Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

A quarter of a century on from its original release, Cannibal Holocaust has lost none of its power to stir up fierce controversy and in many ways embodies the extremes to which Italian fringe cinema was prepared to go in the late 1970s and early 80s. It is only available in cut form in the UK, and a recent (uncut) reissue in the US ran into trouble when two firms of printers refused to print the DVD sleeve. It achieved notoriety in the UK during the 1980s when it topped the list of films banned by the DPP during their ‘video nasty’ witch-hunt, its title frequently used as a by-word for the (allegedly) corrupting depravity that the movie and its kind were engendering in the British public. In many ways, it’s a shame director Ruggero Deodato plumped for this title, as it does little to differentiate his film from other, less sophisticated splatter works such as Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Ferox and Zombie Holocaust. Although it’s a film many will find unsettling and probably upsetting, Cannibal Holocaust is a good deal more subtle than its peers in its attempt to offer something a little more worthwhile than simply wall-to-wall dismemberment. Read more

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)

It’s nothing new for horror to borrow from other styles of film-making, but even by the genre’s own mix-and-match standards Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is a real curio. As the title suggests, it’s one of the Em(m)anuelle films, a long running series of soft-core porn films the began in France in 1969. By the late 70s, the series was being helmed by Italian director Joe d’Amato, who saw fit to try and incorporate the character into that other late 70s Italian staple, the cannibal movie. The results are odd in the extreme. Laura Gemser plays roving reporter Emanuelle, working undercover at a New York lunatic asylum, where a young female patient has bitten a nurse’s breast off. It transpires that the girl was raised by a tribe of cannibals, and intrigued by the story, Emanuelle puts together an expedition to track down the tribe - only to find that her team are top of the menu… Read more

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Wes Craven’s second feature shares many thematic traits with his debut, Last House On The Left, even if on the surface they share little in common. Hills tells the story of the Carter family, travelling across the Californian desert in their Winnebago in search of an inherited silver mine. A road accident leaves them stranded in a nuclear testing site - and an easy target for the mutated, cannibalistic family that lives in the nearby hills. As the Carters are picked off one by one, the surviving family members realise they have to play the mutants at their own game, leading to a deadly cycle of attack and retribution… Read more