Taking the torch from the now finally deceased Saw franchise for being the horror franchise that just won’t die, Paranormal Activity releases the latest film in the line today, Paranormal Activity 4. Largely responsible for the glut of found footage films in recent years, and while a number of these are quite good, Paranormal Activity had a bit of a tired premise even the first time around, and four movies later, there’s hardly any scares or life left in the series. In spite of this, to say nothing of brutal reviews, the latest movie is expected to set October box office records, and with Paranormal Activity 5 already in development, it looks like Hollywood plans to ride this gravy train as long as shmucks will pay to be ‘scared’ of moving furniture and levitating teenage girls.

I however, think the masses deserve a better breed of terror, and I have just the film for anyone looking for something a tad more horrifying than dead-four-time-over jump gags. You see my dear readers, as I fan of both horror movies and found footage films, I have am here to showcase a living legend of both genres. The movie is a bona-fide urban legend, whisperings of which have been circling around film buff circles since the 1980s. It is a grindhouse gem that manages to be both an anti-exploitation film, and yet is perhaps the greatest example of that very same genre. It is a film so raw, so commanding and so stomach-curdling in its grotesquery, that it is still banned in many countries, and impossible to legally purchase in its true form in countless others. It has a core message that will bring you to your knees, and violence so brutally realistic that not only has the film been banned in over fifty countries, but the director was briefly charged with murder when police saw the movie’s death scenes, and would not drop the case until he proved his cast was still alive. It has spawned multiple imitators and entire sub-genres, yet never any equal in terms of both disturbing brutality and powerful tone and direction. I am talking of course, about Cannibal Holocaust. No doubt a number of cinephiles out there reading this just felt your bowels turn to ice from that title alone, and for good reason. A few of my more devout readers may have seen me mention it a few times before, on both my list of Must See Horror Movies, and my list of the Top Ten Most Controversial Films of All Time, and it earned a spot on both, have no doubt. Given that this weekend will spend millions of dollars on another half-assed sequel to the rather blasé Paranormal Activity, and I don’t have the power to force them to watch this instead, I figured now is as good a time as any to showcase the underrated horror classic that is Cannibal Holocaust.

Made in the midst of the heyday of Italian grindhouse cinema, which has a deserved reputation for gore and controversy in its own right, Cannibal Holocaust is perhaps the most (in)famous product of not only the oddly expansive cannibal subgenre, but the entirety of Italian exploitation films. Almost since its first release in 1980, Cannibal Holocaust has been an immensely controversial film, and has left critics divided over its artistic merits, or lack thereof, since day one. In spite of the controversy, or to an extent because of it, it has earned its place as a cult classic that goes far beyond that of nearly any other of the era’s exploitation films typical fan base, earning accolades from publications like Total Film, IGN and Wired, celebrities including the likes of Sergio Leone, Sylvester Stallone and Sam Raimi, and of course, your humble narrator.

Having been first introduced to the film in the US Army during one of my unit’s regular movie nights, when a fellow soldier plopped the movie into the DVD player telling us this would become the most disturbing and terrifying film we’d ever watched. He was right, and the film quickly earned a spot as one of my favorites for being one of the most brutal and shocking films I’ve ever seen, and one that never gets any easier to watch at that. I’ve shared it with friends, whose reactions range from stunned silence, to screams, to in the case of a long-time horror fan friend of mine, total and utter incomprehension. Now, I share it with you – consider yourself cautioned.

The movie itself (Spoilers!) opens with anthropologist Harold Monroe hired by a television studio to head off into an uncharted stretch of the Amazon jungle, in hopes of tracking down a crew of famed documentary filmmaker Alan Yates and his crew, who had gone missing while making a documentary called The Green Inferno, which showcases Amazonian cannibal tribes. Along with his guide, he discovers that the local tribes have experienced some sort of unrest at the hands of the filmmakers – unrest which untimely ended with one of the tribes making a meal out of them. After some negotiations over a meal – yes, man is served, hint hint – Monroe manages to obtain their film reels in exchange for a tape recorder. Back at the studio, which has asked Monroe to host the broadcast of the recovered documentary, which he accepts if allowed to review the film first, and it is here that Cannibal Holocaust delves into truly terrifying territory. Yates and his crew, which we were led to believe were intrepid film pioneers culled by savage cannibals, turn out to be cutthroats willing to commit acts that would make Col. Kurtz take pause in efforts to get shocking and sensationalist material for their ‘documentary’. In their own trek through the jungle, they burn down a village, slaughter some animals, kill a number of natives, and rape a few others, all in the name of great television. By the time the locals turn their spears on them, the filmmakers fully deserving to be served on a spit, the final frame on Yates’ bloodied face as a screams as a stone axe falls, we see that savages come in many forms, and not always the forms we expect.

