Today’s movie of the day is Cannibal Holocaust (1980) directed by Ruggero Deodato.

It stars Robert Kerman and Francesca Ciardi. It is about an New York University anthropologist named Harold Monroe. He is going on a rescue trip to the jungle of the Amazon rainforest to track down a lost and presumed missing documentary team that was filming for a TV station.

Professor Monroe and his crew comes across some cannibalistic tribes and is able to gain their respect. The tribe gives him various film reels that belonged to the documentary crew. He realizes that this is no longer a rescue trip because the crew has been killed and most likely eaten by the tribe.

When Monroe watches those reels when he gets back to New York City he is shocked. The documentary crew actions while they were with the tribe was horrible and offensive to them. Which caused the documentary crew own demise.

The TV station who wanted to show the recover reels watched them and decided to burned the reels instead board casting them on TV.

Even though this movie is fiction director Ruggero Deodato go into some real trouble. A couple of days after the debut of Cannibal Holocaust in Italy Deodato was arrested and was charged for the killing of the main actors from the movie! Deodato made the movie as style like documentary but it wasn’t true.

Although he did make the actors sign a form for them to “disappear ” for about a year when shooting wrap. Because Deodato wanted to make the movie more “real”. The actors had to appear in court in order for the murder charges to be dismissed.

The one thing that I do like about this movie is the soundtrack!

This is the soundtrack I put on my playlist if I am driving somewhere far. The music is quite enjoyable on a long drive.

This movie is not easy to watch and it has been on countless banned and controversial movie lists.

Interesting fact about the movie: this movie had been banned in the United States, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore between 1980-1983

Until next time!!