CannibalThing Reviews

Maniac (1980)

A classic and sleazy slasher

[9/10 · 30 March 2006]

Frank Zito has a problem. He can't seen to go out and have a nice time without killing some woman or the occasional man. He sees a woman, thinks of his abusive mother, and suddenly he has to kill someone.

Frank, played by Joe Spinell, is the main (and insane) character as well as the killer in Maniac. Spinell performs some of the best acting I've ever seen. Everyone else is mediocre at best. A testament to Spinell's acting ability is that he somehow manages to make you feel sorry for him (the killer) as well as his victims. Frank talks to himself a lot during the scenes between kills and these conversations with himself are both clever and haunting.

Maniac has some really infamous scenes including an ending that really freaked me out the first time I watched it. The shotgun scene is extremely well done but not as disturbing as some of the other death scenes.

I recommend this to all Horror fans but more specifically of the gore hound variety. If nothing else Maniac is worth a watch for Joe Spinell's magnificent performance. I can't praise it highly enough. A definite classic.

Last Cannibal World (1977)

An adventure in the jungle.

[7/10 · 30 March 2006]

Jungle Holocaust opens with some beautiful shots of a small aircraft flying over a seemingly endless jungle. The four people on the plane are going to the middle of said jungle to check up on a mining crew one of them sent out there. When they get there the camp is of course empty, and all that they find of the inhabitants is a heavily decomposed head. They end up having to stay the night in the plane because the pilot, understandably, will not fly over the jungle in the dark. At this point their situation goes from bad to worse as they have to deal with getting separated, a tribe of natives who just happen to be cannibals, being lost, and being far out of their element.

The movie centers around Robert Harper (Mossimo Foschi) and his ordeals with the cannibals and the jungle in his struggle to get home. The character development is a highlight as the events take their toll on Robert's psyche. He becomes more savage, animal like, and at times it seems, insane. Actor Mossimo Foschi does a very good job portraying all of this, by the way. Actress Me Me Lai is never clothed, a plus in my book, and performs well, though her obviously fake breasts do detract from the believability as she is supposed to be playing a native.

There isn't much gore but some of what there is can get a bit strong. Some will find a scene with a crocodile particularly hard to watch.

Overall Jungle Holocaust is one of the best of the Italian Cannibal genre and is oddly uplifting for this kind of film. Highly recommended.