88 Films, out now

 

When a kidnapping goes wrong, the criminals escape into cannibal country, not realising that the authorities in hot pursuit are the least of their worries.

In the summer of 1983 the UK DPP published a list of ‘Video Nasties’, tapes that were removed from the shelves of video libraries of fear of corrupting the young. 1981’s Cannibal Terror was on that list, though was never prosecuted. As a bloodthirsty gorehound in my early teens the video nasties were essentially a shopping list of what I wanted to see. I never saw Cannibal Terror at the time, and frankly wish I hadn’t now.

Cannibal films are by their very definition exploitation movies of the most extreme degree, featuring the ritual humiliation, torture and consumption of (typically nude female) victims. The Italian cannibal films were particularly vicious, and as with any success, they spawned cheap imitators. Cannibal Terror is one of a cycle of cheapo Spanish cannibal flicks churned out by the Eurocine stable. Actors, directors and scripts were interchangeable between productions, and they were all low-rent.

This 1981 clunker manages to be misogynistic, racist, voyeuristic and rubbish in equal measures. The cannibals are Caucasians with black wigs and face paint, doing silly, uncoordinated tribal dances and wearing loincloths with their regular underpants showing underneath. The gore is courtesy of a barrel of butcher shop entrails, the poor cannibal actors clearly handling raw meat and having to pretend that they are eating it.

This nonsense is filmed in and around Alicante, and the ‘jungle’ is clearly scrubland and woods. By adding a background track of cicadas and a single squawking parrot they try to convince us that we’re in the Amazon – we’re clearly not. The same shots are shown over and again to boost the running time, scenes are cut in from other movies, and there’s a rape scene that’s juxtaposed with consensual lovemaking – really problematic and seedy.

The one saving grace for this release is 47-minute documentary ‘That’s not the Amazon! The Strange Story of the Eurocine Cannibal Cycle’ which features interviews with horror experts Calum Waddell, Allan Bryce and John Martin. Packed with clips and insight, I feel they are a little too forgiving, but they’re under no illusion what Euro trash this is.

Verdict: One can forgive mismatched dubbing or cliched storytelling, but this is a grubby, mean little film that lacks any craft and was only made to grab a few pesetas at the box office. Possibly one of those occasions where the DPP got it right. Just offal.   3/10

Nick Joy