Cannibal ferox
Tags: cruelty, murder, violence, horror, insanity, sadist

Plot synopsis:
In New York City, an unnamed man is visiting an apartment to get heroin (using the term "horse") from his dealer named Mike. Instead of finding his usual pusher, the man finds two mobsters who are also looking for Mike, who had apparently skipped town owing them $100,000. After questioning the man about Mike's whereabouts, they shoot him and leave him for dead. Lt. Rizzo of the NYPD investigates the murder.Meanwhile in Leticia, Columbia on the Rio Amazonia, two siblings, Rudy and Gloria, with their friend Pat, prepare for a journey into the rain forest in nearby Brazil. The three have ventured there to help prove Gloria's theory that cannibalism no longer exists, and that it may not have existed all along, being a myth concocted by greedy European empires to justify colonising the land.After encountering a pair of natives who were brutally killed in a booby trap, the trio encounter two other westerners; Mike, the drug dealer mentioned in the beginning (who is also addicted to cocaine), and his partner Joe. Joe is badly wounded in the chest. Mike explains that they were attacked by cannibals. They claim they were with a Portuguese guide who was tied to a stake, castrated, and killed by the cannibals. During the night, Gloria goes missing, and Rudy finds a native village while looking for her. It is populated by a small group of natives, mostly the elderly.Due to Joe's injuries, the troupe decides to stay in the nearly deserted native village. Mike seduces the naive Pat, and has sex with her, as well as giving her cocaine. In a cocaine-fuelled rage, he encourages Pat to slowly kill a young native girl with a knife, but she is unable to do it, so he kills her himself with a gun. Pat, horrified by Mike's actions, warns the native girl's accomplice to flee before Mike gets to him.In his dying moments, Joe reveals to Gloria and Ruby that he and Mike were responsible for the cannibals' aggression. In a flashback sequence, Joe explains that the two of them came to the region just last week to exploit the natives for emeralds and cocaine, taking advantage of their trust in white men. One day, while high on cocaine, Mike brutally tortured and killed their native guide in full view of his tribe. The badly charred body that the troupe thought to be the Portuguese guide (who never existed) is actually this native. Mike kidnapped a native girl, whom was the native chief's daughter, in order to lead them out of the jungle, but the two were followed and attacked, explaining Joe's injuries.In light of Mike's murder of the young girl, the native warriors finally snap and have now begin to hunt the troupe out in the jungle. Joe eventually dies of his wounds, and his body is found and cannibalised by the natives in full view of Rudy and Gloria, who are hiding from the natives. In the meantime, the cocaine-agressive Mike and Pat had abandoned the rest of the troupe, but they are all rounded up by the natives eventually. They are forced into a cage (that Mike originally used to lock up natives) and forced to watch Mike have his penis cut off and eaten by the revenge-seeking native chief. The wound is then cauterized to ensure he does not bleed to death.The next day, the natives natives take the troupe by boat to another village down river. But when they arrive, Rudy manages to escape, hiding in a pool of water from the natives. However, he is caught in a booby trap in the jungle and the bleeding wound of his attracts the attention of piranhas, who force him out of the pool screaming. The natives shoot him with a poisoned dart, and he dies almost instantly.Pat, Gloria, and Mike are taken to a new village where their suffering continues. The women are put in a hole in the ground as Mike is placed in a separate cage. The native man that Pat saved from Mike at the other native village appears, and lowers a rope into the hole so the women can escape. However, at this point Mike digs out of his cage, chases the man away, and cuts the rope, preventing the women from escaping. He then flees into the jungle. He is almost spotted by a plane being flown by a search party looking for the missing troupe (one of which is Mike's girlfriend from New York), but shouting in an attempt to be noticed by the plane causes the natives to finally locate him. Deranged to the last, Mike attacks the natives with a machete he stole and kills one of them and wounded another until he is overpowered. The native warriors drag him to a fallen tree and cut off his right hand with the machete before taking him back to the village. When the search party lands, they are told by the natives that the explorers were in a canoe, which capsized. They were then eaten by crocodiles.Back at the village, Pat is bound, stripped, and has hooks put through her breasts. She slowly bleeds to death as Gloria is forced to watch. Mike's head is placed in a crude apparatus, and the top of his head is cut off; the natives then proceed to eat his brains. Gloria is left for the night. During this time, the same sympathetic native who Mike chased off earlier returns and frees her. He guides her through the jungle but is eventually killed by one of his own people's booby traps. A few days later, a desperate Gloria makes to the river and meets up with a pair of trappers, who take her to safety. Instead of telling them the true story, she backs up the natives' lie about the others being eaten by crocodiles.The film ends several weeks later with a shocked and jaded Gloria is seen back in New York, a part of society once again. She has published a book titled 'Cannibalism: End of a Myth' which completely covers up the story of what happened to her brother and friends. This was most likely done because of her realization that the natives were only vicious because of the extensive cruelty they had endured under the white man they once revered.

