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Man From Deep River (1972) - Umberto Lenzi

Disgusting. This movie is gross. Man From Deep River, aka Sacrifice!, aka Il paese del sesso selvaggio, aka Deep River Savages is a disgusting cannibal exploitation grind-house film from Italy. This is my first viewing of the genre. It turned my stomach pretty badly. There are senseless scenes of animals meeting their demise in front of the camera. It is like a snuff film based in animalia.

The plot of this piece revolves around a British photographer that is taken in by a tribe somewhere in the jungles of Thailand. He eats monkey brains. Witnesses the mutilation of various animals including Pigs, Alligators, and Snakes. It is only a matter of time before the cannibalism kicks in and the tribe that he is with eats a young woman.

The story moves pretty slowly and is hampered by terrible audio and forgettable shots. For a great deal of the film our main character witnesses animals being killed and then retreats for veracious love making with his tribal bride, then right back to animal cruelty. Its just killing, sex, killing, sex for a good forty minuets of the movie.

If this is any indication of how movies like Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox are going to go then I am going to be sorely disappointed. This movie was trite and too slow moving to really catch an interest. This movie is one of many movies to be banned in the UK and dubbed a Video Nasty by the censorship committee at the time. The movie does feature a large amount of gore. I am usually a pretty big fan of gore but I don't like this movie. It just didn't sit right with me.

I'm a human being, like you! I'm a man, not a fish!  

S!D

  • The film Cannibal Ferox, also directed by Umberto Lenzi, was originally released in Australia as "Woman from Deep River" in order to draw an implied connection with this film.
  • The film is considered to be the first "cannibal film", a sub genre of European exploitation films that was prevalent in Grindhouse cinema in the late seventies and early eighties.
  • Filmed in Bangkok, Thailand

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