Cannibal Holocaust - Grindhouse (US) Blu-ray

[Kentai]

AFRICA ADDIO is incredible stuff, but it's hard to take everything the film makers say at face value. Remember that their first film - Mondo Cane - wasn't afraid to fake the most graphic scenes they couldn't get on camera, or that Addio Zio Tom was nothing but historical re-enactments (with varying degrees of realism). If anything these guys did was legit, Africa Addio was probably it... it's just hard to say if it was 100% or not. [Amazing, unsettling stuff either way though.]

Deodato claims that CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST was never meant as a commentary on Mondo Movies directly, and claims the inspiration came from his young son being upset about how grim the news footage of terrorist attacks in the late 70s had become. That said, Riz Ortolani's best known score at the time was the Oscar winning score for Mondo Cane, and this was being sold as a follow-up to a film released in Germany as Mondo Cannibale, so draw your own conclusions on how the producers felt.

Looking forward to Grindhouse Releasing mopping the floor with Shameless' rather icky looking - and censored - UK offering. The HD master they made in Italy nearly a decade ago just hasn't aged well. I don't blame anyone for being upset at the animal violence in the film (that's what it's there for!), but at least they were largely eaten by the crew after the scenes were shot, and they didn't suffer before their deaths, which is more than I can say for some of these movies (the monkey being hand-fed to the snake in MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD always makes me far angrier).

[mar3o]

I wonder if Cannibal Ferrox will eventually get a blu-ray release too? The US DVD is non-anamorphic and therefore unwatchable. There is a much better anamorphic DVD release overseas, though.

[OldPangYau]

Originally Posted by mar3o

I wonder if Cannibal Ferrox will eventually get a blu-ray release too? The US DVD is non-anamorphic and therefore unwatchable. There is a much better anamorphic DVD release overseas, though.

I think I read in the primary Grindhouse thread that Cannibal Ferox has been somewhat confirmed for next year. And wasn't CF basically their first DVD? I remember buying their VHS of the film around '99/2000

[wicky_J]

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

I think I read in the primary Grindhouse thread that Cannibal Ferox has been somewhat confirmed for next year. And wasn't CF basically their first DVD? I remember buying their VHS of the film around '99/2000

If I recall correctly the first disc that Grindhouse put out was I Drink Your Blood back in early 2000 in a partnership with Fangoria's distribution arm. No matter which way ya' slice it the DVD for Ferox is pretty darn rough looking upscaled on a blu-ray player. Here's to hoping that blu comes sooner than later.

[OldPangYau]

Originally Posted by wicky_J

If I recall correctly the first disc that Grindhouse put out was I Drink Your Blood back in early 2000 in a partnership with Fangoria's distribution arm. No matter which way ya' slice it the DVD for Ferox is pretty darn rough looking upscaled on a blu-ray player. Here's to hoping that blu comes sooner than later.

I've heard the DVD was rough, especially due to being non-anamorphic. Wasn't it basically just the same master used for the laserdisc? At least it looked good for a VHS, especially since, at the time, most of those movies were only available on PAL-to-NTSC bootleg videos

[jlk5844]

It would have been cool to own the limited numbered DVD of Cannibal Holocaust but I'm glad I never shelled out the cash for it, cause now I'm in the know when the blu-ray comes out, which I'm sure will be limited, and I can jump on it right away before it sells out and the prices jump.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by mikesncc1701

Animal deaths yes, humans no. Deodato had to present his actors and actresses to a court of law who were at the time in a contractual obligation to not disclose their whereabouts or status in order to make the film more authentic upon release. There are no actual human deaths despite claim from all those years back. It's disturbing enough with that anyway.

I thought the 'Road to Hell' sequence in Cannibal Holocaust was reported footage of real executions - has that been rebuffed?

[OldPangYau]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

It would have been cool to own the limited numbered DVD of Cannibal Holocaust but I'm glad I never shelled out the cash for it, cause now I'm in the know when the blu-ray comes out, which I'm sure will be limited, and I can jump on it right away before it sells out and the prices jump.

I caved and bought the limited numbered DVD when it first came out Just the very thought of owning an official US video release of Cannibal Holocaust was epic. No regrets, as it had some great extras on it. Plus, it's the version my gf first watched... she even watched it again one night when I wasn't around

Originally Posted by Dubstar

I thought the 'Road to Hell' sequence in Cannibal Holocaust was reported footage of real executions - has that been rebuffed?

I think they just meant that the human killings in the main storyline were fake. The "Road to Hell" footage was actual documentary footage of people being shot and dead bodies.

[jlk5844]

[QUOTE=OldPangYau;8254142]I caved and bought the limited numbered DVD when it first came out Just the very thought of owning an official US video release of Cannibal Holocaust was epic. No regrets, as it had some great extras on it. Plus, it's the version my gf first watched... she even watched it again one night when I wasn't around

I've been meaning to see this film for quite awhile now, maybe 5 years, and I almost bought it this past summer. Glad I waited, I can continue too. I hope GR does a great job with the packaging. It'd be nice to get a cool slipcover.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

I think I read in the primary Grindhouse thread that Cannibal Ferox has been somewhat confirmed for next year. And wasn't CF basically their first DVD? I remember buying their VHS of the film around '99/2000

Well that's good news then if that ends up happening. It is a very rough transfer upscaled to HD - muted colors and non-anamorphic. I remember thinking it looked pretty good way back then on my old CRT tv. Now it looks awful.

[OldPangYau]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Well that's good news then if that ends up happening. It is a very rough transfer upscaled to HD - muted colors and non-anamorphic. I remember thinking it looked pretty good way back then on my old CRT tv. Now it looks awful.