Review: The police detectives seek out the touristic guide Myrna Stenn (Meg Fleming), who shared her apartment with Mike.Meanwhile, the anthropologist Gloria Davis (Lorraine De Selle) travels on vacation to Paraguaya, in Colombia, with her brother Rudolph "Rudy" Davis (Bryan Redford) and her friend Pat Johnson (Zora Kerowa) expecting to find the town of Manioca to prove her thesis that cannibalism does not exist.
It's interesting that when animals are butchered for your viewing pleasure in Italian exploitation movies it's banned in a dozen countries, but when Coppola does it (far less humanely) in Apocalypse Now, it's art.This was my first journey into the Cannibal genre, and if I can get my hands on Cannibal Holocaust, it won't be my last.
And no one who's seen this film will ever forget John "Giovanni Radice" Morghen's acting as he wails the immortal line, "then...THEN THEY ATE HIS GENITALS!!!"The commentary track on the DVD is fantastic - Lenzi is a hilariously arrogant idiot, while Morghen's camp, bitchy comments had me in hysterics.
The cannibal genre died out pretty quickly, thankfully, as they represent everything that is ugly about the horror genre, and Cannibal Ferox, possibly the second most notorious after Cannibal Holocaust, is no exception.The gore and violence is by no means convincing, or even disturbing, but it is clear from the off that the film's sole purpose is to be more repulsive than anything else before it.
This is all well and good and what can be expected from an Italian exploitation film at the height of the nasties era, but the animal killings are simply needless.I always found myself defending Cannibal Holocaust for the animal cruelty, as that is a genuinely good film, and the horrific animal scenes really do add to the horrible and deeply unsettling atmosphere.
The cast includes such exploitation-greats like Robert Kerman ("Eaten Alive"), John Morghen ("Cannibal Apocalypse"), Perry Pirkanen ("Cannibal Holocaust") and in the first line the wonderful Zora Kerova ("The New York Ripper"), who makes some really bad experiences with meathooks at the unhappy end..!
I have finally seen FEROX and have only good things to say about it.The plot is rather simple: a drug dealer and his co-hort torture and kill some natives in the Amazon jungle and escape, but after encountering a college group, they are captured and brutalized for the cruelties they have caused.
If it weren't for the needless animal killing in the name of 'shock' ("Ooh look at us, we're hardcore, we've added real death to our films") these films would make their way onto my dusty classics shelf - I'm a huge fan of cannibal films and zombies.
You may have heard of the mass controversy of CANNIBAL FEROX that led to its banning in 31 worldwide nations, so if you want to suffer from heart failure, do so now before the feds decide to kill one of the finest works of classic cinematic crap into oblivion, only to establish a New World Order, by god!.
The only decent thing in the movie was the score during the jungle scenes, something i thought was much more appropriate for the subject matter than the over dramatic love ballad in cannibal holocaust.
I love films like Make Them Die Slowly (Cannibal Ferox) The euro-trash cinema of the 80's was the BEST!!!
Penis whacking, hand chopping, head lopping, gut munching, breast piercing, eye gouging, brain slurping: its all there, along with some unnecessary animal cruelty for good measure.A New York student travels to the Amazon with her brother and a blonde nympho, hoping to prove that cannibalism is nothing but a myth created as an excuse to wipe out indigenous tribes.
