Inferno in diretta (1985)

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Cesare Frugoni (story) &
Dardano Sacchetti (story)

Release Date:

2 May 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The one story you won't be seeing on the 6 o'clock news!

Plot:

A reporter and her cameraman connect a surviving Jonestown leader and a TV exec's missing son to a drug war where jungle installations are being massacred by an army of natives and a skilled white assassin.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Drugs | Native | Sexploitation | Seaplane

Cast

Lisa Blount	...	Fran Hudson
Leonard Mann	...	Mark Ludman
Willie Aames	...	Tommy Allo
Richard Lynch	...	Colonel Brian Horne
Richard Bright	...	Bob Allo
Michael Berryman	...	Quecho
Eriq La Salle	...	Fargas
Gabriele Tinti	...	Manuel
Valentina Forte	...	Ana
John Steiner	...	Vlado
Karen Black	...	Karin
Barbara Magnolfi	...	Rita
Luca Barbareschi	...	Bud, the helicopter pilot
Penny Brown	...	Lucy
Carlos de Carvalho	...	Tony Martina

Also Known As:

Amazon: Savage Adventure
Cut and Run (International: English title)
Straight to Hell (International: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:87 min (R-rated version) | UK:87 min (cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | New Zealand:R18 (video release) | Finland:(Banned) (1989) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (VHS version) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (soft version) | Argentina:13 | Australia:R | Canada:R | France:-12 | Italy:VM14 | Norway:18 (cut) | South Korea:18 | USA:R (cut) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Company:

Racing Pictures

Trivia:

Last part of Ruggero Deodato's "Cannibal Trilogy" also including Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980).

Goofs:

Continuity: During the intro titles as the camera is following the woman holding the baby, as she steps onto an escalator there is a man behind her wearing a grey T-shirt who is carrying a shoulder bag with a red strap. However as the camera shot changes to show her getting off at the end, the man is suddenly now in front and can be seen stepping off and walking ahead of her.

Quotes:

Colonel Brian Horne: There are no answers... ...only actions.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Uncut and Run (2002) (V)

CUT AND RUN (Ruggero Deodato, 1985) **

Originally intended for American horror-meister Wes Craven – which probably explains the presence of Michael Berryman from his THE HILLS HAVE EYES movies – this was eventually made by controversial Italian exploitation film-maker Deodato (with whom I have had the pleasure of a long chat around 03:00a.m. at the 2004 Venice Film Festival) as an unofficial last entry in his "Cannibal" trilogy! While I'm no fan of the previous two (in fact, I similarly awarded them ** apiece), it's easy to concede that this is the least of the bunch despite (or perhaps because of) the bigger budget and relatively decent cast accorded it. Apparently, the presence of so many English-speaking actors – Berryman, Richard Lynch, Karen Black, Lisa Blount, Willie Aames, Richard Bright, Eriq La Salle, Penny Brown – required the film to be shot in English in direct sound (a rarity for Italian productions) but I'm a stickler for seeing movies in their native language and thus I opted to watch the film in Italian (despite the presence of a cobbled-together English-language soundtrack on the Anchor Bay DVD which reportedly reverts to the Italian one for certain 'lost' sections)! Anyhow, it's virtually impossible not to think of Lynch's character – an American Colonel 'finding' himself in the Amazonian jungles at the head of a tribe of cut-throats – as having been modeled on Marlon Brando's incoherent turn in APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) but Deodato is much too interested in filming extreme gore (copious decapitations, one disembowelment and Steiner's character literally being split in two!) and his current girlfriend (Valentina Forte) in the nude to let such comparisons or pretensions bother him in the slightest. As usual with Euro-Cult fare, the music is a standout and ex-Goblin Claudio Simonetti's disco-tinged score here is no exception.