''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals'' ( it, Emanuelle e gli Ultimi Cannibali) is a 1977 Italian
sexploitation
A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit s ...
cannibal film
Cannibal films, alternatively known as the cannibal genre or the cannibal boom, are a subgenre of horror films made predominantly by Italian filmmakers during the 1970s and 1980s. This subgenre is a collection of graphically violent movies that u ...
directed by
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres (westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...
. The film involves photojournalist Emanuelle (
Laura Gemser
Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emanuelle'' series. Many of her films were collabo ...
), who encounters a cannibalistic woman bearing a tattoo of an Amazonian tribe in a mental hospital. Along with Professor Mark Lester (
Gabriele Tinti), the two travel to the Amazon with a team to discover the source of the long-thought-extinct tribe that still practices cannibalism today.
The film is an entry in the ''
Black Emanuelle
''Black Emanuelle'' (Italian: ''Emanuelle nera'') is a softcore sexploitation film from 1975 directed by Bitto Albertini. This Africa set film was shot mostly in Kenya. The music was composed by Nico Fidenco.
''Black Emanuelle'' was followed ...
'' series and features elements of cannibal films which had just gained popularity after the release of ''
Ultimo mondo cannibale
''Ultimo mondo cannibale'' (English: ''Last Cannibal World''; also known as ''Cannibal'', ''Jungle Holocaust'' and ''The Last Survivor'') is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfr ...
'' (1977). D'Amato referred it in an interview as "a reasonable commercial success, especially abroad".
[Palmerini, Luca M.; Mistretta, Gaetano (1996). "Spaghetti Nightmares". Fantasma Books. p. 77..]
Plot
In a
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
psychiatric ward
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
, photojournalist Emanuelle (
Laura Gemser
Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emanuelle'' series. Many of her films were collabo ...
) learns about a girl there who was found in the
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
. Emanuelle discovers that she appears to have been raised by the
Apiaca, a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
of
cannibals
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
thought to be lost. She contacts Professor Mark Lester (
Gabriele Tinti), the
curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
at the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
, and
persuades him to come with her to the Amazon.
Upon arrival at the Amazon, they are joined by Isabelle Wilkes (Monica Zanchi), the daughter of the organizer of the
expedition, and Sister Angela (Annamaria Clementi), who is going upriver to join a mission. Attacked by a
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
, Emanuelle is rescued by hunter Donald McKenzie (
Donald O'Brien), who joins the group together with his wife Maggie (
Nieves Navarro
Nieves Navarro García (born November 11, 1938) is a retired Spanish-born Italian actress and fashion model. Navarro worked extensively in Italian cinema appearing alongside actors such as Totò and Lino Banfi in the 1960s and 1970s. She later ad ...
) and their
guide
A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom.
Travel and recreation
Expl ...
Salvatore (Percy Hogan) and informs Sister Angela that her
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
has been attacked by what they presume to be cannibals, and that no survivors remain.
The group continues into the
jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
, now being watched by
natives
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in hiding. They find a severed head on a
stake
Stake may refer to:
Entertainment
* '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game
* ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film
* "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams''
* ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...
, and Sister Angela disappears to be found
impaled the next morning. Meanwhile, the McKenzies attempt to leave the group in an attempt to find a crashed plane containing
diamonds
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
. As they stumble upon the plane, they are attacked by a tribe of cannibals. Donald and Maggie are kidnapped. The rest of the group only arrive in time to see it happen. They attempt to find the cannibal village. Upon their arrival, the cannibals kill Salvatore and capture Isabelle. Mark and Emanuelle manage to escape only to watch the McKenzies being brutally murdered and Isabelle
impregnated by the tribe in preparation for
sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...
. To save Isabelle, Emanuelle paints tribal symbols on her body to convince the natives that she is their water
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
, and carries Isabelle away into the water where Mark is waiting in a
speedboat. Shot at by the natives with
spears
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
, Mark, Emanuelle and Isabelle still manage to escape unharmed.
Cast
*
Laura Gemser
Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emanuelle'' series. Many of her films were collabo ...
as Emanuelle
*
Gabriele Tinti as Professor Mark Lester
*
Nieves Navarro
Nieves Navarro García (born November 11, 1938) is a retired Spanish-born Italian actress and fashion model. Navarro worked extensively in Italian cinema appearing alongside actors such as Totò and Lino Banfi in the 1960s and 1970s. She later ad ...
(as Susan Scott) as Maggie McKenzie
*
Donald O'Brien as Donald McKenzie
* Percy Hogan as Salvadore
* Mónica Zanchi (as Monica Zanchi) as Isabelle Wilkes
* Annamaria Clementi (as Anne Maria Clementi) as Sister Angela
*
Geoffrey Copleston
Gerald Geoffrey Copleston (18 March 1921 – 1999) was an English actor, voice actor, and translator
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The Englis ...
as Wilkes
Production
After the release of the film ''
Ultimo mondo cannibale
''Ultimo mondo cannibale'' (English: ''Last Cannibal World''; also known as ''Cannibal'', ''Jungle Holocaust'' and ''The Last Survivor'') is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfr ...
