Perhaps one of the most interesting genres of films ever propagated in the history of film is the unique and inspired group of Italian cannibal shockers that started appearing in the middle of the 1970s. Is there any group of films that could incite so many movie fans to either love these films more than any other or hate them so much they won’t give them the time of day? And, the more relevant question, is there any genre of films that is more exploitative than these films?

The cannibal film genre was truly born out of the “mondo” craze of jungle documentaries that sprung up in Italy in the early 1960s. These films captivated the audience by showing them some of the most disturbing footage that, at the time, had ever been seen by theater audiences, and although they look quite tame by today’s standards, it can probably be deduced that these films paved the way for the revolution of gory and violent horror movies that started to show up soon after the wave of these mondo films.

In 1973, an Italian film director by the name of Umberto Lenzi who had previously done mainly crime thrillers released an entirely new film on an unsuspecting world. The film, DEEP RIVER SAVAGES, set the foundation for a new sub-genre of films. The story took place in a harsh jungle and dealt with primitive cannibalistic tribes who hunted down a civilized man trapped in the wilderness. The film was kind of a mix of mondo-like violence and the flesh eating zombies of George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and soon, more directors jumped on the boat of making these graphic jungle grinders, including Sergio Martino, with his 1978 film MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, and Ruggero Deodato, who arguably had the greatest career in these films with his two classics JUNGLE and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST made in 1976 and 1979 respectively.

The whole cannibal genre was relatively short lived, only really encompassing a dozen or so films, and really the only directors who would make any kind of noteworthy films in the genre were Deodato and Lenzi, and by the early 1980s, the slasher genre had become the way to go in the horror industry ending the brief, but impactful, wave of cannibal films.

In 1980, Umberto Lenzi produced his second of three cannibal films, EATEN ALIVE, original title MANGIATI VIVI and also known as THE EMERALD JUNGLE. The film would include all the elements that made the cannibal genre so infamous: heinous, graphic violence, real life animal cruelty and slaughter ( an element lifted directly from the mondo genre), and lots of good old sex. This particular film, though, is rather disappointing since all the gore, violence, and animal cruelty for the most part was lifted from other films. Lenzi literally took whole scenes of gore and grue from other genre films and used them here packaging the movie as a new entity. This will make THE EMERALD JUNGLE quite disappointing for genre aficionados since they would have probably seen most of the gore scenes, but for new fans of the genre, Lenzi’s film may be as good a place as any to start out.

Lenzi’s script parallels a popular topic in Italian movies from this time period, the idea of a Jim Jones-like suicidal religious cult loose in the remote jungles of South America (this idea would again be seen in Ruggero Deodato’s CUT AND RUN from 1985 as well as a couple of others). In this case, a weird figure named Jonas (played by JUNGLE HOLOCAUST’s Ivan Rassimov) holds power over a sect of people using drugs as a form of mind control. This idea also incorporates elements of the Charles Manson case, which was also a frequent basis for low budget horror films of this era.

The usual cannibal genre plot has a New York City resident (Janet Agren) going into the jungle to look for her missing sister. Along the way she enlists the help of a grizzled, alcoholic guide (played by cannibal genre and former porn star Robert “R. Bolla” Kerman). Also in the cast is Mel Ferrer, who seems to be thrown into this mess just so he could collect a paycheck. His part is non-essential, and seems to simply add a “star” to the cast.

THE EMERALD JUNGLE looks like it would be a gas for cannibal genre films. Besides being directed by one of the biggest names in Italian horror films, Umberto CANNIBAL FEROX Lenzi, a bunch of the actors in this film (Rassimov, Kerman, and the beautiful Me Me Lai) had by this time established themselves as stars in the genre. Lenzi’s sophomore cannibal film is a travesty however due to the effects being lifted from other films instead of being done specifically for this film.

Lenzi chops a bunch of scenes from JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, including the climactic cutting open of a woman and her insides being pulled apart and devoured by some hungry cannibals. Lenzi also rips footage directly from Sergio Martino’s MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, including a graphic, but stupid looking, castration effect. Besides these cannibal gore moments, many scenes of animal slaughter are “borrowed” for use in THE EMERALD JUNGLE, including a crocodile between skewered, a death battle between a mongoose and a cobra, a lizard being split open, snake devouring a monkey, and more. All this serves is to give us a little bit more violence, in the form of actual animals dying a painful death, often propagated solely for the purpose of this film. People often gripe about this element of the cannibal genre, but you have to remember that these films were made in the locales they were set in, namely the middle of the South American jungle by Italian exploitation film makers. Their concern was not with animal rights, but instead with shocking the audience. Aside from being made in foreign countries, these films were made some twenty plus years ago, long before the era of the animal rights. In any case, the addition of this type of footage no doubt establishes the idea of the “law of the jungle” and “survival of the fittest” in its most base form.

Another problem with EMERALD JUNGLE is that it essentially uses the same plot as almost any cannibal film, and is essentially the same plot as Lenzi’s CANNIBAL FEROX made in 1983. Couldn’t this guy come up with anything new? At least in FEROX we had original effects footage. In EMERALD JUNGLE, the story is the same as just about every other movie, and they don’t even give us any new effects work to speak of.

Despite the problems with THE EMERALD JUNGLE, it does offer some good things amongst all the crap. If you like lots of good ol’ sex and nudity, Lenzi’s film will give you a truckload. All the main actresses in the film get naked at least once, and the stunningly beautiful Me Me Lai is naked from the beginning of the film to the end. There’s also some pretty explicit sex, and a couple of weird erotic scenes.

The film is also home to a couple of the most asinine dialog exchanges I’ve ever witnessed. Mel Ferrer’s explanation of the cannibals in the jungle while talking to the police is just priceless; so idiotic that it’s great. Kerman also delivers a great line. When asked if he likes rock music, he replies “I don’t like rock.... I like whiskey.” Does it get much better? The soundtrack for the film is one big mix of funky disco influenced grooves-- the same score Lenzi would use in CANNIBAL FEROX-- and is so out of place at times that it is just amusing.

I thought that Robert Kerman was pretty good in his role. In this film, he plays the grizzled, money grubbing guide Janet Agren recruits to help her in the jungle, and plays up the sleaze factor. Kerman made a name for himself in these cannibal films, and went on to appear in small roles in some American films, including a cameo in the new SPIDER-MAN film.

Overall, Umberto Lenzi’s THE EMERALD JUNGLE will probably provide some entertainment for fans of the cannibal genre, but these same fans will probably be upset with Lenzi’s use of borrowed effects footage. If you are new to the cannibal genre, Lenzi’s film will provide you with a good introduction to what the genre was all about; providing us with the most disgusting visuals possible and giving us lots of sexual content to balance out the sickening qualities. I’d only give THE EMERALD JUNGLE three stars, though, because of me being a devoted fan of these movies, I was let down by the gore factor. In this kind of movie, fans want to have a score of new utterly sickening effects, and they will find THE EMERALD JUNGLE to have nothing new to offer. I’d recommend THE EMERALD JUNGLE to new fans of these films, but advise grizzled veterans of the cannibal genre to avoid it.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings