''The Mountain of the Cannibal God'' (Italian title: ''La montagna del dio cannibale'') is a 1978 Italian
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
starring
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
and
Stacy Keach
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...
, with English dialogue, that was filmed in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. The film was also widely released in the U.S. in 1979 as ''Slave of the Cannibal God'' from
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
and released in the U.K. as ''Prisoner of the Cannibal God'', with a poster designed by
Sam Peffer
Samuel John Peffer (known as ''Peff''; 3 November 1921 – 14 March 2014) was a British commercial artist who designed film posters, paperback book covers and the covers of home videos. His best known work was for the covers of the paperback J ...
. The film was banned in the U.K. until 2001 for its graphic violence and considered 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 ...
".
Plot
Susan Stevenson (
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
) is trying to find her missing anthropologist husband, Henry (
Tom Felleghy
Tom Felleghy (born Tamás Fellegi; 26 November 1921) is a Hungarian-born Italian actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films since 1958.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1921 births
Possibly living people
Hungarian ma ...
), in the jungles of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
. She and her brother, Arthur (Antonio Marsina), enlist the services of Professor Edward Foster (
Stacy Keach
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...
), who thinks her husband might have headed for the mountain Ra Ra Me, which is located just off the coast on the island of Roka.
The locals believe that the mountain is cursed, and the authorities will not allow expeditions there, so the searchers surreptitiously enter the jungle to commence the search. They eventually make it to the island, and after a few run-ins with some unfriendly
anaconda
Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized.
Description
Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to re ...
s,
alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
s and
tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...
s, they meet another jungle explorer named Manolo (
Claudio Cassinelli
Claudio Cassinelli (13 September 1938 – 13 July 1985) was an Italian film, stage and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Bologna to Giuseppina Tafani and Antonio Cassinelli, a well known opera singer, he had two sisters, Paola Cr ...
) who has been staying at a nearby mission camp, who agrees to join them in their expedition.
Matters become complicated when it becomes evident that ''all'' of them have their ''own'' private reasons for coming to the island, ''none'' of which include finding Susan's missing husband. Susan and Arthur are secretly looking for
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
deposits, and Foster reveals that he has come there because he had been on the island a few years previously, was taken captive by a tribe of primitive
cannibal
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 ...
s, and has only returned to wipe them out if they still exist. Foster later dies while climbing up a waterfall.
Upon arriving at the mountain, Arthur is killed and Manolo and Susan are captured by the cannibals and taken to their cave. There they find the natives worshiping the skeletal remains of Susan's husband. The natives can hear Henry's
Geiger counter
A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental ph ...
ticking and believe it to be his heart still beating. They worship Henry as their Cannibal God, and find a photo of him and Susan as a couple. As a result, Susan is spared, and the cannibals feast on other human and reptile flesh. She is stripped naked, bound at the wrists to a pole, and have her entire body smeared with an orange cream by two native girls. At first, it seems this is to be a session of
honey torture, but instead Susan is turned into a Cannibal Goddess after tasting and eating Arthur's cooked remains. Manolo is tied up and tortured, while the others are eaten. One of the cannibals attempts to rape Susan while no one is looking, but is caught and castrated as punishment. Manolo and Susan eventually escape, having endured their ordeals.
Cast
*
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
– Susan Stevenson
*
Stacy Keach
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...
– Edward Foster
*
Claudio Cassinelli
Claudio Cassinelli (13 September 1938 – 13 July 1985) was an Italian film, stage and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Bologna to Giuseppina Tafani and Antonio Cassinelli, a well known opera singer, he had two sisters, Paola Cr ...
– Manolo
*
Antonio Marsina
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
– Arthur Weisser
*
Franco Fantasia
Franco Fantasia (5 March 1924 – 10 November 2002) was an Italian film actor, stuntman and fencing master. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1951 to 2002. He was the brother of actor Andrea Fantasia. Illness and Death
September ...
– Father Moses
*
Dudley Wanaguru
Don Samuel Dudley Wanaguru (16 December 1924 – 3 April 2002 si, ඩඩ්ලි වානගුරු), popularly known as Dudley Wanaguru was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema.
Personal life
Dudley was born on 16 December 1924 in Grandpass, Co ...
– Government officer
Production
The film was shot on location in Sri Lanka.
Release
''The Mountain of the Cannibal God'' was released in Italy on August 10, 1978. The film was not seen in the U.S. until 1979 from New Line Cinema.
Critical reception
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' called it a "spiced up dish of left overs" plot-wise, but said the location filming gave it "authenticity".
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, writing, "a graphic and unpleasant film, with all the noxious trademarks intact: gratuitous violence, real-life atrocities committed against live animals and an uncomfortably imperialist attitude towards underprivileged peoples." Andrew Smith from ''Popcorn Pictures'' awarded the film a score of 4/10, writing, "''Mountain of the Cannibal God'' merely goes through the usual Italian cannibal exploitation film motions, only this time with the bonus of a famous cast. More professionally made but lacking the raw, nihilistic punch of some of its counterparts, it's neither the best of this sub-genre, nor the worst either."
Anya Stanley from ''Daily Grindhouse'' called the film 'problematic", citing the film's depictions of animal cruelty and "imperialist attitudes towards indigenous populations". However, Stanley commended the film's occasionally beautiful cinematography, and called it "one of the more cohesive cannibal films, that utilizes the flesh feast as more of a flourish than a crutch".
The film is often compared to
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform ...
's novel ''
The People of the Mist
''The People of the Mist'' is a classic lost race fantasy novel written by H. Rider Haggard. It was first published serially in the weekly magazine ''Tit-Bits'', between December 1893 and August 1894; the first edition in book form was publish ...
''.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain of the Cannibal God
1978 films
1970s adventure films
1978 horror films
English-language Italian films
Films about hunter-gatherers
Films directed by Sergio Martino
Italian horror films
Cannibal-boom films
1970s Italian-language films
Films shot in Sri Lanka
Films set in Papua New Guinea
Films produced by Luciano Martino
New Line Cinema films
1970s Italian films
Video nasties