In retrospect, I probably should have warned Shaun aboot this film when I suggested it to him. But I honestly thought he could handle it. I'm sorry if this film upset you, bro.
This is one of the most infamous films ever made. Part of the reason for it is the legitimate animal slaughter depicted in the film. Director Ruggero Deodato never wanted this footage in the final film. It was added by the producers after the film was finished.
When Grindhouse Releasing decided to re-release the film onto DVD, Deodato requested that the animal footage be deleted. Grindhouse decided on a compromise. When the DVD is played, the main menu allows you to view the film uncut, or in an 'Animal cruelty free' version. This makes the film less exploitational while still keeping its power.
To me, the scariest parts do not have cannibalism or gore in them. It's the depravity of the documentary crew. When they find the girl on the spike, for example, and the main guy is actually LAUGHING that this girl has been butchered. Then the camera guy says something like 'Hey man, we're shooting!!' and then he pretends to be shocked and sickened. Scary stuff.
It is a nasty film, but I can't imagine that the film crew got any worse than what they deserved.
This film is the second most shocking film I have ever seen, second only to Men Behind The Sun, which is a mostly factual recreation of the atrocities commited by the Imperial Japanese Army during WW2. Camp 731 is in Manchuria, and is staffed by Japanese soldiers and scientists. Their mission is to find new and more efficient ways of killing the Chinese. To this end, they conduct brutal experiments, testing the limits of pain that a human can endure before they die.
What makes it even more disturbing is that it is told from the point of view of a group of Japanese youths, who have just been drafted into military service. Right from the get go, they are taught that the Chinese prisoners are not human, but rather merely material for experimentation. This is made all the more difficult as one of the Japanese boys befriends a Chinese boy who lives in a village outside the camp. What the Japanese do when they find out about this forbidden friendship haunts me to this day.
Men Behind the Sun is truly the holy grail of messed up movies. It was even too much for me, and I enjoyed Cannibal Holocaust. It's followed up by a film called Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre. I haven't worked up the stones to watch that one. The film is even more powerful because it's basically factual. The Japanese really did this stuff. So it's hard to dismiss it as just another exploitation film.
