Plenty of horror movies have worn controversy as a badge of honor, and many of them have done so in the most frivolous fashion possible. However, there aren’t many that can even hold a candle to the headlines seized by 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust, which might just be at the very top of the pile.
Ignoring the graphic violence and excessive gore that turned many a stomach, a local magistrate ordered that the film be seized following its premiere, such was the shock it generated. Not only that, but director Ruggero Deodato was actually arrested on obscenity charges, which wasn’t even the worst fate to befall the filmmaker.
After urban legend claimed that Cannibal Holocaust was a snuff film depicting real death onscreen, Deodato was charged with multiple counts of murder. He was obviously cleared after it was proven that nobody died legitimately, but that didn’t prevent his magnum opus from being banned in around 50 countries and dragged over hot coals for its genuine animal cruelty.
In amongst the legion of bad buzz to emanate from Cannibal Holocaust, it often goes overlooked that it quietly became one of the most influential gore-heavy offerings of the modern era, particularly when The Blair Witch Project ignited the found footage phenomenon almost two decades later, with the documentary approach having been utilized to unsettling effect here.
Nothing screams a quiet night in front of your device of choice like a barbaric bloodbath that gained a level of infamy few features before or after have ever come close to attaining, or at least that’s what it looks like. Per FlixPatrol, Cannibal Holocaust has been chowing down on the Starz viewership rankings, even if it’s surely the sort of flick you’d only want to watch once.
Published: Feb 24, 2023 01:50 pm