Their bad luck continues when they run into two men, Mike and Joe (also from the Big Apple), who claim to have been attacked by cannibals, but in reality have been doing a little torturing and killing of their own; after failing to find emeralds in the river, they have taken out their frustration on the helpless locals in the nearby village (the younger, stronger members are away fishing)!
When the rest of the tribe return, they take revenge, capturing and killing the helpless Americans in gruesome and inventive ways.The brilliantly gory jungle scenes are interspersed with less interesting New York based moments, featuring the attempts of both the police and some gangsters to find Mike and his pal, who have absconded with a fortune in mob money.
These scenes are extremely dull, and could easily have been excised, allowing more time for cannibal chow-downs.Cannibal Ferox is a must see for fans of the genre, but casual viewers should take heedthis wasn't banned in 31 countries for nothing!.
but i found my self alternately laughing and being somewhat grossed out at the same time.#1 - i'm not real big into animal cruelty scenes, and it seems that these early '80's, overseas films threw these type of things in just to add some shock value.
this movie has a few such scenes and i feel they are unnecessary.i also found it humorous that the box (along with stating that it was banned in 31 countries - for good reason) had listed something like 30 "scenes of brutality" (i don't quite remember, it's been awhile since i've watched it).
The plot is a very basic rehash of Holocaust, the acting is terrible and their are some very redundant scenes (set back in New York) in the movie that does not help move the story along.An anthropologist takes two of her friends on an expedition to prove that cannibalism does not exist.
I'm the guy who kills animals for entertainment!" Then he made this pile of crap, the second most offensive Italian cannibal film.
Second because the plot, compared to the more plausible Cannibal Holocaust, is completely brain-damaged.Like 99% of Italian film made between 1980-1982, this film starts off in New York, where a junky is looking his pusher Mike.
Lorraine takes along her brother Rudy and the horny Mary (Zora Kerova), so we've a nice buffet lined up for the cannibals already.Once in the jungle, this lot get their jeep stuck in mud and head off into the unknown, experiencing the horror of a tribesman eating live grubs and finding two mutilated bodies.
After watching that I feel like cannibals have chopped the top of my head off and eaten my brains too.The thing is, you could forgive this nonsense if it wasn't for the killing of animals for the sake of it.
Hoping to dispel cannibalism as a myth created by 16th century conquistadors to justify the subjugation of native tribes, an anthropology student, her brother and his girlfriend get more than they bargained for when venturing into the Amazonian jungles in this Italian horror film.
This is a far from perfect motion picture with mostly second-rate acting and a subplot involving an urban police investigation constantly subtracting from the immediacy of the jungle action, but with a spine-tingling mix of music and sound effects and a chilling final scene, there is a lot more to 'Ferox' than just its controversial violence..
I must admit to not liking the thought of them being killed and then discarded for entertainment's sake, as these scenes were not required for the story.This is not the best cannibal film: For the best story and acting, watch Cannibal Holocaust For an interesting twist on the genre, better story and acting, try Cannibal Apocalypse For the best jungle location, I suggest you watch The Man From Deep RiverThough, I will say I do not find the cannibal genre that interesting and even though these are better than Ferox they're still not brilliant..
What looks like a sort of kitchen table with a head-size hole acts as a nice hors d'oeuvre server).The film makes clumsy attempts to inter-cut between the city (in this case New York) and the jungle (the Amazon).
This movie is not worth its controversy now a film like cannibal holocaust is and is excellent at the same time!!!
Though there are obvious parallels between the two (the theme of the so called "civilized" being the bringers of barbariety, the direction style used in the jungle scenes, gratuitous animal cruelty and small roles for both Richard Bolla and Perry Pirkanen), there's a vast difference in tone between the two films.While "Cannibal Holocaust" was relentlessly sadistic, "Cannibal Ferox" plays a variation on the theme with it's underlying bits of horror camp.The main characters' descent into jungle murder and madness is marked by classic horror bad decision making (How does not finding cannibals in one isolated village somehow disprove the entire phenomenon's existence?
