3. Cannibal Holocaust depicted real murders

Photo Credit: Shudder

Another film from 1980…weird. Have you ever had the pleasure of seeing Cannibal Holocaust? This Italian exploitation splatterfest was marketed as a found footage film about a film crew that ran into a tribe of cannibals in the Amazon. Think The Blair Witch Project, but with natives in the South American jungle killing and eating a camera crew instead of annoying twenty-somethings in the woods being chased by a ghostly creature. I don’t know about you, but I was NOT a fan of The Blair Witch Project…

Cannibal Holocaust was incredibly controversial when it was released and was banned in Italy and Australia. There are actually several films with similar premises. A recent entry into the canon was 2013’s Green Inferno directed by Eli Roth. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never seen Cannibal Holocaust, but it is on my list. Perhaps it would make a good first date movie with a lucky lady?

The director of Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato, was actually taken to court because some folks believed that he had people murdered on camera. Obviously, that did not happen and charges of the movie being a snuff film were ultimately rejected, but some of the onscreen animal deaths in the film were real.