Jess Franco had to jump on the cannibal movie bandwagon sooner or later, and finally did it with this 1980 gut-muncher. It's terrible in pretty much every way, but for some reason it manages to hold your attention. I cannot quite put my finger on why.
A doctor (the gargantuanly awful Al Cliver, from Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE), his wife and daughter are aboard a boat in the Amazon doing some sort of medical research. The boat is attacked by cannibals who eat the wife right there on the deck. They kidnap the doctor and chop off his arm. Meanwhile, the daughter jumps off the boat and washes up down river. Some passing cannibals believe she is the "white goddess." They take her back to the village where she becomes part of the tribe.
Ten or so years later, the doctor returns to the area to find her. She has turned into a vacant-eyed hottie with perfect blonde hair and a cute butt. Slowly she remembers who he is and they head back to civilization together, after the doctor has won a one-armed fight with the daughter's cannibal husband.
MONDO CANNIBALE (aka "CANNIBALS") looks like it was shot in someone's backyard, has some of the worst English dubbing I've ever heard and gore effects that consist of little more than hunks of meat soaked in fake blood being gnawed on by extras. The cannibals themselves look ridiculous in their loincloths and greasepaint and the score can best be described as "disco tribal" music.
Despite all this, however, the movie did hold my attention, if only to see just how awful it could get. Being directed by Jess Franco, there's an atmosphere of seediness to temper the technical ineptitude. I certainly didn't get tired of seeing the daughter cavorting around in nothing but a leather g-string and there are plenty of unintentional laughs along the way as well.
Blue Underground's DVD presents the movie remastered and looking far better than it has any right to. There's also a funny, charming interview with Franco in which he reveals he's well aware of how terrible the movie is and his distaste for the cannibal subgenre in general.
Recommended for cannibal movie completists only.
A doctor (the gargantuanly awful Al Cliver, from Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE), his wife and daughter are aboard a boat in the Amazon doing some sort of medical research. The boat is attacked by cannibals who eat the wife right there on the deck. They kidnap the doctor and chop off his arm. Meanwhile, the daughter jumps off the boat and washes up down river. Some passing cannibals believe she is the "white goddess." They take her back to the village where she becomes part of the tribe.
Ten or so years later, the doctor returns to the area to find her. She has turned into a vacant-eyed hottie with perfect blonde hair and a cute butt. Slowly she remembers who he is and they head back to civilization together, after the doctor has won a one-armed fight with the daughter's cannibal husband.
MONDO CANNIBALE (aka "CANNIBALS") looks like it was shot in someone's backyard, has some of the worst English dubbing I've ever heard and gore effects that consist of little more than hunks of meat soaked in fake blood being gnawed on by extras. The cannibals themselves look ridiculous in their loincloths and greasepaint and the score can best be described as "disco tribal" music.
Despite all this, however, the movie did hold my attention, if only to see just how awful it could get. Being directed by Jess Franco, there's an atmosphere of seediness to temper the technical ineptitude. I certainly didn't get tired of seeing the daughter cavorting around in nothing but a leather g-string and there are plenty of unintentional laughs along the way as well.
Blue Underground's DVD presents the movie remastered and looking far better than it has any right to. There's also a funny, charming interview with Franco in which he reveals he's well aware of how terrible the movie is and his distaste for the cannibal subgenre in general.
Recommended for cannibal movie completists only.