During a rescue mission into the amazon rain forest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.
This is the granddaddy of the found-footage genre. A film so shocking that the Italian courts tried to have the director tried for murdering his cast. Well, the world had not seen a movie like this before, and given the gruesome images, it’s not hard to see why.
This movie should not be viewed by anyone with a weak stomach. A lot of movies claim this, but I mean it. There are real animal killings, and yes, the killing of the “film crew” is very realistic, even by today’s standards of cinematography. The acting is pretty weak, dialogue sub-par, but as a whole – this classic of horror stands out as a milestone in gore; right up there, alongside the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Ten days after its premiere in Milan, the film was seized by the Italian courts, and director Ruggero Deodato was arrested and charged with obscenity. He was later charged with murdering several actors on camera and faced life in prison. The cast had signed contracts requiring them to disappear for a year after shooting, to maintain the illusion that they’d died. Deodato contacted Luca Barbareschi and told him to contact the three other actors who played the missing film team. When the actors appeared in court, alive and well, the murder charges were dropped.
- The animal deaths in the movie were real. The list of dead animals includes a
- coatimundi, a yellow-spotted river turtle, a snake, a tarantula, a young pig, and 2 squirrel monkeys.
- The monkey-killing scene was shot twice, so two monkeys were killed for that scene.
- The dead animals were given to the tribes for food.
