Cannibal ferox (1981)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Umberto Lenzi (screenplay)
Umberto Lenzi (story)

Release Date:

November 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror

Tagline:

They raped and killed his sister while he watched helplessly. Now it's his turn to Make Them Die Slowly

Plot:

Three friends out to disprove cannibalism meet two men on the run who tortured and enslaved a cannibal tribe to find emeralds, and now the tribe is out for revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Tribe | Jungle | Anthropologist | Cannibalism | Emerald

Cast

Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Mike Logan (as John Morghen)
Lorraine De Selle	...	Gloria Davis
Danilo Mattei	...	Rudy Davis (as Bryan Redford)
Zora Kerova	...	Pat Johnson (as Zora Kerowa)
Walter Lucchini	...	Joe Costolani (as Walter Lloyd)
Fiamma Maglione	...	Myrna Stenn (as Meg Fleming)
Robert Kerman	...	Lt. Rizzo
John Bartha	...	Brooklyn Mobster
Venantino Venantini	...	Sgt. Ross
'El Indio' Rincon	...	Native who helps Gloria
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giovanni Bergamini	...	Hotel Administrator (uncredited)
Larry Dolgin	...	Blond Brooklyn Mobster (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Richard McNamara	...	Older Brooklyn Mobster (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Riccardo Petrazzi	...	Hunter (uncredited)
Perry Pirkanen	...	Paul, blond mobster (uncredited)
Dominic Raacke	...	Tim Barrett (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Rudy (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Susan Spafford	...	Myrna Stenn (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Pat Starke	...	Gloria Davis (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Jake Teague	...	College Professor (uncredited)
Frank von Kuegelgen	...	Mike Logan (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Umberto Lenzi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Umberto Lenzi		screenplay
Umberto Lenzi		story

Produced by
Antonio Crescenzi	....	executive producer
Mino Loy	....	producer (uncredited)
Luciano Martino	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Roberto Donati		(as Budy)
Fiamma Maglione		(as Maglione)

Cinematography by
Giovanni Bergamini

Film Editing by
Enzo Meniconi

Production Design by
Giuseppe Bassan

Costume Design by
Giuseppe Bassan

Makeup Department
Giuseppe Ferranti	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Vito Di Bari	....	unit manager
Evi Farinelli	....	unit manager
Giovanni Masini	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Riccardo Petrazzi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Sergio Basili	....	special sound effects
Aldo Ciorba	....	special sound effects
Ezio Marcorin	....	special sound effects
Raul Montesanti	....	sound

Special Effects by
Gino De Rossi	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Roberto Belli	....	chief electrician
Renato Doria	....	camera operator
Giorgio Garibaldi Schwarze	....	still photographer
Mario Pizzi	....	key grip
Maurizio Zampagni	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Alessandro Gabriele	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Carlo Maria Cordio	....	music arranger
Carlo Maria Cordio	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Dania Film
• Medusa Produzione
• National Cinematografica

Distributors

• Replay Video (1981) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO) (1981) (UK) (VHS)
• Commodore Films (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• Aquarius Releasing (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Video Classics (1984) (Australia) (VHS)
• Thriller Video (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• MPM Production (1991) (France) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• Grindhouse Releasing (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Grindhouse Releasing (2000) (USA) (all media) (restored) (uncut)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD) (in collaboration with)
• Laser Paradise (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Another World Entertainment (2006) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Continental Film Distributors (CFD) (????) (Hong Kong) (VHS)
• Firebox (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Neo Publishing (????) (France) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu Video Films K.K. (1988) (Japan) (VHS)
• Ropponica (1988) (Japan) (VHS) (as Cine Ropponica K.K.)
• Video Invest AB (????) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Video Programme Distributors (VPD) (????) (UK) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Make Them Die Slowly (USA)
Woman from Deep River (Australia)

Runtime:

93 min | South Korea:85 min (heavily cut) | UK:86 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Norway:18 (re-rating: 2005) (uncut) | UK:18 (re-rating: 2000) (heavily cut) | UK:(Banned) (1984-2000) | Norway:(Banned) (1984-2005) | Canada:R (Alberta) | Sweden:15 (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | West Germany:18 (cut) | Finland:K-18 | Italy:VM18 (VHS rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:(Banned) (Ontario) | France:-16 | Italy:VM14 | New Zealand:R18 (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Amazon Rainforest, Colombia

Company:

Dania Film

Trivia:

When filming the death of the wild boar, Giovanni Lombardo Radice nearly severed the hand of his double. Although Radice refused to kill the pig himself, a shot of Radice slashing the knife downward was needed to show that his character killed the pig. (The shots of the pig's death were later spliced in between.) To create blood splatter for this shot, Radice's double, who actually killed the pig for the film, was to hold a bowl of fake blood, which Radice would then stab. However, the double held the bowl from the bottom, and when Radice stabbed the bowl, the knife went through and cut his double's hand badly. Because of this accident, Radice saw himself as possibly "avenging" the pig's death.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Rudy wears a neckerchief bearing the OshKosh logo, but the lettering seems to switch between being a 'mirror image' of itself (so it reads hsoKhsO) and appearing as it should, often several times within one scene.

Quotes:

Gloria Davis: Oh God, please let her die soon. Oh, let her die soon. And let me die soon too, please.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Das geheime Kino (2007)

Soundtrack:

Red River Valley

Oh God, please let her die soon. Oh, let her die soon. And let me die soon too, please.

There is the 85 or 86 minute version shown in South Korea and the UK. Then there is the full 93 minutes that caused this video nasty to be banned in Britain. It was re-released after those cuts in 2000.

Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who started his film career with Cannibal Apocalypse, and went on to the 2006 version of The Omen, after Gangs of New York, leads this jungle adventure with some incredibly bad overacting. He does manage to spend considerable time with Zora Kerova, who is in films I am waiting to see: New York Ripper, The True Story of the Nun of Monza, and The Grim Reaper.

Most of the movie, we are just shown normal animal hunting behavior and some disgusting bug eating.

We soon find that Mike (Radice) is a coke-snorting sadist, who only cared for himself, and it was he that is the danger in this jungle.

But, Paybacks are hell, and things do get ugly at the end.