At Senseless Cinema, we have covered many of Bruno Mattei's classics, from golden age films such as Rats: Night of Terror (1984), Shocking Dark (1989), and Cruel Jaws (1995) (among others), as well as two horror films from Mr. Mattei's comeback before he died in 2007, Island of the Living Dead (2007) and Zombies: The Beginning (also 2007). One of the first films of his comeback was 2004's Cannibal World, also released as Cannibal Holocaust 2: The Beginning. All of these films show that Mr. Mattei never lost his touch as a director of terrifying horror films.
Reviewer taintedproductions writes, “awful…..just awful.” Reviewer Michael_Elliott writes, “This here was an ultra low-budget movie but that doesn't excuse how awful it actually is.” And reviewer Woodyanders writes, “We've got terrible acting from a lame no-name cast…, tin-eared profane dialogue, flat cinematography that makes this flick look like a cheap'n'seedy third world reality TV show, generic one-note characters…, a meandering narrative which unfolds at an unwieldy stop'n'go pace, and heavy-handed moralizing about the evils of the immoral modern media and how so-called ‘civilized’ man are far more cruel, deadly, and debased than any flesh-eating primitives.”
Read on for the truth about Bruno Mattei's Cannibal World...
The film opens by showing a TV news program, where a female news presenter tells us, “During the 20th century, society has made more advances than in the entire millennium. And yet, we shouldn’t forget that savages still exist on Earth—men whose social level has not gone past that of the stone age.” As footage of men performing a tribal dance appears behind her, she continues: “Primitive men who live in a world that says only the strongest survive. And to tell us about this, our four collaborators have just taken off for an extraordinary reportage to show us that technology prowess is not the only worthy goal of humanity. There can’t be science without an authentic conscience. And here are our courageous heroes.”
She introduces Grace Forsyte, Bob Manson, Cindy Blair, Ted Brandon, and Ricky Wallace. (Eagle-eyed viewers will note that this is a team of five people, not four as the newscaster indicated.)
The film cuts to live footage of Grace and Bob standing in front of a group of natives at the side of a river. Grace tells us, sensitively, “What you are about to see will, I imagine, send you out of your minds. The natives here are very primitive so what counts for them is one thing: survival.” Then all five correspondents wall past the camera. (Eagle-eyed viewers might question who is filming the five correspondents, but that detail is unimportant.)
They move closer to the people at the river, who are killing a pregnant woman because she has a disease. Grotesquely, they stab a knife into the woman’s belly while Grace and Bob grin, no doubt foreseeing huge ratings. As the cameras roll, the natives pull a bloody fetus (albeit one that appears to be held together by metal staples) from her womb. The film cuts back to Grace, who, true to her name, gets out of the scene gracefully: “By now, I would say that everybody’s experienced about enough. Thank you for watching, and goodbye from Grace Forsyteand Bob Manson.”
The film then cuts back in time (a title with an uncharacteristic typo tells us it is “some mouths [sic] before…”) to Hong Kong, where Grace walks through the city. At her broadcasting office, she is told that the program she hosts will be cancelled because of a “sudden fall in audience.” Grace is furious, yelling at her assistant (who wears, for no discernible reason) a black dress suitable for an evening party). She confronts her network boss as seductive jazz music plays on the soundtrack. “Cut out the femme fatale schtick,” he says. “The situation is serious.” He explains further, “The war in Iraq got all the top ratings. Now the bloodthirsty instinct of the public has been awakened.”
She tells him she has an idea. The film cuts to later, as Grace explains to her assistant that she wants to use Bob Manson, who is experienced in anthropological documentaries. He is now working in “Puerto Chuco. I hear it’s awful. In Venezuela, or Brazil.”
Cut to Bob Manson in Venezuela (or Brazil). He makes a long distance call to New York, where his own boss fires him because of low ratings. Surprisingly, Grace walks into his hotel at that same moment. “I’m here on a Bob Manson search,” she says.
“Why is it when you come I smell fire and brimstone,” he says eloquently. “What do you want?”
