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(aka "Schiave bianche: violenza in Amazzonia" or "Cannibal Holocaust 2" or "White Slave")

 

directed by Mario Gariazzo
Italy 1985

 

Young Catherine Miles (Elvire Audray, THE SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS) is facing trial in the Amazon for the murders of two people, and her lawyer has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of extenuating circumstances. In flashback, she tells of leaving her boarding school in London to join her parents at their rubber plant in the Amazon. On her eighteenth birthday, she takes a trip down the river with her parents only for them to be ambushed by headhunters who murder her parents and sweep her temporarily blow-dart-paralyzed nubile form (and her parents' heads) off into the jungle and back to their village. Young warrior Umukai (Will Gonzales) takes a protective stance towards her when it comes to the undesired attentions of the chief, and Catherine starts to feel conflicted in her hatred for him for murdering her parents. As she is initiated into the tribe (ritualistically deflowered) and even wins the admiration of the tribe (who believe her to have magic when she treats a warrior's broken leg), she continues to plot her escape; but she discovers that there are more dangers than the wilds of the jungle and lurking cannibals in her subsequent brushes with civilization.

Released stateside as WHITE SLAVE through Charles Band's Empire Pictures, AMAZONIA is also known as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST II (and not the only Italian film from this period to have that alternate title), and that does seem to be the aim of director Mario Gariazzo (THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW) and crew with its contrast of the "savagery" of the natives and the white man, as well as the theme song of Franco Campanino (TO BE TWENTY.) It's not really a cannibal film; in some ways, it's more like Umberto Lenzi's MAN FROM DEEP RIVER with its white character adjusting to life among head hunters with the cannibals as an enemy tribe (more of a gory, sexed-up throwback to jungle serials and pulp fiction). The film is gorgeously photographed by Silvano Ippoliti (CALIGULA) - aside from the National Geographic stock footage of variable photographic quality and condition - with some striking visual set-pieces (partially thanks to some fine jungle art direction), and there's a fair amount of gore courtesy of Franco Di Girolamo (NIGHTMARE CITY) and Rosario Prestopino (PHENOMENA and DEMONS) but little gut-munching (and less animal cruelty than normal for the genre except for a couple kills by a leopard and a wincing bit with a snake). The flashback structure does take away from both the film's suspense, but it does allow on to indeed question some of her claims (although the annoying prosecutor's objections voice-over objections dash away any sense of doubt). There are surely better examples of the genre - for those who enjoy it - and AMAZONIA may more interesting as part of Mario Gariazzo's job-of-work filmography that stretched from sixties spaghetti westerns to seventies horror/sci-fi/crime.

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 9 August 1985 (Italy)

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Comparison:

88 Films - Region 0 - PAL vs. 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the DVD Review!

1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

Box Cover

 

Distribution

88 Films

Region 0 - PAL

88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:26:27 (4% PAL speedup) 1:30:15.410
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.5 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 41,365,742,599 bytes

Feature: 27,353,401,344 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: 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 DTS-HD Master Audio English 1572 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1572 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Italian 1572 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1572 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles none English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: 88 Films

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Theatrical Trailer (4:3; 2:26)
• Alternate 'White Slave' Title Sequence (16:9; 2:00)
• Trailers for ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, ‘Puppet Master’, ‘Dr. Alien’, ‘Puppet Master II’, ‘Tourist Trap’, ‘Mandroid’, ‘Reel Evil’, ‘Puppet Master III’, ‘Castle Freak’, and ‘Slave Girls from Beyond
• Infinity'

DVD Release Date: September 16th, 2013
Amaray

Chapters 12

Release Information:
Studio:
88 Films

 

1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 41,365,742,599 bytes

Feature: 27,353,401,344 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

The Last Supper - The Final Days of the Cannibal Film (51:19)
• An Italian in Amazonia - interview with Cameraman Federico Del Zoppo (14:24)
• Trailer (2:33)


Blu-ray Release Date: August 2
0th, 2018
Standard Blu-ray Case inside cardboard slipcase

Chapters 8

 

 

Comments

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

88 Films have brought Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story to 1080P and is described as a "Brand New 2K Transfer of the Film From the Original Camera Negative". The source still has some speckles and frame-specific damage (see sample at bottom) but is a significant advancement over the 88 Film's older DVD where the marks seem more visible. It is in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and show slightly less information in the bottom of the frame but significantly more on both side edges than the 1.78:1 SD transfer. Colors (flesh tones) warm and normalize and detail in the film's close-ups is a strong telltale of the higher resolution. It is also in the theatrical running time - no PAL speedup.

88 Films offer both Italian and English language tracks - both in DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel tracks (16-bit) and, while still a weak aspect of the production, comes through with some depth, occasional sync issues and the giallo-leaning score by Franco Campanino. Jungle sounds and the tribal noises are fairly s\clean establishing atmosphere and 88 Films have added optional English subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray disc.

88 Films load up on the supplements. The Last Supper - The Final Days of the Cannibal Film runs almost 52-minutes this documentary and follow-up to the award winning Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film and includes interviews with actor Michael Sopkiw, directors Ed Sanchez and Ruggero Deodato, academics Mikel Koven and Calum Waddell and author and critic John Martin! Also included are the 1/4 hour An Italian in Amazonia which is an interview with Cameraman Federico Del Zoppo who talks about hurdles of the production. There is a trailer and the first pressings have a booklet; The Life and Times of Elvire Audray by Dr. Colin Waddell; a collector's booklet on the life and times of Amazonia actress Elvire Audray plus a reversible sleeve featuring 2 alternative original artworks.

The Blu-ray is a significant advancement in all areas - audio, video and extras. A cool remnant of the 'Cannibal Exploitation' era. The HD presentation enhances the film experience making it appear far mroe cohesive accentuating the 'narrated' adventure and horror aspects. Recommended!

***

ON THE DVD: AMAZONIA was previously released in the United States in two versions. The first was Media Blaster's Shriek Show edition which used the European master seen here. Full Moon released their own edition using their Empire Pictures video master for WHITE SLAVE (released on tape by Force Video). 88 Films' single-layer, anamorphic transfer utilizes the anamorphic European master as well. It's obviously superior for being anamorphic widescreen and a newer transfer, but the circa-2005 master has obvious edge enhancement marring what seemed like a good source (outside of the variable stock footage). The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is in good condition.

The only extras are the film's international trailer, the U.S. "WHITE SLAVE" title sequence (it would have been nice to see an American trailer for the film), and trailers for other 88 Films/Full Moon releases.

  - Eric Cotenas


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88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 


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Subtitle Sample 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 

 

1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


 

1) 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL TOP

2) 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

More 88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray Captures

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Box Cover

 

Distribution

88 Films

Region 0 - PAL

88 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray



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