IN THE LAND OF THE CANNIBALS (2003)

IN THE LAND OF THE CANNIBALS (2003)

Label: Intervision Picture Corp

Region Code: 1 NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 91 Minutes

Video: Full Frame (1.33:1 )

Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo

Director: Bruno Mattei

Cast: Claudio Morales, Lou Randall, Cindy Jelic Matic

Shot back to back with MONDO CANNIBAL in the Philippines this is another cannibal film from Italian sleaze-master Bruno Mattei and largely rips-off CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST yet again. This time around Mattei has created a genre mash-up of Italian cannibal films and the testosterone fueled action films of the 80s - most notably PREDATOR.  

A team of commandos are sent to the South American jungle to rescue the daughter who has fallen prisoner to - you guessed it - a tribe of cannibals. There's just not a lot new under the sun here but as a fun mash-up shot on the cheap there's some fun to be had. Masculine soldiers armed to the teeth up against hordes of cannibal tribesman who aren't quite prepared for what they're about to encounter.

This one is not as gut-churning with the cannibalism as MONDO CANNIBAL and instead is quite action-packed with loads of testosterone fueled gun battles and acts of sweaty machismo pouring off the screen. Thing borrowed from PREDATOR: A group of commandos flown by helicopter to a hostile territory - check. A musclebound white commando - check. A musclebound black commando - check. An indigenous tracker - check. Arm severed while shooting machine gun - check. Scorpion stabbed with survival knife - check. Watching this I laughed to myself at just how much stupid and fun it was turning out to be, while certainly not original or keenly directed there's no denying the pure entertainment value of this genre mash-up.

Claudio Morales from MONDO CANNIBAL reappears here as a morally challenged jungle guide tasked with leading the commandos through the jungle providing a lot of exposition as he explains the strange tribal rituals and cannibal etiquette we witness. Also returning are Cindy Matic as the politician's daughter turned white cannibal queen who dances drugged-up and topless in a few choice scenes. 

Shot in the Philippines which makes for a decent substitute for South America jungle and Mattei makes nice use of the locations squeezing as much production value out of it as he can on a limited budget. The gore is not front and center but we do get some gruesome cannibal corpses and bloodletting throughout - staying true to the cannibal film aesthetic we do get a brief scene of animal cruelty as a snake is killed onscreen and rather needlessly as that so be prepared for that. 

I kept hoping right up till the end that there would be an alien life form thrown into the mix but it didn't happen. No aliens with infrared vision and shoulder-mounted lasers appeared but as a cannibal-action mash-up this is a damn fine piece of trash cinema and a thoroughly entertaining watch. 

MONDO CANNIBAL (2003)

MONDO CANNIBAL (2003) 

Label: Intervision Picture Corp

Region Code: 1

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 90 Minutes

Video: 4:3 Full Frame (1.33:1 )

Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo

Director: Bruno Mattei

Cast: Claudio Morales, Cindy Matic, Helena Wagner 

Infamous Italian exploitation director Bruno Mattei was making sleazy movies straight up until his death in 2007 at the ripe old age of seventy-six. These later years found the director churning out familiar gut-munching gore and sleaze but on a smaller shot-on-digital budget. Lucky for is Intervision Picture Corp have just released two of his late-era cannibal films for the first-time in the US!

One of these is the sensationally re-titles MONDO CANNIBAL (2003) wherein driven TV reporter Grace Forsyte (Helene Wagner) finds her weekly ratings plummeting in light of competition from more sensational tabloid programs. In a last ditch effort to pull her ratings out of the toilet she enlists the help of a scumbag jungle guide Bob Manson (Claudio Morales) travelling to the jungles of South America to capture the gut-munching exploits of the indigenous people. Along for the ride are a cameraman and a busty blond assistant played by Cindy Matic. 

Once on location in the jungle the crew find that the poor indigenous tribes want nothing to do with cannibalism as the unscrupulous reporter and her scumbag cohorts commit a string of unsavory atrocities upon them. The film quite unashamedly rips-off Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST from start to finish, Mattei manages to squeeze in pretty much everything from that film into this shot-on-video cheapie, even the scenes of TV execs back in the US viewing the vile footage captured by the crew That Mattei would shamelessly steal the premise of an entire film should surprise absolutely no one, the man was a one-man copyright menace with a camera crew and he provided a string of pilfered exploitation throughout the 70s and 80s with such films as HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) and RATS - NIGHTS OF TERROR (1984). Not an original idea in the bunch but they're just so much fun and filmed with a genuine gusto that it's hard not to enjoy.

With this one we have an endless parade of gut-munching, rape, murder and exploitation of the indigenous people.  The crew is willing to set fire to an entire village in the name of capturing a few sensational images to drive viewer ratings. The entire film is really just regurgitating the who-are-the-real-savages question raised by the superior films which came before it. A trashy slice of cannibal fun from dripping with enough guts, gore and nudity to please fans of this particular brand of exploitation cinema. Surprisingly the film really captures the sleazy aesthetic of the cannibal films from the genres glory days, and while he shot-on-digital images won't win any awards for cinematography it fully delivers the cannibal goods from start to finish with some great locations shot in the Philippines. 

The cast is damn decent with Claudio Morales as the guide who begins the film as the moral compass but is quickly drawn into the cynical world of TV personality played by Helena Wagner who turns in a decent performance as the unscrupulous reporter who will do anything to drive her TV ratings. Of course all the performances are cranked-up to ten and I wouldn't have it any other way, cannibal films were never really known for subtlety. Aside from some requisite indigenous nudity both the attractive Helena Wagner and Cindy Matic offer up some bare-chested nudity to enjoy and it was fun to see each of the culprits .

SPECIAL FEATURES: 
- Trailer (2 Minutes) 

VERDICT:
MONDO CANNIBAL (2003) is short on inspiration and long on gut-munching gore making this shot-on-video cannibal entry from Bruno Mattei a bit rough and unsavory - which suits me just fine. Not having been familiar with Mattei's post-80s filmography I went into it not expecting much from such a recent shot-on-video production but I walked away from it thoroughly entertained and surprised just how authentic to the vintage cannibal films this was - loaded with gore, guts and vintage Mattei sleaziness!

A heads-up that in early 2015 Intervision are releasing Bruno Mattei’s zombie swan songs: ZOMBIES – THE BEGINNING and ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD plus the women-in-prison film THE JAIL – A WOMEN’S HELL.