She reveals they used to be lovers, and that she will give him everything he wants. They fly to a luxury hotel where she explains herself, after she insults his last report on genocide. “Genocide sells little,” she explains profoundly. “Cannibalism more.” She continues, “The public that watches our kind of TV show doesn’t give a rat’s ass about a savage who dies of whooping cough or ulcers, but one who noshes on his mother-in-law’s spleen. They love it. It’s homey.”
Of course, when she mentions that everyone gets a one-million-dollar contract (“a million quails at a buck a head” is how she phrases it), he agrees to go along. After agreeing, he also agrees to go back to her hotel room.
They take a boat up the Amazon River, enjoying the climate of the Philippines--that is, South Ameria--then stopping at a trading post where they meet Father Schroeder, a German priest. When Bob introduces Grace to the priest, she says, “I confess I’m an atheist. I’m sorry.”
Father Schroder quips, “My lady, if even atheists are confessing nowadays, then maybe there’s some hope for this world after all.”
He arranges for the TV crew to interview some colorfully dressed natives. When Bob shows the lead native a crude necklace, the native through Schroeder tells them that an “invisible” tribe across the river uses such an amulet in their rituals. Nobody has contacted this tribe, so the crew heads out to search for them in canoes.
At one of their stops, Grace and Bob’s assistant Cindy change into bikinis and then remove their tops. They compete over the attentions of their native guide, Garcia. Grace whispers something secretive to Garcia about a mission she has for him—not innuendo but something to do with a future encounter with the natives.
Later, Bob hatches a plan to film an attack by caimans in the river, but since there are no caimans he wants their editor to splice in stock footage of the animals. Grace scoffs at his plan to fake an attack. “You’re back in prehistory, Bob. Today’s audience is more sophisticated.” She adds, presumably in reference to her whispering with Garcia, “Tomorrow I’ll show you what the real scoop is.”
Later, they trek through the jungle and find a blowdart on the ground. “It’s time, folks,” Grace says to camera. “In a moment, we’re gonna have our first look at a fierce tribe of cannibals.”
In fact, they do stumble upon a group of natives eating another native in the middle of the forest. The cannibals do not notice them, so Grace continues her commentary: “A horrible, disgusting spectacle. I just can’t find words to describe the horrifying scene taking place here. All our stomachs are jumping like palsied butterflies. I couldn’t imagine, ever, that things like this really still do exist.”
They see more cannibals approaching, so of course Grace says, “We’re in peril, so hold onto your hats!”
Surprisingly (but not to Grace), a group of men dressed in camouflage outfits and wielding rifles appears from the jungle. These are the Funai, “the agency that protects the local natives.” The soldiers shoot some of the cannibals, but then the cannibals attack with blowguns. An exciting battle ensues; fortunately, it is caught by Bruno Mattei’s cameras, but the camera crew working with Grace and Bob do not see much.
After the battle, the soldiers tell Grace the law is trying to put a stop to cannibalism to protect the non-cannibal natives. Bob scoffs. “So you protect them all by shooting them down?” He identifies a dead native as a Yamamura, a tribe that does not practice cannibalism. “They were taking part in one of their sacred ceremonies meant to rid the jungle of evil spirits.” (He does not explain why they were clearly eating a person if they are not cannibals.)
Meanwhile, Cindy and another crew member are giggling, for no apparent reason, over the bodies of other natives.
There follows a crucial scene from all films in the revered Italian cannibal genre: real animal cruelty. Garcia finds a small caiman to be eaten for dinner. Although the animal cruelty is shown on camera, Bruno Mattei wisely comments on this reprehensible spectacle by having Grace tell Bob, “My public wants one thing. It wants blood, you asshole! Now gut it, and fast! Who’s the man who had two large sea turtles decapitated to demonstrate the inestimable cruelty poachers are all known for?”
Grotesquely, the live animal is killed on camera, and the filmmakers cut back to Europe where the TV executives are watching live. They are satisfied with the brutality because the ratings are up almost 50%. Grace’s boss calls her via satellite phone. “Not bad,” he tells her, “but this is only the beginning. We need stronger stuff. Understand?”
