Last Cannibal World (1977) – English
AKA: Ultimo Mondo Cannibale, Jungle Holocaust
Year: 1977
Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Starring: Massimo Foschi (Robert), Me Me Lai (Native woman), Ivan Rassimov (Rolf)
Country: Italy, European Cinema
Language: English
Runtime: 02:09:24
Genres: Cannibalism, Gore-Splatter, Violence Against-Relationships with Animals, Violence against Men, Rape-Violence against Women, Torture
Plot:
Ultimo Mondo Cannibale was Ruggero Deodato’s early cannibal venture before he made Cannibal Holocaust in 1980, and would later be more popularly known as Jungle Holocaust.
It follows a couple of prospectors, Robert and Rolf, who hire a plane headed for the jungles of Philippines. A camp has already been set up by the river and Robert is excited about milking the area. On reaching the camp however, they find everyone missing and decide to spend the night in the plane. A Filipino woman who’s part of their group steps out in the middle of the night for a wee and is grabbed by a group of cannibals who’ve been patiently waiting around. The next morning, Robert and co muster up the courage to go looking for her, only to find her body parts being enthusiastically eaten by the cannibals. With the pilot soon dead, Robert and Rolf put together a raft and to the tune of some optimistic music, try to sail away to freedom. Expectedly things don’t work out.
Unlike your typical cannibal exploitation movie, Last Cannibal World spends a good deal of time observing, through the eyes of Robert, the lives and habits of the tribes. The ‘Stone Age’ tribe is depicted sometimes hilariously, like when one of them tries to chomp on a wristwatch. While not quite in the league of Cannibal Holocaust, this is a significant milestone in the genre.
I wonder what’s the authenticity of this movie based on a “true” story. I’m searching for Robert Harper, but I can’t find anything about him online. It’s a surprise for me to find a movie involving this country from this website since I’ve been mostly watching their old mainstream movies. Also, a pity that the shooting location was actually done in Malaysia. As for the gore fest, there’s not really much except for the snuffs and the barbeque scene. The makeup or visuals for the gores don’t convince me that much because the blood looks fake. . . . Spoiler: For me, the trap that killed the pilot in the first 20 mins could’ve been used to raise the tension of the characters who were searching for the exit from the jungle. When Robert and Rolf created the raft and used it in the river, the crocodiles/alligator that were supposed to be hiding in this place were missing. I thought it was because the cannibals had eaten all the large animals in the area, but no, the other scene where the three of them swam through the river as they escaped proved otherwise. There’s so many scenes that they could have raised the danger and put the characters into an exciting thrilling situation, but they’ve wasted it. With how clumsy Robert is, it’s amazing how he was not still eaten by other animals during the entire time he was lost in the jungle. Was Me Me Lai’s role supposed to… Read more »