Cannibal Ferox Blu-ray - Giovanni Lombardo Radice

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Make Them Die Slowly' or 'Woman From Deep River')

directed by Umberto Lenzi
Italy 1981

A decade on from starting the cannibal genre, director Umberto Lenzi has the final word, pushing the vomit envelope beyond the sick with his utterly nasty, nihilistic apotheosis that is CANNIBAL FEROX. So unredeemable that its own makers denounced it as barbaric..!

An academic, Gloria (Lorraine De Selle), journeys to the Amazon jungle where things go awry when her party encounters sadistic druggy villain Mike (Giovanni Lombardo Radice aka John Morghen), as the travellers venture further into the heart of darkness, they soon discover what it means to be the hunted prey.

CANNIBAL FEROX aka 'Make Them Die Slowly', topped the official Video Nasty list for its raw graphic scenes of torture, mutilations, murder and cannibalism. This new 2K restoration additionally features new grading which revives, for the 1st time, the original edgy look of the 16mm film stock it was shot on - finally presenting the film as it was first created by director Umberto Lenzi, on location in the Amazonian green inferno.

***

A New York grad student and anthropologist Gloria, her brother Rudy, and their friend Pat, travel to a remote part of the Amazon jungle to find and disapprove the local theory of cannibalism among the local tribes when they run into something far worse: a cruel and sadistic, streetwise drug dealer, named Mike Lawson, and his partner, Joe, hiding out in the jungle from murder and drug-dealing charges in back in New York and whom are presently using the docile natives to mine for emeralds and harvest cocoa. When the crazed Lawson kills a few natives, including the daughter of the chief, just for his sadistic enjoyment, the warriors turn against their masters and subject the two dealers and three grad students to the most horrific torture and murder for their crimes using their own harsh law of the jungle.

***

My favorite of all the Cannibal Exploitation films, although that¹s not saying much. A sub-genre in Italian horror, these are movies that pushed the levels of onscreen carnage to new levels of depravity. Most featured the same storylines, the same actors, similar titles (Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Holocaust etc.) and even the same scenes (gruesome stock footage of a turtle being gutted for example, seems to pop up in all of the films). The real genius behind this sub-genre was the marketing strategies their makers employed of actually stressing the fact that many countries had banned the movies from being screened. Horror and exploitation cinema has always been able to make people question their integrity for actually watching such images, but now audiences were actually getting off on the idea of 'I shouldn¹t be watching this' and the thrill of seeing something 'forbidden' had people paying top dollar for bootleg copies. Look deep and might be able to find some commentary regarding white fears of alien cultures, but for the most part, this is exploitation cinema in its purest form cheap sensationalism that will make your stomach turn, think 100 proof liquor without a chaser and you¹ll get the picture.

Adam Lemke

Posters / Alternate DVD Covers etc.

Theatrical Release: April 24th, 1981 - Italy

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Comparison:

Sazuma - Region 0 - PAL vs. Shameless - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Sazuma - Region 0 - PAL LEFT

Shameless - Region 'B' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers

Distribution	Sazuma - Region 2 - PAL	Shameless - Region 'B' Blu-ray
Runtime	1:28:54 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:33:23.916
Video	1.74:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.9 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	Disc Size: 32,398,513,897 bytes Feature Size: 20,259,139,584 bytes Average Bitrate: 25.87 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	German, English, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, none	Burned-in yellow for non-English dialogue (see sample)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sazuma Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.74:1 Edition Details: • Italian trailer • US trailer • German trailer • Director filmography • Coming attractions with Sazuma DVD Release Date: December 1st, 2004 Transparent Skip case inside Metal Box / Individually Numbered Limited to 3,333 Edition Chapters: 16	Release Information: Studio: Shameless Disc Size: 32,398,513,897 bytes Feature Size: 20,259,139,584 bytes Average Bitrate: 25.87 Mbps Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • A Taste of the Jungle - one of the last ever Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi (21:49) • Hell in the Jungle - outspoken interview by Giovanni Lombardo Radice (33:16) • Video piece comparison of before and after 2K Restoration (3:30) • Exclusive Photos for Director Lenzi s own archives Blu-ray Release Date: July 30th, 2018 Custom Blu-ray case Chapters: 13

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Firstly, there have been other renditions beyond the two editions we are comparing here including a Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray with two versions - out-of-print HERE.

The Shameless 1080P / 24 frame transfer is on a dual-layered Blu-ray and despite having an occasional green cast is a significant leap over the 2004 Sazuma DVD with superior detail and consistent grain textures. It starts with this screen:

It also states: "ALL previous cuts(*) waived by BBFC and reinstated 1st time ever (* cuts relating to staged scenes of violence by & against humans - there are some animal torture scenes removed and substituted)." Although dismembering penis and like nastiness is retained. It looks okay in-motion without undue blemishes or excessive speckles. There is a split-screen segment on the 2K-restoration in the extras.

Shameless use a linear PCM audio track - 2.0 channel mono (16-bit). There are effects that seem to gain benefit from the depth of the uncompressed transfer and the score is credited to Roberto Donati (as Maglione) + Fiamma Maglione (as Budy) both working on Eaten Alive together - and is suitable in supporting Cannibal Ferox. There are yellow subtitles for the non-English (Spanish) dialogue in the film (sample below) It is a Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

Extras include a 21-minute interview with director Umberto Lenzi entitled A Taste of the Jungle - and it is cited as being one of the last. It is in Italian with English subtitles. Hell in the Jungle spends a 1/2 hour + with outspoken interview by Giovanni Lombardo Radice (aka 'Mike Logan') on the film and genre. There is a 3.5 minute video piece comparison of before and after 2K Restoration and a brief gallery with exclusive photos for Director Lenzi's own archives of behind the scenes stills of the production.

I don't own the Grindhouse and this seems a strong Blu-ray package for those keen on the cannibal exploitation genre. Certainly recommended to that niche.

***

ON THE DVD: The image quality is a pleasant surprise - no where near as bad as the film. It appears as though some real effort went into this for some unknown reason. It is a shade washed out, but I have seen worse. I suspect it is about as sharp an image as the lackluster original budget allowed. There is a pinkish haze over much of the film causing unusual skin tones. Advertised as 'Completely Remastered and transferred in Ultrabit' I expect this is the best quality of all the (public domain?) editions that are available. It is anamorphic, has original audio and a few international trailers as extras. It comes in a totally gaudy (but appropriate) metal case - perhaps to protect it from frequent attempts at being set on fire.