When he hangs up, he looks at the camera and says, “You’re a big whore, Grace, but you’ve got a mind as devious as Cagliostro’s.”
Almost immediately, Grace’s crew stumbles upon another scene of cannibalism, which Bob describes as a “cannibal breakfast.” In another moment of sharp social satire, Bob adds on camera, “You’re wondering why all this mindless ferocity. It’s very hard to know, sitting in your comfortable low chair, a sack of popcorn there to munch on, and a beer. Satisfying, isn’t it? But the point is something has awakened the animal instinct of these savages. And that something is you and me. Civilized man.”
Grace objects to such criticism, as it will no doubt hurt ratings. But Garcia is more practical, telling them they have to leave. “If they see us, we’re next on their menu!”
At night around a campfire, they receive a satellite phone call from their bosses at the TV network. They will be nominated for Pulitzers, including the camera and sound work. The sound man says poetically, “The noise of cannibals crunching bones is music for the ears.”
Despite his earlier plan to fake footage of a caiman attack, Bob emerges as the conscience of the group. “How will we be earning this Pulitzer? With animal blood? With chicken livers? Fake cannibals? Or poisoning men with curare that isn’t there?”
“Leave the hypocrisy, Bob,” Grace says eloquently. “The men who win the old Pulitzer are the ones who pile it up the highest. All the people who boast.”
“You moronic fools. The true picture eludes you. These ‘savage cannibals’—not my description, yours—have always owned this place, securing their tribal traditions. And now they’re afraid.”
The next day, they discover a group of men carrying a topless woman suspended upside-down from a long bamboo pole. As the Europeans crouch behind bushes (a common pose for them), Grace asks, “So you still say that cannibals don’t exist, huh?” (This statement is effectively curious, as no cannibalism is evident until they follow the natives, where they of course kill and rip open the topless woman, then eat her guts raw.)
The cannibalism scene lasts several minutes, even making Cindy vomit. Grace is so affected by the bloody feeding frenzy that she grabs Bob’s rifle and shoots one of the cannibals—though she does it only to slow him down so they can track him to his village. The other cannibals simply run away.
The crew follows the man to the cannibal village, where Garcia points his rifle at one villager, forcing the man to wince (despite the natives’ presumable lack of experience with outsiders). As they move through the village, attracting the attention of the villagers, Grace and Bob hatch a plan to burn down the village. “That would attract a large audience,” Bob says, his conscience apparently left at the campfire last night.
“This will be the biggest thing that ever happened,” Grace says, grinning. “The massacre of the locals, attacked and killed by enemies. And all presented live on the air.” Perhaps regrettably, she adds, “It’s gonna be a hot time in the old town tonight.”
The TV people immediately begin stirring up the natives and using torches to burn down the villagers’ tiny huts. Horrifically, Bob instructs one cameraman to zoom in on children in a burning hut. “I want to see their faces,” Bob says.
“Yeah, right on,” replies the cameraman.
Grace begins narrating the broadcast, but Bob interrupts her, saying they have to stop filming because their lives are in peril. When they cut the camera, everyone begins laughing uproariously.
Back in Europe, the TV executives discuss some of the worst footage sent from the jungle. The chief executive believes some of the footage is too disturbing to air. (Bruno Mattei clearly understands the TV business much better than I do, as I thought the transmissions were live and already being broadcast to high ratings, but I was clearly mistaken.) He tells another executive they should cancel the show, both because it is disgusting and because the footage clearly shows criminal activity on the part of the documentarians. “Think if savages entered your house and destroyed everything, then lit a fire, burning you and your loved ones. Just to make a show beautiful! To make the audience happy with a horrible massacre. Does that seem civilized to you?”
The other executive disagrees. He will not cancel the program. “The law of ratings is devilish.”
They conduct a meeting and vote to continue airing the footage, so the first executive (whose character is named, incidentally, Bob Clark) quits, walks out of the room, and turns directly to camera. In a subtle nod to the end of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (1980), he says, “I ask myself, who is the real cannibal?”