Funny how that happens with so many early DVD transfers. But yeah, I look forward to all of the updates. The Grindhouse Cannibal Holocaust DVD, while at least anamorphic, I remembered being interlaced and having occasional pixilation issues. Primarily when the huts were being set on fire later on in the film.

[noddinoff]

Nothing like brutal, unneeded, animal torture in 1080p, seriously F this movie its the only horror movie that Im ashamed to have on my shelf and probably one of the biggest let downs ever in terms of its reputation. Take away the animal killings and you have some extremely fake stupid looking gore that is not convincing, aside from the lady on the pole but whats that like 2 seconds of the run time? I especially love the end when the natives massage the guy to death with their rock on a stick tapping him as lightly as possible and then it suddenly goes from a guy to a garbage bag that splits open and a piece of bacon falls out, they can polish it all they want but its still a steaming pile of feces. If I make a video of me jamming a hunting knife into the throat of a puppy while it screams in pain and terror and grabs the blade with its paws looking at the screen saying with its eyes "please stop why are doing this to me" it'll be shocking too, will it be good... hell no.

[KillerJuan77]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

It would have been cool to own the limited numbered DVD of Cannibal Holocaust but I'm glad I never shelled out the cash for it, cause now I'm in the know when the blu-ray comes out, which I'm sure will be limited, and I can jump on it right away before it sells out and the prices jump.

I own the Grindhouse Releasing limited edition DVD. It's a near perfect release filled with extras, the "Road To Hell" sequence intact and stunning PQ and AQ. It also came with the spanish poster which I can't put on ANY wall and a decent article about the film. The discs look like film reels so that's pretty cool as well.

And yeah, "Last Road To Hell" is mostly stock footage of executions and shootings in Vietnam. It's funny how people react to the animal scenes but apparently that's OK .

[OldPangYau]

The irony is, my gf's a vegetarian, and only the turtle scene bothered her. Meanwhile, I'm a meat eater, and *all* of the animal stuff bugged me. At least the shot to the pig was probably the quickest and most humane.

I'm wondering if Grindhouse will re-incorporate the ability to skip those scenes, albeit with more streamlined branching. The older DVDs basically had to briefly pause when skipping.

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by KillerJuan77

I own the Grindhouse Releasing limited edition DVD. It's a near perfect release filled with extras, the "Road To Hell" sequence intact and stunning PQ and AQ.

The extras are great, but the transfer was PRETTY WEAK next to the EC Ultrabit (PAL) edition - interlaced, obvious compression artifacts, and the color timing is all over the place with crushed shadow detail and a weird yellow push over large segments of the film. It's certainly better than some of the old VHS prints most people are familiar with, but it had issues...

THE ROAD TO HELL is missing several seconds of footage due to print damage - this is true on every DVD release out there except for the EC Ultrabit, and the original EC R2 DVD (since they're all sourced from the same master printt anyway). You can actually hear the music skip if you pay attention.

It also came with the spanish poster which I can't put on ANY wall and a decent article about the film. The discs look like film reels so that's pretty cool as well.

...but, yeah, the packaging was pretty awesome.

And yeah, "Last Road To Hell" is mostly stock footage of executions and shootings in Vietnam. It's funny how people react to the animal scenes but apparently that's OK .

Using stock footage of actual violence someone else shot is, I suppose, inherently less gross than shooting actual violence yourself? Particularly when Deodato seems to be making a movie about how we SHOULDN'T exploit real-world horror for entertainment... and then he guts a coati just 'cause, f*** it, we're in the Amazon, nobody cares.

But, yeah, the way people react to the turtle scene versus footage of actual human corpses... I don't really get it either. It's all gross. And that was the whole point, much as Deodato probably could have come up with a less morally repugnant way to get there.

[GimmeMyJetpack]

Pretty pumped for a US release but i must say that yellow case on the shameless release is certainly enticing.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Kentai

But, yeah, the way people react to the turtle scene versus footage of actual human corpses... I don't really get it either. It's all gross. And that was the whole point, much as Deodato probably could have come up with a less morally repugnant way to get there.

The reason people are especially offended by the turtle scene in this film (and Cannibal Ferrox as well) is because the images of the corpses are of people that are already dead, and you're just looking at old footage - nobody was killed for the benefit of the film. It's no worse than seeing old war footage from a documentary. The turtle, on the other hand, was alive and well until it was killed on-camera for the film. That makes it especially disturbing.

[Jimmy S]

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

The "Road to Hell" footage was actual documentary footage of people being shot and dead bodies.

Some parts are real and some aren't, but the firing squad is (from the best of my memory that happen in Ouganda or Nigeria after a coup d'état)

[Mary Mason]

Originally Posted by mar3o

The reason people are especially offended by the turtle scene in this film (and Cannibal Ferrox as well) is because the images of the corpses are of people that are already dead, and you're just looking at old footage - nobody was killed for the benefit of the film. It's no worse than seeing old war footage from a documentary. The turtle, on the other hand, was alive and well until it was killed on-camera for the film. That makes it especially disturbing.

I agree.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

The irony is, my gf's a vegetarian, and only the turtle scene bothered her. Meanwhile, I'm a meat eater, and *all* of the animal stuff bugged me. At least the shot to the pig was probably the quickest and most humane.

I don't know. The killing of the turtle is rather humane also. IIRC its head is chopped off in a single blow. It still moves through the remainder of the shot, but that's just death spasms.

For some reason, though, it seems to be the one scene most people have a problem with. I think some of it comes down to the fact that they don't pay attention and think the turtle is still alive during the disembowelment.

The killing of the ape seems fast, too, though not pleasant of course. I think the only scene that really reasonably could be labeled as "animal cruelty" is the killing of the coatis.