The story and the execution of it is what in the end I would wager has given Cannibal Holocaust both the longevity and fanbase it has – as I mentioned before, Italian grindhouse cinema did not lack an abundance of gore and controversy, and there is no shortage of other film, even other cannibal films, that are for more disgusting, disturbing or diabolical. What makes Cannibal Holocaust the memorable film it is ultimately comes down to the story, which in addition to the creative narrative angle which has since managed to spawn two entire sub-genres, tells one a very potent satire of media sensationalism and the savagery of the modern world. The angle involving the documentary filmmakers was at the time a slap in the face to the Italian Mondo films, though it has aged quite nicely into a before its time satire on the modern media, both in its quest for ratings and its willingness to sacrifice journalistic integrity and good taste to get them.

Much the same, one of the overriding themes of the movie is the comparison between modern civilization and the tribal cultures, and its message that we are every bit as savage as they are. Perhaps what makes that message so effective is that we, the audience become complicit in the act ourselves – literally the entire first half of the movie sets up that these filmmakers were victims of barbaric savages, cannibals no less, and we buy into it, only for the movie to turn our prejudices on our head when we find out who the real monsters are. In another swipe, how many folks watch the movie having heard of its reputation for violence must feel pangs of guilt once the final credits roll? The story and themes are almost universally ignored in the horror genre, especially much of the found footage subgenre, so the focus on it Cannibal Holocaust makes it something of a rarity, resulting something you’d have expected if Heart of Darkness was about sensationalist media as opposed to colonialism. Of course, there is no denying for what brilliance of storytelling there is, the film has a well-earned reputation for it’s almost unmatched of levels of violence and depravity, and from here no doubt stems the majority of controversy surrounding the film. I wasn’t exaggerating earlier describing the movie’s reputation either – it’s easily one of the most shocking films I’ve ever watched, and understandably one of the most controversial films of all time. Content included massive amounts of both blood and nudity, vivid scenes of rape and murder, real animal slaughter and some of the most photo-realistic violence ever put to screen. A lot of it is so graphic oven the most stoic screen-junkies will find their stomachs turning, and thanks to the superb work with the makeup and gore effects, the line between what is real and what is not is blurry as static, adding to the already palpable tension and unease of the movie. Describing some of the scenes is difficult, let alone watching them. Worth special note is what has sparked the most controversy with the film, the filmed killings of seven animals in the movie, including one where they carve open a turtle showcasing its bubbling innards and still blinking eyes for the camera, which will haunt you forever.

While I do find it horrendous, it was a tragic commonality of movies in the era – one that always gets overlooked is Apocalypse Now, which has two or three animals killed on screen – and it’s somewhat sad that in Cannibal Holocaust gets most of its infamy from this, as opposed to, for one example, the film within the film, Last Road to Hell, which consists of actual footage of executions and civil war in Nigeria, yet people seem to care more for Amazonian muskrats. Needless to say, between the impaled tribal women, dismembered muskrats, and Nigerian executions, there is something to shock, scare and shake anyone, and the movie is deservedly infamous for such.

That said, between the substance of its story and themes, or its myriad of controversies, few would deny the skill put into the movie, or the impact the film has had. The movie’s cinematography and editing is handled masterfully, as savage cruelty is eerily juxtaposed with beautiful scenery and Riz Ortolani’s terrific score, which makes every scene all the eerier. Disregarding its fame from controversy, the impact of the movie is drastically underrated – in addition to its influence on the horror genre and its impact on a number of filmmakers, but for literally being the starting point of two entire subgenres, both the faux-documentary and the found footage film, the latter of which, a few exceptions aside, are all largely derivatives of Cannibal Holocaust. I’m looking at you Blair Witch!

That impact, to say nothing of the current boom of found footage films is part of the reason why I would love to see a remake of Cannibal Holocaust. Hand it to someone like Quinton Tarantino or Eli Roth, both of whom claim the movie as an influence and a favorite, play up the themes and realism and remove it from its controversies – or with the miracles of modern marketing and viral media, play up entirely new ones, and you’d have a horror hit for the ages.

That said, the original one is, controversies and all, one of the most memorable films I’ve ever seen, and one that years after I’ve seen it, I still can’t forget or stop talking about. Cannibal Holocaust is a hard film to classify or recommend, but it’s harder to deny it has earned its place as a cinematic milestone for reasons both good and ill – it was and still is a cinematic paradox. On one hand, it’s an unforgivably violent and exploitative work that will leave you undoubtedly uncomfortable, and on the other hand, it’s an undeniably relentless social commentary that is totally unforgettable, and the fusion of these two parts is one of the most brilliantly insane monstrous masterpieces ever filmed. While it certainly isn’t a movie for everyone – I cannot emphasize that enough – if you have the stomach for it, I recommend it highly, if only for the fact there has never been another movie quite like it. It will disturb you, make you squirm, make you scream and leave you speechless – but by movie end, you will be affected by it, and will remember it long after the final credits roll. In the end, I would call say Cannibal Holocaust is to the horror genre what A Clockwork Orange is for science fiction. It’s a milestone in terms of genre cinema that has had an impact far beyond what many people realize, and has been steeped in controversy for its content since its inception, and its story and theme work often gets lost in the firestorm. In the end, watch it for whatever discomfort it may give you, and if you find its credits outweigh its controversies will depend on you. In either case, it will stick with you long after Paranormal Activity 4 has been forgotten.