This week back in 1980, an Italian mocumentary-style movie was brought to us ... Cannibal Holocaust, directed by Ruggero Deodato. Considered to be one of the goriest films of all time, Cannibal Holocaust was banned in many countries due to its graphic violence. The director was even arrested as many people believed all the footage to be real. This was proved untrue; however all of the animal kills included were real.
As a huge animal lover myself, I found those scenes really hard to watch, and in fact, I did look away. Especially that turtle scene: totally unnecessary and disgusting. Honestly, I was quite bored watching this, but then after that scene, I was completely put off.
I'm not sure why this original camera crew had gone to try and find this group of cannibals, as they clearly had no care or respect for them. Burning down their homes, having sex in front of them, raping them, killing them ... all seemingly just for fun? Who were the real savages here?!
I think the crew all got what they deserved to be honest! I know I read that the actors got alot of hate when this came out, especially as so many thought it was real, and to be honest I'm really not surprised. I hated them in this too and was totally rooting for the native people!
There was this one piece of music used repeatedly the whole way through the film, which just got really annoying after a while! Not sure why they kept using it.
Would I have felt so angered if there was no animal cruelty in this movie? Probably not.
Would it be a decent film if those scenes were never shot in there? Still no.
I hated it and the whole thing felt completely unnecessary really.
Horror Fiend TV also discusses this controversial film here!