''Devil Hunter'' (also known as ''The Man Hunter'', ''Mandingo Manhunter'', ''Jungfrau unter Kannibalen'' and ''Sexo Caníbal'') is a 1980

splatter film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body a ...

directed by

Jesús Franco Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directe ...

under the pseudonym "Clifford Brown" and written by Franco and Julián Esteban (under the pseudonym Julius Valery). It was shot back-to-back with Franco's ''Mondo Cannibale'' (also 1980). It is one of the infamous "

video nasties Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that w ...

" that were banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.

Lina Romay Lina Romay (born Rosa María Almirall Martínez; 25 June 1954 – 15 February 2012), a.k.a. Candy Coster and Lulu Laverne, was a Spanish actress who often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion (and later husband) Jesús Franco. ...

was credited with co-directing this film, while Franco's first wife Nicole Guettard edited it. This shows that Franco was still with Guettard as late as 1980 (eventually they broke up and she was replaced in Franco's life by Romay). Pierre Chevalier was the art director on this film.

Release

The film was released on 5 December 1980 in West Germany as ''Jungfrau unter Kannibalen'', and in Spain as ''Sexo Canibal''. It was theatrically released in the U.S., the U.K. and Italy as ''The Man Hunter'', but was later released to video in the U.K. as ''Devil Hunter''. It also appeared on U.S. video as ''Mandingo Manhunter''. It was banned as a

video nasty Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that w ...

in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s.

Critical reception

''Devil Hunter'' has been critically panned. Kurt Dahlke of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

called it a "horrible, trying piece of dreck that should have remained legendary and lost. That said, it's pretty fun stuff."

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

, similarly, called the film "trash" and writing that "the storyline is threadbare and the characters are idiots (the horrid dubbing makes their dialogue endlessly entertaining) but Jess Franco does not hesitate in blasting out the nipples and bloodshed."

Cast

References

External links

* {{Jesús Franco 1980 films 1980 horror films West German films Spanish supernatural horror films German supernatural horror films French supernatural horror films Sexploitation films 1980s Spanish-language films Cannibal-boom films German splatter films Italian splatter films Spanish splatter films Films set on islands Films directed by Jesús Franco 1980s Italian films 1980s French films 1980s German films