror is surely its innovative found-footage conceit, which led to the emergence of an entire subgenre in recent years. Vegetarians beware: the animal violence is very real.
A documentary crew get on the bad side of the cannibals they're filming.
Cast: Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi
Member Reviews
Vile. Seriously vile. Don't watch if you can't handle what's in this movie. I watched out of curiosity because I was surprised to see it on Shudder. But holy hell this is tough to watch.
such a disgrace to cinema and humanity as a whole. from the animal cruelty to the pare scenes, overall just an abomination of a movie. even if you were to ignore all of those aspects of the movie it would still suck. the gore is meh and script is even worse. the director should've stayed in jail over this piece of crap imo
i have never come across a movie this insanely disgusting & dehumanizing; it is beyond disturbing: honestly one of the worst things to ever happen in cinematic history. the way the indigenous people were treated behind the scenes makes it impossible to separate the film from the real-life abuse. the directors literally gave them substances to make them act “more normal” & easier to direct, then underpaid them & framed them as “savages” & cannibals, despite having no evidence that this tribe had any such practices. they even burnt down the village & destroyed the land just for the sake of the film; that level of exploitation & devastation is unforgivable. on top of that, the crew did not allow the indigenous people proper sleep, eating, or drinking habits during filming, pushing them into exhaustion just to capture a more “authentic” look of suffering. yes, it is often credited as the start of the found-footage horror arc; but even for its time this movie was immensely fucked up, racist, & exploitative in every possible way. the unnecessary rape scenes were beyond gruesome, not storytelling but pure shock value; they came off more like the director’s personal fetish than any kind of horror element. the directors & crew should have faced far harsher punishment for what they did; the court process let them off far too lightly. this film is dehumanizing on every level, & as a lifelong horror fanatic i can say it is genuinely one of the most horrifying thing i have ever attempted to watch: i could not even make it halfway through.
I don't like this movie, but it created the found footage genre. More of a historical curiosity than an enjoyable film.
i am a huge horror fan. This should NOT be played on Shudder. This is disgusting.