I finally got around to watching this highly controversial horror film, and hopefully some of you will find my review useful.

Contrary to what people who haven't seen Cannibal Holocaust might think, the cannibals aren't the evil ones. This is an extraordinarily cruel and gruesome movie, so those with a weak stomach should stay far away. There's several rape scenes throughout the movie which I can always do without but I suppose it helps portray the evil of man. This is also easily one of the goriest movies I've ever seen, and possibly even the goriest I've ever seen. There's numerous scenes in the movie where animals are genuinely killed on-screen, causing an incredible amount of controversy. These are the scenes I really had to turn away at. As much as I wish that they weren't in there, I know that if they had been showing a native tribe hunting these animals on National Geographic or something nobody would give it a second thought. According to my friend, the animals were actually eaten after they were killed. I have no idea if this is true or not but if it is I don't see a difference between this and hunting a deer or something. Nevertheless, I could have done without it and pretty much turned away the entire time. The movie so disturbing and sadistic that the publishers publish a warning at the beginning that the only reason they published this movie is because they believe in free speech, and the director was fined and sentenced for 10 months in prison on obscenity charges. The directing and cinematography are both surprisingly great, although there are many rumors of the director being extremely cruel and abusive throughout the filming process. Most of the film was shot in the ****of a documentary, making it seem very real at times. In fact, the director was almost charged with murder because people really thought some of the deaths were genuine. The acting is surprisingly good, definitely better than a lot of other horror movies. The soundtrack, again surprisingly, isn't half bad especially considering the genre and time period. It fits the movie pretty well. Cannibal Holocaust is both an incredibly disturbing look at the evil of mankind and an interesting social commentary on what dark, strange, and truly sadistic things we crave as people, and what lengths we're willing to go to satisfy those cravings. I would feel very strange owning this movie, and I'm really not in a hurry to watch it again, but I would recommend at least watching it once through if you think you have the stomach for it.