... aka: Cannibal World
... aka: Deep River Savages
... aka: Man from Deep River
... aka: Man from the Deep River, The
... aka: Mondo cannibale
... aka: Sacrifice!
Directed by:
Umberto Lenzi
1970 saw the release of Elliot
Silverstein's A Man Called Horse, a western set in 1825 detailing
British aristocrat John Morgan's (Richard Harris) capture by, and eventual
integration into, a tribe of Sioux Indians. The film quickly gained a lot
of notoriety thanks to a lengthy, gruesome "Sun Vow ritual" scene where
John is strung up in a tree by ropes through his flesh in order to prove
his worth. It was hugely successful; eventually spawning the sequels
The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976) and Triumphs of a Man
Called Horse (1983), both of which also starred Harris. As with most
popular, lucrative films, others quickly jumped at the chance to emulate
its success. Producers Ovidio G. Assonitis and Giorgio Carlo
Rossi got in contact with director Umberto Lenzi about
directing a cash-in (based on an idea from erotica novelist Emmanuelle
Arsan ["Emmanuelle"] of all people) relocating the same basic story to
the jungle. Instead of Native Americans, there would be Asian native
tribes and, instead of one gruesome key set piece, there would be numerous.
Italian actor Ivan Rassimov and Burmese / British actress Me Me Lai landed the lead roles and they, along with
a small crew, traveled to Thailand and Burma for a difficult 4 month
shoot.
Despite copying another film rather closely itself, Man from Deep River
ended up being just as influential in its own way. It established and set
down the groundwork for later cannibal / jungle shockers to come. You
know: White people venture into the jungle. White people are captured by a
primitive tribe. White people are tortured and killed by the tribe. It
also included scenes of real animals being slaughtered, which would also
be included in most of the later films to up the shock factor. Among the
titles Man influenced are MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (1978; starring Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach), Ruggero Deodato's
infamous CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) and two more from Lenzi himself: EATEN ALIVE (1980; which also
featured Rassimov, Lai and recycled much footage from others in this
genre) and the notorious CANNIBAL FEROX (1981). Interestingly, Man itself only
contains one brief scene of cannibalism.
American photographer John Bradley (Rassimov) is on a sight-seeing trip in
Bangkok when a man in a bar pulls a switchblade on him. During the
scuttle, John accidentally stabs him, runs off and then gets on a train
taking him far away from the big city. He hires a young guide - Chuan (Prapas Chindang) -
and the two of them end up in a small village, where they charter a boat
to head out deep into the jungle so John can take photographs. Before
leaving, John pays off a man to keep quiet in case the authorities should
show up there looking for him. That turns out to be a huge mistake. John
falls asleep for a nap, wakes up to find his guide dead and is then
captured in a net by tribesmen, tied to a pole and dragged off to a
village. Tribal elder Lahuna (Ong Ard) believes he is a "fish-man"
and puts him to work capturing turtles, but Lahuna's daughter Maraya (Me
Me Lai) wants him as her personal slave, so father (sort of) complies
with her wishes.
John is kept in a hut tied to pole when he isn't out doing labor at
spear-point, but finds an ally in Taima (Prasitsak Singhara); an
old woman who was raised by missionaries and knows English (unbeknownst to
the rest of the tribe). Maraya falls in love with him and she makes him
work naked, but scar-faced warrior Karen (Sulallewan Suxantat) is
pissed at all of the attention Maraya bestows upon the blonde-haired
visitor. When John tries to escape, he ends up in a duel-to-the-death with
his rival and manages to kill him, which puts him up for a position as a
warrior. He's tied up to a slowly-spinning contraption and natives use
blow guns to shoot tiny arrows into his flesh. He's then tied up outside
to bake in the sun for awhile. John manages to survive the ordeal and
finds his rank among the tribe increasing, particularly after he saves a
young boy's life. He starts getting accustomed to their ways, rituals and
language and realizes it may not be such a bad life after all, especially
after Maraya picks him for her husband and becomes pregnant with his
child. A jealous witch doctor (Song Suanhud) in the tribe burns
voodoo dolls in their likeness and soon Maraya becomes sick and goes
blind. Another nearby tribe - The Kuru's - are blood-thirsty cannibals who
like to swing by every so often to gang rape the women, dismember them and
then consume their flesh.
Man from Deep River contains just what one may expect of it if
they've seen other films in this sub-genre. Arms are hacked off, tongues
are cut out, people are periodically speared, stabbed, sliced and tortured
and lots of animals are actually killed; including many snakes (including
a cobra during a fight with a mongoose), as well as pigs, goats, a monkey
and other poor creatures. There's plenty of nudity, too. There's rape,
several sex scenes and a woman whose husband is killed in an accident has
to have a gang bang with all interested parties on top of her husband's
ashes to allow her to marry again (a scene repeated in Lenzi's Eaten
Alive).
Still, this movie feels much different than the later films. For starters,
Riccardo Pallottini's photography is bright, vivid and crystal
clear, which is appropriate since this is more of a gory drama than an
all-out horror film. Unlike in the later entries, the tribes people in
this one aren't cruel, unreasonable savages bent on doing horrible things
to whatever unlucky person stumbles upon their village. The ones here have
personalities and are better defined as individuals with clear positions
among the tribe. Some even wear colorful sarongs and regular clothes and
their huts are even pretty nice and well-decorated. The village is set in
a rather wide-open space near a river where a helicopter periodically
flies overhead so the usual sense of dense, dark, impenetrable jungle and
complete isolation from the 'civilized' world isn't quite established.
Approached on its own terms without certain expectations, this is a pretty
good film (albeit corny in spots) and is perhaps Lenzi's best all-around
feature. It made a huge amount of money all over the world (including in
America where it played under the title Sacrifice!), so Lenzi was
approached about reuniting Rassimov and Lai for a follow-up. When the
producers refused to meet his salary requirements, they instead hired
Ruggero Deodato and the resulting film was JUNGLE HOLOCAUST (which was
filmed in 1976 and hit U.S. theaters in 1977 under the title Last
Cannibal World).
★★★
