Written by Frank Acosta, 5/8/2016
Warning: Contains graphic violent imagery, profanity, and mature subjects. If you are underage or easily offended please exit this page now.
In the year 1980, a film was released upon the world that contained nudity and very vigorous violence depicting putrid scenes of gore that even the bravest and most veteran moviegoers were shocked to see. The film contained actual scenes of animal cruelty where seven different types of animals were killed on screen. A woman is sacrificially punished for adultery by being tied against a tree and getting raped repeatedly with a rock. A man is fed the intestines of a missing American filmmaker during a ceremonial cannibalistic dinner. A nude woman is impaled through her… “Hershey highway” straight through her open mouth.
Ten days after the film was released, the director was arrested on the grounds of this being a real “found footage” film in where he actually murdered the people on screen, establishing the flick as a snuff film. The marketing for the film didn’t help, as this was exactly the direction they were going for and the director had told the actors to hide form the public eye.
Facing the rest of his life behind bars, he tracked down the actors in the film proving to the court that they were indeed alive, and even showed how the special effects were made. All charges of murder were immediately dropped and the court, I can only assume, looked at the director and proceeded to wonder what type of childhood this man had. So come with me as we pay an Ode to Our Fright Master:
Ruggero Deodato, May 7th, 1939
In his earlier years, Deodato directed western films and comedy musicals, but it wasn’t until 1977 where he forayed into the adventure/horror with his film Jungle Holocaust.
For those who don’t speak Italian, the title translates to Last Cannibal World, but as most movies, that gets lost in translation this one was dubbed to the title we know now of. The story is simple in terms of cannibalistic adventure horror movies go, a plane carrying a group of oil prospectors is damaged after a rather bumpy landing. Soon after, it’s them vs. a cannibalistic tribe.
In the end, who is left standing and what actions did they take to survive? Through scenes of fondling a man’s throat tickler, being peed on by natives while being starved to death in a cave, to where an alligator is skinned and gutted alive for consumption, and of course who can forget (as much as you may try to) the birthing scene where the newborn is thrown into a river for alligator chow, it really begs the question in the end to “what the hell did I just watch?!”
Whether by boat or plane, all modes of transportation always fail when encountering an unknown tribe who may or may not like the taste of human flesh. More often than not, they do. Take a fucking hint here people.
The movie showcases a lot of full frontal nudity, both male and female so while scouring the net to find pictures, I came across a lot of these. I cannot, for obvious reasons show them, so here’s this picture I did find:
That’s nice, isn’t it?
In 1980, he returned the genre he helped craft. Not really a sequel to Jungle Holocaust, he just probably thought “Hey. I really liked that film I made a few years back about the potential dangers of oil mining and the lost world of tribesman and their traditions. How can I make another one that’s a little different but maybe not as controversial?” So he made this one right here:
Everything I described in the introduction comes from this flick right here. But do not be fooled friends, the soft rom-com 80’s music score over the titles does not indicate that this film is your cliched “Boy meets girl. Girl hates boy. Boy does something incredible romantic. Girl falls for him. They fall in love,” type of flick. Did you guys not read the intro? Go on, read it again. I’ll wait here…
Okay you’re back? See? the man was arrested for a damn reason folks! But these movies aren’t to say that every undiscovered tribe is cannibalistic. They’re fiction for the most part. But as Oscar Wilde once said, “life imitates art, far more than art imitates life,”. Just ask Michael Rockefeller. Oh wait, you can’t.
Any who, moving on… Ruggero Deodato took a different route with his next flick as it was not about cannibals. Instead he focused on rapists. Not so much a good Segway into a different type of movie but hey…I don’t-I don’t have anything to add to that.
House on the Edge of the Park is an old fashioned cat and mouse game where a rapists/serial killer and his dimwitted friend take over a party and turn the hosts into hostages. There’s plenty of nudity, violence, and gore to keep a true horror fan occupied. Nothing is as it seems however and the story takes a nice surprise turn of events.
Again, a lot of nudity here folks so, unfortunately, no pictures. I did find this one though:
Look at them. They’re on Mars! Too cute.
Deodato has been working consistently within the 80’s, 90’s, and the 2000’s. Movies such as Cut and Run, Body Count, and Phantom of Death definitely warrant a viewing or two as they are prime examples of a master doing what he loves doing best. Killing people, apparently.
Perhaps we will delve further, deep into these films in the future but for now, patience my friends. Maybe I have instilled some knowledge of a director some of you may not know and now want to discover, and for those who do know his name may want to rediscover him.
So Happy Birthday, Mr. Ruggero Deodato! Because without you, we would have never known that not all toasters can be brave. Or not to fuck with tribes living in the jungles of God-knows-where. Take your pick, people.