Cannibal Ferox aka Make Them Die Slowly

Umberto Lenzi, Italy, 1981, 35mm, 1.85, colour, 93′

SAT September 20 / 23.00 / Slovenian cinematheque

Anthropologist Gloria Davis sets off into the Paraguay rain forest with her brother Rudy and their friend Pat to prove her theory is correct and cannibalism is merely a myth. But the trio soon encounter Mike, a New York drug dealer on the run from a native tribe of flesh-eating cannibals. Or so he says…

Umberto Lenzi’s ultra-exploitational ‘splatter’, which manages to break every existing taboo of cultural, sexual and all-round political correctness, the boundaries of good (and good bad) taste, not to mention cruelty to animals, is at once the apotheosis and the final breath of the infamous Italian cannibal cycle of the 70s and early 80s which originated with Lenzi’s own Il paese del sesso selvaggio aka Deep River Savages in 1972 and reached its zenith with Ruggero Deodato’s notorious Cannibal Holocaust (1979). The dormant subgenre was rightfully awakened last year by Eli Roth whose The Green Inferno is a full-blooded ode to the cannibal subgenre with transgressive zeal and humorous esprit worthy of the originals.

“I am a young, unpretentious director, but I think my films are not to be despised, especially in this moment which is very difficult for Italian cinema … My secret and the only way for Italian film industry to survive: to make low-budget movies which look classy and lush. And it’s not easy, you know?”
– Umberto Lenzi