Back in the jungle, Grace watches a burned old woman at death’s door, so she narrates, again so very eloquently, “When the old of the tribe feel that death is approaching, they go and hide and die someplace. A common trait with the animals.”
At night around a campfire, Grace narrates again to the camera, telling viewers they plan to go even further into the jungle to find the Invisible People. Grotesquely, she even holds up a burned, severed head to the camera, saying it is a warning from the natives.
The next day, the crew is suddenly surrounded by unknown natives. In the skirmish, Garcia is hit with a poison blowdart. Bob removes the dart and hacks off his arm at the shoulder, but he dies anyway.
They continue through the jungle (passing an unexplained wooden staircase with steel bars). They spot a teenage couple walking through the grass, so they grab the kids and immediately decapitate the boy so Bob can hold his head to the camera and say “They’re all headhunters.”
The girl knees her captor in the groin and runs, but they catch her and (perhaps inevitably) rape her. Grace objects. “We didn’t come to the jungle to shoot a porn film, for Christ’s sake!”
Bob, whose conscience has obviously abandoned him completely, replies, “That’s not a bad kind of idea! It’s porn in the jungle!”
After the disturbing rape scene, the TV crew kills the girl and ties her to a post. Mimicking the last act of Cannibal Holocaust, they film the girl as if they have stumbled upon her (even though they have just filmed themselves attacking her.) This brutal crime leads to the final act as they are set upon by a cannibal tribe. Ted runs after a group of them, then yells offscreen, “They got me!” This forces the crew to, unwisely, attempt to rescue Ted. When night falls, they reach the village, where Ted is strung up and the natives are piercing him with their spears. Then they pull down his pants and hack off his penis (though this is not shown explicitly).
Once Ted is dead, the crew decides to leave. Right away, Cindy is caught by a spike trap, cut open, and eaten. The others abandon her, but they are surrounded again and Grace is captured, then Bob. As they are beaten to death and eaten, Bob yells to the final survivor Rick to keep shooting.
Then Rick is bonked over the head with a club.
The film cuts back to Europe, where the executives watch the climax of the documentary and are forced to explain that the protection agency found the cameras and returned the footage to Europe. “It’s the last of Manson and Forsyte. Their final footage.” The executive turns directly to camera to say chillingly, “Manson and Forsyte are not dead, they’re only lost in the hellish green of the jungle. And soon avant-garde virtual techniques will enable the audience to find them. These tapes must be destroyed.”
The film ends with a newscast being broadcast that informs viewers the TV crew has been found alive and safe. The newscaster says, “They left, and now they’re back with us, and here’s their latest program.”
With the implication that virtual versions of the TV crew will continue their shows, the film cuts to footage from earlier in the film as the end credits roll.
The End
Outside of its qualities as a well-made piece of cinematic art (albeit shot on video), Cannibal World is a synthesis of what we now call "found footage" films, blending the themes and settings of one of the earliest such films, Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (1980) with the directness of the then-only-five-years-old Blair Witch Project (1999). In a way, Bruno Mattei has taken one of the most shocking films from the 1980s and wedded it with the commercial sensibilities and potential of one of the most shocking films from the turn of the 21st century. How could Cannibal World fail to be a masterpiece?
If anything, Cannibal World improves upon Cannibal Holocaust's message about modern man being as savage and cannibalistic as the "primitive savages" of the jungle. In fact, Bruno Mattei's film repeats this theme in dialogue at almost every turn, reflecting the increased bloodlust of the viewing public in 2004 (the height of the Iraq War, subtly mentioned in this film's dialogue). When TV executive Bob Clark asks "Who is the real cannibal?" the answer is clearly Bob Clark himself. Or possibly the documentary crew. Or maybe the viewer. Or, also, civilized humanity. It is hard to imagine a more coherent, hard-hitting message to modern viewers, and it is fitting that such a chilling message marked the successful return of Bruno Mattei to the horror film world back in 2004.