'' (1977), the Italian film market was open for a new group of cannibal related films. Among them, was ''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals'', a film in the ''
Black Emanuelle
''Black Emanuelle'' (Italian: ''Emanuelle nera'') is a softcore sexploitation film from 1975 directed by Bitto Albertini. This Africa set film was shot mostly in Kenya. The music was composed by Nico Fidenco.
''Black Emanuelle'' was followed ...
'' film series with a story co-written, directed and photographed by
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres (westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...
. D'Amato declared that he was "a real copy-cat", and that since "Deodato's film ''
Ultimo mondo cannibale
''Ultimo mondo cannibale'' (English: ''Last Cannibal World''; also known as ''Cannibal'', ''Jungle Holocaust'' and ''The Last Survivor'') is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfr ...
'' had been so successful we thought about doing something along the same lines commercially."
Fabrizio De Angelis co-produced this film, along with another D'Amato project, ''
Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade
''Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade'' ( it, La via della prostituzione, lit=The path of prostitution) is an Italian sexploitation film from 1978 directed by Joe D'Amato as his last ''Black Emanuelle'' film. It was also known as ''Emanuelle and t ...
''. D'Amato said in an interview "Fabrizio and I had a company called Fulvia Cinematografica with which we had intended to produce other films. Instead, when we finished these two, we went our separate ways."
In contrast to some previous entries in the "Black Emanuelle" series, ''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals'' does not contain
hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography, or hardcore porn, is pornography that features detailed depictions of sexual organs or sexual acts such as vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, fingering, anilingus, ejaculation, and fetish play. The term is in contrast wi ...
sequences.
In a 1990 interview, D'Amato remembered that the film had been shot for the most part around a lake in the vicinity of Rome, and that the team gathered together all of the Filipinos who lived in Rome, or were there on vacation, and paid them to work on set for a week. Make-up man
Fabrizio Sforza remembers the lake as being the
Lago di Fogliano. According to Sforza, the shoot lasted two and a half weeks "with effects, extras, violence, love scenes. Incredible!"
Release
''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals'' was passed by Italian censors on 20 October 1977.
The film was released in 1977.
The film was released on home video by Twisted Dreams Home Video and under the title ''Trap Them and Kill Them'' by Twilight Video. Both releases have a runtime of 93 minutes.
Reception
From contemporary reviews, David Badder (''
Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'') described the film as "so preposterous as to be almost enjoyable." Badder felt that D'Amato didn't understand his film was unintentionally funny, stating that this idea is "dispelled by
'Amato'stypically frenetic direction and the solemn tone maintained throughout."
In retrospective reviews, Danny Shipka, author of ''Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980'' described the film as "fairly harmless compared to other cannibal films of the time, with the violence coming in the last 20 minutes." and that the ''Black Emanuelle'' series was "pretty much running out of ideas and it definitely shows in this film." Cavett Binion (
AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
) gave the film a negative review, calling it "merely excruciating tedium punctuated by occasional kinky sex in the first half of the film and cheap, gag-inducing special effects in the second" and that the film was too "gory for softcore fans and too dull for gorehounds, this is basically a film with no target audience whatsoever."
On 5 April 2016, film critic Scout Tafoya of RogerEbert.com included ''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals'' in his video series "The Unloved", where he highlights films which received mixed to negative reviews yet he believes to have artistic value. Describing D'Amato as "the
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the fat ...
of trash" who
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
would have appreciated, he praised the film for "its egregious excesses, its dimwitted good nature, its commitment to being as happily dumb as possible" and highlighted its positive portrayal of Emanuelle's character and
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, as seen when she poses as the tribe's goddess to save Isabelle. Noting its faithfulness to
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
artwork and tropes, Tafoya concludes his assessment by describing the film as "a sweltering collage of beautiful ruin, like D'Amato put everying put everything burning a hole on Italian movie screens into a pan and boiled them into a delicious reduction. The
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since t ...
s of the world could take a lesson from D'Amato: feeding our worst selves doesn't have to be a chore. It can be pleasurable".
See also
*
List of Italian films of 1977
A list of films produced in Italy in 1977 (see 1977 in film):
References
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External linksItalian films of 1977at the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Films Of 1977
1977
Films
...
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
External links
*
''Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals''at
Variety Distribution
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company.
It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward.
History
Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...
{{Joe D'Amato
Films directed by Joe D'Amato
1977 horror films
1977 films
Cannibal-boom films
Italian sexploitation films
Italian erotic horror films
1970s Italian-language films
Emanuelle
Films set in New York City
Jungle adventure films
Films set in Central America
Films about rape
Films scored by Nico Fidenco
1970s Italian films
1970s French films