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Cannibal Terror AKA Terreur Cannibale AKA Terror Caníbal (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (15th March 2019). |
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The Film
 First there was CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980)… Then came CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)… But somewhere in France, someone was already hatching a plot to cash-in on the Italian intestinal classics with CANNIBAL TERROR (1981). With no budget, no professional actors and no flights to Amazonia, CANNIBAL TERROR instead gives us Deodato and Lenzi on a cash-strapped level and the end result is THE ROOM of cannibal movies!! Brilliant, banal and blood-soaked late night entertainment, CANNIBAL TERROR was also one of the infamous 'video nasties' in the UK - showing that our beloved censors and moral guardians have little in the way of a sense of humour! However, this torrid tale of stranded tourists being hunted by hungry natives is a work of demented genius that words can barely do service to - and it is our great pleasure to offer audiences another chance to see CANNIBAL TERROR, this time in a delirious HD special edition!
Video
Jesus wept! This is an ultra cheap French horror film made by Eurocine and although set in some far flung tropical place, obviously shot in a marsh and forest in Alicante with a bunch of Europeans made up to look like the cannibals. This is a truly shoddy tax-dodge of a film where the makers have obviously done the bare minimum to tell the story and probably improvised most of it on location (in Spain subbing for Brazil). One of those movies where the cast seemingly worked for food and brought their own clothes. At one point when the cannibals are eating some dude, it's obviously a pig carcus stuffed with cooked chicken and sausages! A film seriously flawed by the fact it is shit! In other words ... a great party film. As Mikel koven says in the extras, get some pals round and some reefer and enjoy! The good news is that this is a great transfer with a high bitrate and a fine encode. The image has some signs of print damage with the odd speck here and there which could've been removed but nothing to spoil enjoyment. Colours are rich and well defined; I noticed no bias to worry about in the gamma. The film favours a naturalistic and warm palette. Black levels are deep and rich and the contrast is supportive allowing detail to show up in closeups, medium and long shots nicely. Background detail is impressive given the hackwork direction and cinematography on display. Cannibal Terror looks far better here than it has any rights to. I'm sure this uses the same master utilised by Severin for their US Blu-ray combo with Devil Hunter (1980) ... which is also forthcoming from the fine folks at 88 Films. 1080/24p / MPEG-4 AVC / 1.66:1 / 93:41
Audio
English LPCM 2.0 Mono French LPCM 2.0 Mono Subtitles: English HoH The quality of the sound is solid if typically flat and unimpressive but that's no surprise considering that this is a Eurocine film and made for about 10p. They get the job done well enough for the purposes of the film with the odd moment of hiss and mild distortion. The French track is not only slightly more robust, but the dubbing performances are marginally better and it sounds louder and clearer. French is also the language spoken on set and it matches the lip movements a good deal more than the English. Subtitles are well done but are for the hard of hearing which means that it you watch this in the proper French you get descriptions of sound effects. It's also interesting that there's a good deal more dialogue on the English track than on the French, which proves very odd and at times confusing when watching this is the correct French. Alas, very shoddy work.
Extras
"That's Not the Amazon!: The Strange Story of the Eurociné Cannibal Film Cycle" documentary (47:15) Another fine documentary discussing specifically the Eurocine collection of cannibal-jungle adventure flicks. Talking heads mixed with clips to illustrate points. Academic Mikel J. Koven has plenty to say and is the most precise in his comments. I only wish he'd just keep his hands still! Deleted Scene (1:26) Short extended scene with some sexy dancing; nothing to get excited about. Theatrical Trailer (3:27) Cheestastic trailer typical of Eurocine. Gloss O-Card Slipcase Double Sided Sleeve art with choice of artworks These were not provided for review.
Overall
A truly terrible guilty pleasure gets a mostly topnotch release from 88 Films with a great transfer, well presented. The extras are also decent and on point. My only problem is that the subtitles are only hard of hearing for the English track so we get sound descriptions. Not only that, but there is obviously much more dialogue in the English track which leads to extraneous subtitles appearing when the definitive french track is used. This is the first time I've encountered this error from 88 Films, and although it's not disastrous it doesn't say much for the quality control.
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