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Il paese del sesso selvaggio | |
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Directed by | Umberto Lenzi |
Written by | Francesco Barilli Massimo D'Avak |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Riccardo Pallottini |
Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso |
Music by | Daniele Patucchi |
Distributed by | Media Blasters (United States) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Languages | Italian Burmese |
Il paese del sesso selvaggio (English: The Country of Savage Sex), also known as Man From Deep River, Deep River Savages and Sacrifice!, [1] [2] is a 1972 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Ivan Rassimov, Me Me Lai and Pratitsak Singhara. It is perhaps best known for starting the "cannibal boom" of Italian exploitation cinema during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
It is theorized that Lenzi was trying to imitate the content of notorious Mondo cinema, which had gained considerable popularity in grindhouse theaters since Gualtiero Jacopetti and Paolo Cavara had made Mondo Cane in 1962, [3] even though this film is fictional. Like Man from Deep River, Mondo films often focus on exotic customs and locations, graphic violence, and animal cruelty.
The film and its title were mainly inspired by A Man Called Horse , [4] which also featured a white man who is incorporated into a tribe that originally held him captive.
British photographer John Bradley is assigned to photograph wildlife in the Thai rainforest. John attends a boxing match in Bangkok with a woman who becomes frustrated and walks out on him. An unidentified man then follows John to a bar and confronts him with a knife, but John turns the weapon against the man, kills him, and flees.
The next day, John rents a canoe and guides to take him down the river into the rainforest. The guide, Tuan, mentions his concerns about traveling so far, but John agrees to return after one more day.
John falls asleep and awakens to find Tuan dead. A native tribe captures John in a net and carries him to their village, where the chief, Luhanà, is told they have captured a large fish-man. John is then hung in the net from a pole and witnesses the execution of two war criminals by the tribe, which is at war with another more primitive tribe of cannibals, the Kuru. John labels his captor tribe as murderers.
Hanging in the net for hours, John attracts the attention of Marayå, the chief's daughter, who convinces her father that John is not a fish-man, just a man. Luhanà agrees to release John as Marayå's slave and locks him in a shack, where Marayå's governess Taima, an English-speaking missionary child, tells him that he will be released as Marayå will be soon married to Karen. Luhanà interrupts and unties John because it is the day of the Feast of the Sun. When a helicopter flies overhead, and John attempts to be rescued, he is subdued by warriors who nearly kill him, but Marayå intervenes. John then plans an escape, and Taima agrees to help.
1 month later, a building accident kills a young laborer. As John watches the funeral ceremonies and is shocked by the rituals of the natives, Taima tells John that now is his time to escape. He does, but Karen and a group of warriors corner him, and he kills Karen. Afterward, the tribe incorporates John as one of them, putting him through rituals and torture until he is released and accepted as a warrior. He uses his knowledge of modern technology and medicine to help the tribe but then becomes an enemy of the tribe's witch doctor. John and Marayå become fond of each other and are soon married. The two consummate, resulting in her eventual pregnancy, but a black butterfly flies over the two lovers during conception, portending doom.
6 months after his capture, John finally accepts his new life with Marayå. As John and other village warriors stave off an attack party of Kuru cannibals who are consuming a young girl, John participates in activities he had once condemned. When he returns, Marayå has fallen ill from the pregnancy and is blind, so he decides to take her back to civilization for modern medicinal treatment. Taima helps them escape, but she is caught and punished, while John and Marayå are forced to return.
Marayå goes into labor, and John rejects the witch doctor's help. The Kuru return to attack and set fire to the village before John and the other warriors can react. John takes Marayå to safety until the cannibals withdraw, and when he points out a black butterfly overhead, Marayå reveals that it signifies death. Marayå dies following childbirth, and John wanders through the jungle, reminiscing about her. Another helicopter flies overhead, and after contemplation, John takes cover with the rest of his tribe.
Though the "cannibal boom" of the 1970s and 1980s did not start until Ruggero Deodato released his film Ultimo mondo cannibale in 1977, [5] Man from Deep River is seen as either the inspiration or the beginning of the cannibal genre, [6] [7] [8] as the combination of the rain forest setting and onscreen cannibalism was not seen until its release [4] However, director Umberto Lenzi said that cannibalism was not intended to be the film's central theme. [4]
When released in America, it would prove successful on Times Square's 42nd Street under the title of Sacrifice!, [7] offering the opportunity for similar films to enjoy that same success (which ultimately proved to be the case). Lenzi was even given the chance to direct Ultimo mondo cannibale, but the producers chose Ruggero Deodato when they refused to match Lenzi's price. [4] Lenzi would, however, make a follow-up in 1980 with his film Eaten Alive!—which even featured the grindhouse theaters of 42nd Street that had made Man from Deep River famous [9] —and his most famous film, Cannibal Ferox (1981).
Other than being the first cannibal film, Man from Deep River is also notorious for several scenes of extreme violence and gore, which is standard for the genre. Though several scenes of torture and cruelty are present, its inclusion of several on-screen slayings of animals has tended to land the film in hot water with censors all over the world.
A large amount of the film's notoriety comes from its inclusion in the UK's list of video nasties, films that the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) deemed obscene. Though it was rejected for cinema release and certification by the BBFC in 1975, [10] it was still able to make it to a video release under the title Deep River Savages. When the DPP compiled the "video nasties" in 1983, Deep River Savages made its way onto the list. In 1984, the Video Recordings Act was instated by the British Government, and Deep River Savages was banned from the UK in its entirety (largely due to the real animal killings). In 2003, Deep River Savages was again brought before the BBFC; it was passed with a certificate of 18 after being edited by nearly four minutes to remove all animal cruelty present, and was again subject to three minutes of similar edits when resubmitted in 2016. [11] Despite the controversy surrounding the film's UK release, Man from Deep River was passed with a simple R rating by the MPAA in the United States. [12]
Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette in the early 1980s that were criticised by the press, social commentators, and various religious organisations for their violent content. These video releases were not brought before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to a loophole in film classification laws that allowed videos to bypass the review process. The resulting uncensored video releases led to public debate concerning the availability of these films to children due to the unregulated nature of the market.
Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian cannibal film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers that have gone missing while filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes.
Umberto Lenzi was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist.
Ruggero Deodato was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Cannibal Ferox, also known as Make Them Die Slowly in the US and as Woman from Deep River in Australia, is a 1981 Italian cannibal exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. Upon its release, the film's US distributor claimed it was "the most violent film ever made". Cannibal Ferox was also claimed to be "banned in 31 countries", although this claim is dubious. The title derives from the Latin ferox, meaning cruel, wild or ferocious.
Cannibal films, alternatively known as the cannibal genre or the cannibal boom, are a subgenre of horror films made predominantly by Italian filmmakers during the 1970s and 1980s. This subgenre is a collection of graphically violent movies that usually depict cannibalism by primitive, Stone Age natives deep within the Asian or South American rainforests. While cannibalism is the uniting feature of these films, the general emphasis focuses on various forms of shocking, realistic and graphic violence, typically including torture, rape and genuine cruelty to animals. This subject matter was often used as the main advertising draw of cannibal films in combination with exaggerated or sensational claims regarding the films' reputations.
Me Me Lai, sometimes billed as Me Me Lay or Meme Lay, is a Burmese-British actress and television host who worked mainly in British and Italian films, most notably in the horror genre.
Ovidio Gabriel Assonitis is an Egyptian-born Greco-Italian entertainment executive, film producer, screenwriter, and director best known for his numerous B-horror films including Beyond the Door, Tentacles,The Visitor, and Piranha II: The Spawning.
Ultimo mondo cannibale is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfranco Clerici and Renzo Genta. Starring Massimo Foschi, Me Me Lai and Ivan Rassimov, the plot follows a man trying to escape from a jungle island inhabited by a cannibal tribe.
Ultime grida dalla savana, also known as by its English title Savage Man Savage Beast, is a 1975 Italian mondo documentary film co-produced, co-written, co-edited and co-directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra. Filmed all around the world, its central theme focuses on hunting and the interaction between man and animal. Like many mondo films, the filmmakers claim to document real, bizarre and violent behavior and customs, although some scenes were actually staged. It is narrated by the Italian actor and popular dubber Giuseppe Rinaldi and the text was written by Italian novelist Alberto Moravia.
Slave of the Cannibal God is a 1978 Italian horror film starring Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach, with English dialogue, that was filmed in Sri Lanka. The film was also widely released in the U.S. in 1979 by New Line Cinema, and released in the U.K. under the title Prisoner of the Cannibal God, with a poster designed by Sam Peffer. The film was banned in the U.K. until 2001 for its graphic violence and considered a "video nasty."
Eaten Alive! is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film is about a young woman who is searching for her sister after her abduction by a cult in the jungles of New Guinea.
The Tough Ones is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi and first entry into the Tanzi/Moretto/Monnezza shared universe .
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, also known as Trap Them and Kill Them, is a 1977 Italian sexploitation cannibal film directed by Joe D'Amato. The film involves photojournalist Emanuelle, who encounters a cannibalistic woman bearing a tattoo of an Amazonian tribe in a mental hospital. Along with Professor Mark Lester, the two travel to the Amazon with a team to discover the source of the long-thought-extinct tribe that still practices cannibalism today.
Sabrina Siani is an Italian film actress. She also used pseudonyms such as Sabrina Sellers and Sabrina Syan. She starred in numerous films, mostly violent cannibal films and sexy barbarian "sword-and-sandal" movies, and most of her films were made in a three-year period between the ages of 17 and 20. Siani retired from acting entirely in 1989, at age 26.
Dolce e selvaggio is a 1983 Italian mondo film directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra. The title "Sweet and Savage" refers to the juxtaposition of pleasant 'sweet' and violent 'savage' imagery within the film. It is narrated by the producer and long-time Mondo film director Franco Prosperi.
Cannibal Terror is a 1981 French cannibal exploitation film directed by Alain Deruelle written by Julio Pérez Tabernero, H.L. Rostaine and Jesús Franco as an uncredited co-writer on the film. It stars Silvia Solar, Pamela Stanford, Olivier Mathot and Antonio Mayans. Released at the end of the "cannibal boom", the film is a French production, unlike most other cannibal films, which were predominantly made by Italian filmmakers.
Mondo Cannibale is a 1980 Spanish-Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Jesús Franco and stars Al Cliver and a then-17 year old Sabrina Siani. It is one of two cannibal films directed by Franco starring Cliver, the other being Devil Hunter.
Umberto Lenzi was an Italian film director whose filmography encompassed a ranges of genres across a prolific career. Born in Massa Marittima, Tuscany, Lenzi studied law before enrolling at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. As part of his studies, he wrote and directed the short film Ragazzi di Trastevere, based on Pier Paolo Pasolini's novel Ragazzi di vita. During this time, he worked as a film critic for the Centro's journal Bianco e Nero, and was an avid follower of both European and American films, favouring the work of directors John Ford, Raoul Walsh, and Michael Curtiz.
Natura contro, also known in English as The Green Inferno and Cannibal Holocaust II, is a 1988 Italian cannibal adventure film directed by Antonio Climati. Climati had no intention of making a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust, and the title was used by distributors of the film to cash in on the success and notoriety of the earlier film.
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