In Thailand British photographer John Bradley accidentally kills a man in self defence and while he flees the country he is captured by a primitive tribe who think he is a fish god because he was wearing a scuba diving outfit. During his time with the tribe they slowly begin to respect him and after a harsh three day ritual he finally becomes a member.Although this is seen as the first official Italian made cannibal movie, there isn’t really much cannibalism in the movie except for one small scene near the end of the film.Ivan Rassimov is okay as John Bradley and his character who is in Thailand with his wife doesn’t give a second though about her after she leaves while he is watching a Thai boxing match and when he flees the country which I thought was a bit strange. There is also support from Me Me Lai as Rassimov’s love interest who as expected spends a lot of the film naked.The film is pretty violent even by today’s standards (although not as bad the Cannibal Holocaust), we have peoples tongues been cut out, a dead woman has her breast cut off then its eaten so its not really for the faint hearted but the most shocking and cruel scenes are the ones to do with the animals. In scene we see a mongoose fights a toothless Cobra and its pretty obvious who is going to win that one and a small crocodile has a knife stabs in the back of its neck and then has its insides cut out while it is still alive, there’s also a part where a monkey has the top of his head cut off and a goat has its throat slit which are all hard to watch.Overall a decent film but not one of director Umberto Lenzi’s best.DVD Quality is good and in widescreen
“Man from Deep River” is a gorgeous looking, rather lyrical and at times even thoughtful (if rather sluggish) voyage of discovery into the jungle, with a heavy romantic angle to boot, that still manages to deliver the rather less than thoughtful and lyrical scenes of graphic violence and exploitation.Though the animal deaths will be a step too far for many.But its also an historically important film from an Exploitation point of view that (although owing a debt to various earlier films) offered up many fascinating, controversial and unique for the time elements.Many of these elements would later be resurrected (as the film started its slow but popular 2 year trek across the globe) to form the basis for the excellent “Jungle Holocaust”, which would itself spawn the rest of that infamous group of extreme ‘Cannibal’ movies that still remain as controversial today as they were when they first slashed across cinema screens.It’s not the best of the Cannibal bunch for sure, though certainly not the worst, but it is perhaps the most vital.
movie has dated a bit nowadays, but still worth a watch, from an era that pissed off the censors, one of the better ‘nasties’
In Thailand British photographer John Bradley accidentally kills a man in self defence and while he flees the country he is captured by a primitive tribe who think he is a fish god because he was wearing a scuba diving outfit. During his time with the tribe they slowly begin to respect him and after a harsh three day ritual he finally becomes a member.Although this is seen as the first official Italian made cannibal movie, there isn’t really much cannibalism in the movie except for one small scene near the end of the film.Ivan Rassimov is okay as John Bradley and his character who is in Thailand with his wife doesn’t give a second though about her after she leaves while he is watching a Thai boxing match and when he flees the country which I thought was a bit strange. There is also support from Me Me Lai as Rassimov’s love interest who as expected spends a lot of the film naked.The film is pretty violent even by today’s standards (although not as bad the Cannibal Holocaust), we have peoples tongues been cut out, a dead woman has her breast cut off then its eaten so its not really for the faint hearted but the most shocking and cruel scenes are the ones to do with the animals. In scene we see a mongoose fights a toothless Cobra and its pretty obvious who is going to win that one and a small crocodile has a knife stabs in the back of its neck and then has its insides cut out while it is still alive, there’s also a part where a monkey has the top of his head cut off and a goat has its throat slit which are all hard to watch.Overall a decent film but not one of director Umberto Lenzi’s best.DVD Quality is good and in widescreen
“Man from Deep River” is a gorgeous looking, rather lyrical and at times even thoughtful (if rather sluggish) voyage of discovery into the jungle, with a heavy romantic angle to boot, that still manages to deliver the rather less than thoughtful and lyrical scenes of graphic violence and exploitation.Though the animal deaths will be a step too far for many.But its also an historically important film from an Exploitation point of view that (although owing a debt to various earlier films) offered up many fascinating, controversial and unique for the time elements.Many of these elements would later be resurrected (as the film started its slow but popular 2 year trek across the globe) to form the basis for the excellent “Jungle Holocaust”, which would itself spawn the rest of that infamous group of extreme ‘Cannibal’ movies that still remain as controversial today as they were when they first slashed across cinema screens.It’s not the best of the Cannibal bunch for sure, though certainly not the worst, but it is perhaps the most vital.