A professor heads into the Amazonian jungle to find a lost documentary film crew only to find that they have all been killed by the native population. What remains though are cans of undeveloped film that document the crew’s journey and their ultimate fate. Returning to New York the professor delivers the footage to a TV studio, a studio staffed by ratings hungry producers who intend to broadcast a special based around this footage. What is contained within though, rape, murder, animal slaughter and many other atrocities lead them to question this choice.

One of very few films included on the infamous ‘video nasty’ list that actually deserves the ‘nasty’ label and one of only a few (along with I Spit on Your Grave and a couple of others) that still has a lot of potential to shock and disgust, Cannibal Holocaust makes its way onto UK Blu-ray in an almost uncut state thanks to Shameless Entertainment. Shorn of only 14 seconds, required by the BBFC in order to receive an 18 certificate, the film is included on this Blu-ray release both in this form and in a new edit overseen by director Ruggero Deodato.

The most contentious parts of the film for the BBFC have always been the scenes in which animals are killed, actually killed on camera and the reduction of over 7 minutes of cuts from the BBFC  to only 14 seconds entirely surrounds these scenes of animal slaughter. The BBFC report on this release is pretty fascinating but the section on the animal scenes is particularly interesting,

Although the BBFC recognises that these scenes of animal slaughter may be upsetting or offensive to some viewers, it is clear that the scenes in question depict animals being killed in a quick and clean fashion that is acceptable under BBFC Guidelines and policy and the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937, on which that policy is based. The 2001 decision to cut these scenes was primarily the result of the disgusting and exploitative nature of the sequences, as well as the history of the film as a DPP-listed ‘video nasty’, rather than the result of a strict application of BBFC policy. In spite of any ethical concerns viewers might have about the killing of real animals for film making purposes, removing these sequences would be inconsistent with the BBFC’s decisions to permit quick clean kills in several other films, such as APOCALYPSE NOW. The Guidelines at ’18’ state ‘In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas […] where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals’. It is clear that these scenes are not illegal and are not likely to be harmful to adult viewers. Indeed, the most likely reaction is disgust and revulsion.

So, these scenes get a pass because they are “quick clean kills” plus they “are not illegal and are not likely to be harmful to adult viewers”. It’s an interesting stance and a strange reversal and it’s also an opinion that Deodato himself doesn’t share. His new edit is surprisingly shorter than the version the BBFC have now passed and the cuts that Deodato has made are all to the scenes of animal slaughter, stating that “I would never use animals in those scenes again”. The reality is, of course, that he did but his choice to remove or obscure (with special effects) these scenes adds to a sense of confusion from Deodato about what exactly he was trying to do with the film. Cannibal Holocaust is and always has been a very confused film, both morally and thematically.

Lines such as “I wonder who the real cannibals are” and the grotesque way Deodato presents the documentary crew make quite explicit the idea that Deodato is damning the West and a strain of exploitative documentary filmmaking that was on the rise at the time the film was made (reality TV has, perhaps, made things even worse now) but any attempts at social commentary or an interesting point are undermined by Deodato falling into the same traps, undermining this seemingly direct intention.

The scenes of animal slaughter, the fictionalised and not particularly believable tribes people and the cartoonish approach to the Westerners makes the whole endeavour feel somewhat hypocritical and absurd. Deodato has cited Rossellini as a huge influence on his work but in wading into the realms of gimmicky exploitation rather than the more classical storytelling approach of Rossellini, Deodato ended up drowning in the sleaze and unpleasantness and entirely losing his way.

This new HD transfer from Shameless leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the image, with excessive brightness, blurring, DNR artifacts and bleeding colours in a number of scenes, but the truth is that this release is far beyond the quality of any previous UK home entertainment release. This certainly doesn’t make this kind of transfer okay but if you’re looking to purchase this disc then it does at least represent an actual upgrade (especially when you consider the near uncut version included). Both cuts are of similar quality and are almost certainly the same transfer re-edited. The English audio track is reasonably decent and clear with few issues. In particular the oddly beautiful and even more oddly appropriate score from Riz Ortolani is represented wonderfully by this new release and it’s hard to stop humming it after the credits, despite the horrible associations.

Extras on the disc are of a poor quality visually but their content mostly makes up for this. The first main special feature is an interview with Deodato and one of the stars of the film, Carl Yorke. This is a reasonably informative extra that bounces back and forth between talking heads with the two and provides a lot of anecdotal information on the shoot and some thoughts from Deodato on his new edit. The second main extra is “The Long Road Back From Hell” which is described as an “in-depth reappraisal by leading critics”. This is over-selling it a little but the feature is rather good and the interviewees have some interesting points to make regarding the film.

A full list of everything included on the Shameless Blu-ray can be found below,

1- CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
2- CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, 1ST EVER DIRECTOR’S RE-EDIT
x2 Presentations by the director Ruggero Deodato
x2 Exclusive Shameless Programmes:
1- “FILM AND BE DAMNED”: shocking revelations about the film by its participants
2- “THE LONG ROAD BACK FROM HELL”: in-depth reappraisal by leading critics
Theatrical trailer
Shameless trailer park

Cannibal Holocaust is available to buy or rent from the 26th of September.