The world may never know.), and their gruesome fates are sealed fairly early on, for sheer bold stupidity if nothing else.Giovanni Radice rips through his role with almost gleeful bug eyed abandon, Zora Kerova is the obligatory slutty blonde whom meets a nasty end, with Lorraine DeSalle playing straight woman to the other leads hamming it up."Ferox" has buckets of blood for the gorehounds, but other than the animal scenes, it's not nearly as real looking as "Holocaust".
Director Umberto Lenzi who has been credited as starting the cannibal sub-genre with Deep River Savages' (1972) effectively ended it with this nauseating and disturbing film.
Cannibal Ferox' also features a brief appearance from Robert Kerman (aka porn star Richard Bolla) who also appeared in Cannibal Holocaust'.Cannibal Ferox' is certainly not for everyone and those who have not been fans of other Italian cannibal films should probably avoid this movie completely.
If you like campy italian horror movies you'll love it of course, it follows a bunch of two dimesional characters and a whole lotta bad acting in a jungle filled with cannibals.
So instead Lenzi has ejected the script, forgot the camera skills, losened the budget on actors and simple focused everything hes got on creating an outright gorefest.From disection to castration, cannibalism, degrading and humiliating (but equally painful) torture scenes and eye gauging this film has the lot and furthermore theres little camera shy editing.
Oh and of course just so he wouldn't let down the morbid traditions seemingly so popular with the small circle of Italian gore directors theres plenty of pointless New York footage, and a good range of real life animal deaths.Well i you like gut renching, outright obsanities of films (like me), this is something for you.
but this movie is like "Milk Money" compared to Cannibal Holocaust (CH is maybe banned in 50 country's, not for sure), back to CF, it's got A'plenty of unnecessary animal violence.
This explicitly violent italian horror film is trashy,gory....BUT TOTALLY ACE!!!What could be better than seeing someone getting castrated on a Saturday night,or some big brute of a cannibal smashing some idiot's head and eating their brains.GEORGE ROMERO,THIS MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE JEFFREY ARCHER!!And,as further proof that this is THE best horror film ever,it's caused a stink in 21 different countries,where it is banned.HOW COOL IS THAT?!!!Rent it and die..
3 New York university students are venturing into the Amazon jungle when they cross paths with a couple of drug dealers, one of which being the illustrious John Morghen (AKA Giovanni Lombardo Radice), who have been running amok with the local cannibal tribe.
Trying to intellectualize a total s---pile like "Cannibal Ferox" (or "Make Them Die Slowly" as it was known when I saw it) is the height of stupidity & kills any real joy in watching the flick.I saw this in a cheasy run down theatre on a triple bill with "Driller Killer" & "Avenging Disco Godfather".
Horribly real special effects including poor old John Morghen`s trio of painful moments (surely a movie character has never suffered so much..) It`s the kind of film you know will have no great plot revelation, character developement etc, just a succession of ultra-gory moments, the next more gruesome & graphic than the last.
i watched this movie many years ago and was not really impressed its not a patch on deodato's cannibal holocaustcannibal ferox is pretty boring at times but when the gore is coming it is delivered like a whack on the headthe animal scenes are very cruel this is what i dont like about the italian cannibal movies i would give this film 4 out of 10.
If you see this movie and got offended or upset, then you must of miss read the title.Not as nasty as the counterpart "Cannibal Holocaust" but it does pack a punch of brutal scenes.
Kinda strange, but I found the movie very entertaining.The commentary on the DVD consists of the star (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and the Director (Umberto Lenzi) saying how terrible the film is.
A bit better than Cannibal Holocaust, the most over-rated "supposed-to-be gore" movie ever, and most boring also..
All in all, a late-night gore fest with a typical Italian cheesy feel.Nothing like Cannibal Holocaust in either tone or effect - if you're new to Cannibal films, check this first!.
The film's attempts at moralizing, by trying to tell us that the cannibalism is only a response by the natives to the wrongdoings of the white man, doesn't quite work either since the white savagery occupies about one-eighth the screen time (in other words, a mere four-minute flashback sequence) devoted to the brutal torture by the natives.Still, despite the hokey nature of the script and the acting, the story does manage to grab you and stay in your head long after its over.
Partly very gory and just unbelievably boring on the other hand, this movie shows detailed graphic violence to humans and animals the same way  as you can see in Cannibal Holocaust.
After all, these cannibal flicks by Mr. Lenzi (Ferox, Il paese del Sesso Selvaggio and Mangiati Vivi!) are not his most personal works and he has admitted that they were made only because of money and he prefers far more his crime/giallo films, and it is very understandable.Ferox has great music soundtrack as the very ominous theme in jungle scenes works perfectly and really tells something very wicked is in the air.
The worst thing is that in these films, many real animals were killed and these scenes are plenty in Ferox.
In Holocaust, the film crew at least ate the animals killed, but I'm not sure what's the case in Ferox.
I think that killing living animals only for shock purposes is not justified and thus I cannot accept that, and it is sad that many animals lost their lives probably in vain in these films.Cannibal Ferox is noteworthy film from that blood filled exploitation era of Italian cinema and due to its few cinematic achievements and atmosphere it is possible to like as a real film, too, but that demands the viewer to be a fanatic of this genre, of course.
c) you get a lot of trash including sometimes really bad effects.If you like (Italian) horror with some gore and lots of trashy stuff, you may enjoy Cannibal ferox.
The film also comes complete with basically the same subtext as the previous years' "Cannibal Holocaust", that it's us so-called "civilized" people who drive the more primitive humans of the planet to commit acts of violence.A must for anybody who digs trashy Italian genre filmmaking.Eight out of 10..
Cannibal Ferox starts with both a written and spoken warning that this motion picture contains at least two dozen scenes that may be seen as shocking and disturbing, and that you shouldn't watch this movie if you're quickly offended in any possible way.
And Zora Kerowa was no stranger to X films herself.Call this and Cannibal Holocaust the tag team champions of Italian jungle movies..
Umberto Lenzi's shabbily produced follow up to Ruggero Deodato's masterpiece may not be well made technically, but it makes up for the atrocious acting and poor screenplay with a great atmosphere, which includes both cannibalism and the jungle wildlife itself and lots and lots of disgusting, bloodthirsty gore - which is sure to delight anyone with the conviction to see this film.
Some movies try to scare the audience with psychological terror; but here, Umberto Lenzi has gone purely for the visceral; and unlike a lot of ghost stories - the Italian director has succeeded in making a film the likes of which horror fans want to see.
This is pretty much a carbon copy of "Cannibal Holocaust" with all the needed gore and violence, disgusting elements and shocking moments but it's not a great film like that was.
Thoughtful insights were left out to present once again people from developed nations getting eaten by people of the so-called uncivilized nations."Cannibal Ferox" was one of many films of that ongoing success of cannibal films made in the 80's that now are a cult among fans over the world and still banned in some countries due to its hardcore violence and cruelty against animals killed on screen (this has less scenes than Deodato's infamous classic but they still impress and they're completely pointless to the movie's context).
I thought that this was a very good cannibal horror film featuring a lot of torture and strong violence.
CANNIBAL FEROX will never be mistaken for a classic movie but for its genre the thing works..
The animal scenes are so unnecessary.It's not as gory as Cannibal Holocaust, and doesn't have all those rape-scenes and stuff like that but the gore is still there, even though some of the effects don't look that convincing.
Skip Ferox and see Holocaust if you want to see a cannibal film..
Although, this is a great cannibal film but the only problem with the movie just like most of the big cannibal films is for some reason they have to have moments of real animal cruelty.
It's filled with real animal cruelty (mostly the turtle scene is a mild riff on the one in "Cannibal Holocaust" but not as bad as that one), gore galore such as the infamous head slice, castration, great make-up effects, and a groovy soundtrack.
The gore was very realistic and quite disturbing, and you even get a piranha scene, that unfortunately was never filmed for Cannibal Holocaust.