The ultimate video nasty for many, finds itself released for a new generation. The expected ‘its not uncut though…’ mouthing of the purists aside, the late and somewhat great Ruggero Deodato’s and his CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, deserves to be reseen and reappraised. And even though a heavy voyage, that makes AGUIRRE THE WRATH OF GOD look like a Disney film, it is one that needs be travelled by serious film lovers. When four young New York documentary film makers set out to find a lost tribe in the Amazon and disappear, there is only one choice. Go find and rescue them. The person chosen is Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman), a kind of action hero for the academic. As he and his guides begin the journey into the rainforest, he stumbles across the wreckage that the documentary crew left behind. Burnt huts, shot locals and tales of excess galore. So begins a film, with a trouble history that saw it banned, cut and even today, still illegal to screen in its full form.
In the hey day of the Video Nasty moral panic. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, with its lurid cover, became a must see. I saw it much later on a dubious VHS. 
Then as now, I saw it for what it was and it is not a masterpiece by any leap of imagination. It is a fever dream about many things. By no means perfect or actually as potently offensive as it has been made to be believed, it has value all the same. Which has been lost in the conversation by actions outside its rationale. An astute original UK distributor, who intentionally stoked flames by sending a copy to moral purist Mary Whitehouse, caused all serious conversation to disappear as young minds were at stake and she was so outrage (even though she claimed not to have watched a second of it), she cut the juicy bits together and put on a horror screening for MPs. In parliment no less. Reflected pertinently by Professor Monroe ending up seeing the remains of the crews other project ( called delightfully THE ROAD TO HELL which is interestingly about executions in the third world no less) and commenting, this is not going down well. it was of no surprise that the same MPs, who saw the horrors, were mindful of the west actions and backing of evil.
And that is the problem with the film. As Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw commetary slugs out. What was it? On one side it was seen as exploitation, on the other, a potent discussion on the west and imperialism. With a ‘what we do’ or ‘what we dont’ logical, condeming all. Finally is it clouded by a sense that maybe the film is trying to be all things to make money, which is murky.
I venture that the third option is most likely, which is almost what the commentary concludes to (it is marvellous by the way. The discussion at the end about the music should have been longer mind). You see the documentary crew have a lost film, shot by them as they penetrated the region’s indigenous cannibalistic tribes, which reveals and revels in the carnage. You can still see why many were likely horrified by the film due totally in part to this. The animal torture and deaths are unpleasent, the rape and murder of innocent people in the village, horrifc but its that notch by notch horror that concludes with the now famous impalement on a stick and penal removal, which even today is all very effective and unlikely not to cause a reaction. You can understand though now, that as time and tide has rolled on, viewers are more literate. Which means any art school film maker or film theorist, can tell you what Deodato was getting at. Which is…what exactly?
This is actually where 88 films have come into there own. They might act as if they are handling the film in its exploiatative best but actually they are reviewing what the film really means for a current audience. Thanks in part to the copious extras which range from amazing and say The Last Cannibal Kings – Deodato vs Lenzi, which blocks the styles and themes running along the sub genre, to Sean Hogan superb essay on the film from a personal and then broad perspective. Of course many of you are here for the restoration. This is not the Deodato cut that was on the Shameless Blu ray, it is an ultimately better looking version of the original. Though 1080p, I would have to say it finally has never been so pictouresque. And the grim nastiness is there clearer than before.
LIMITED EDITION FEATURES
- Limited Edition Slipcase
- A3 Double Sided fold-out poster with artwork by Graham Humphreys and Original Italian Poster Artwork
- Booklet notes with new writing on the film by Sarah Appleton, Sean Hogan & Martin Beine
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Brand new 4K Remaster from the Original Negatives presented in High Definition (1080p) in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
- 2.0 English Stereo Remix
- 2.0 English Original Mono
- English SDH
- Audio Commentary with Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw
- The Flesh of the Controversy – BRAND NEW Interview with Director Ruggero Deodato
- Biting Reality – An Interview with Ruggero Deodato
- The Last Cannibal Kings – Deodato vs Lenzi
- Different Holocaust – Archive Interview with Ruggero Deodato
- Jungle Stories – An Interview with Production Designer Massimo Antonello Geleng
- Italian Horrors – An Interview with Expert and Film Director Marcello Avallone
- Professionals in Peril – An Interview with Director of Photography Sergio D’Offizi
- In the Jungle – The Making of Cannibal Holocaust (Archive Documentary)
- Alternate Scene – The Last Road to Hell
- US First Release Trailer
- International Trailer
- Italian Trailer
- Reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and original Italian poster
