Misplaced Pages

#539460

43-609: The film premiered on Zappa's 39th birthday, December 21, 1979, at the Victoria Theater in Manhattan. During this initial New York run it was shown continuously 24 hours a day. (The theater marquee can be seen in the opening credits to the 1980 Italian horror film, Eaten Alive! , partly filmed in New York at the time that Baby Snakes was playing.) Zappa spent his own money on the project and took several months editing

86-442: A dildo covered in snake blood, and decapitates a native. In another, a native widow named Mowara is ritualistically raped after her late husband's body is burned on a pyre. A group, consisting of Mowara, Mark, Sheila and Diana escapes into the jungle, where Diana and Mowara are caught by a group of cannibals, with Diana raped and then both slowly cut up and eaten before being hacked to death, while Mark and Sheila helplessly watch from

129-403: A picture disc , and subsequently on compact disc with different artwork. An expanded iTunes edition entitled Baby Snakes: The Compleat Soundtrack was released on December 21, 2012. The New York Times called it "a shapeless and inexcusably-long concert film made by, and about, Frank Zappa". Movie historian Leonard Maltin considered the picture "Excruciating...In every fifth shot, Frankie

172-435: A 90-minute edited version with a "sell-through" price of $ 59.98. This coincided with the original vinyl release of the soundtrack album . The complete 2-hour 45-minute version of the film was released as a double videocassette in 1987, with the soundtrack album being issued on CD around the same time. The full version retailed at $ 200 and was aimed at rental stores. Both the 1983 and 1987 editions sold out quickly. Baby Snakes

215-682: A mainstream Italian actor whose stage name is John Morghen; and Luigina Rocchi, who played one of the natives who painted Ursula Andress' body in The Mountain of the Cannibal God and an undetermined role in Cannibal Holocaust . Because of the content, the cannibal genre is one of the most controversial genres of film. Many of the films were once banned in the U.K. and Australia and most were forced to be edited before public display. Several are still banned in countries all around

258-427: A similar subgenre known as mondo films , exploitation documentaries which claimed to present genuine taboo behaviors from around the world. Umberto Lenzi is often cited as originating the cannibal genre with his 1972 film Man from Deep River , while Antonio Climati's Natura contro from 1988 is similarly regarded to have brought the trend to a close. Ruggero Deodato 's Cannibal Holocaust , released in 1980,

301-480: Is 'yuck.'" Cannibal boom Cannibal films , alternatively known as the cannibal genre or the cannibal boom , are a subgenre of horror films made predominantly by Italian filmmakers during the 1970s and 1980s. This subgenre is a collection of graphically violent movies that usually depict cannibalism by primitive, Stone Age natives deep within the Asian or South American rainforests. While cannibalism

344-483: Is about a young woman ( Janet Agren ) who is searching for her sister after her abduction by a cult in the jungles of New Guinea . A woman named Sheila is searching for her sister, Diana, who has disappeared in the jungles of New Guinea . Sheila joins up with Mark, and they encounter many perils during their search. Diana has joined a cult run by a man called Jonas. Jonas physically and sexually abuses his followers and local people alike. In one scene, he rapes Sheila with

387-459: Is in closeup; either that or a fan runs up, kisses him, and screeches for joy. Zappa the producer should have fired Zappa the director, although Zappa the editor did cut the running time in half for a reissue 5 years later. The film's sole virtue is its clay animation." Eaten Alive! Eaten Alive! ( Italian : Mangiati vivi! — same meaning but with plural expressed) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi . The film

430-415: Is often considered to be the best-known film of the genre due to the significant controversy surrounding its release, and is one of the few films of the genre to garner mainstream attention. In recent years, the genre has experienced a cult following and revival, as new productions influenced by the original wave of films have been released. Due to their graphic content, the films of this subgenre are often

473-417: Is the uniting feature of these films, the general emphasis focuses on various forms of shocking, realistic and graphic violence, typically including torture , rape and genuine cruelty to animals . This subject matter was often used as the main advertising draw of cannibal films in combination with exaggerated or sensational claims regarding the films' reputations. The genre evolved in the early 1970s from

SECTION 10

#1732797314540

516-548: The Monthly Film Bulletin noted that the plotting and staging of the film as "chaotic" while finding that the film was "brightened by occasional moments of unintended hilarity, as when the drugged ambrosia is ritually consumed to the accompaniment of a robust chorus of ' The Battle Hymn of the Republic .'" From retrospective reviews, the assistant professor Danny Shipka of Louisiana State University described

559-575: The mondo film style of previous cannibal films. The film uses footage taken from other cannibal films , including Man from the Deep River (1972), Last Cannibal World (1977) and The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978). The film was released in Italy on March 20, 1980. It was released under the alternative title Doomed to Die in the United States. From contemporary reviews,

602-488: The "cannibal boom". Included in these films are Ruggero Deodato 's 1977 film Ultimo mondo cannibale (a.k.a. Last Cannibal World , a.k.a. Jungle Holocaust ), Sergio Martino's 1978 film The Mountain of the Cannibal God and a few films by Joe D'Amato starring Laura Gemser . However, Deodato also claims to be the forefather of the subgenre, with his film Ultimo mondo cannibale . Lenzi said in an interview for Calum Waddell's documentary Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of

645-536: The German distributors. It gave them an 80% guarantee based on another cannibal film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Me Me Lai and Ivan Rassimov . The producer signed this contract and he was at my house for dinner expecting me to do another film like the one we had just done and telling me how he had sold it to the Germans. I said okay, fine, but as the film did so well, I want to be paid exactly double of what I

688-571: The Italian Cannibal Film : Well, Mr. Ruggero Deodato, my "dear friend", says that he invented this genre. He says that I copied him because he had done Last Cannibal World and then Cannibal Holocaust . However, it is actually down to me that he did those films. It was down to me because after I filmed Man from Deep River , which was called Mondo Cannibale in Germany and did very well, the producer then signed another contract with

731-517: The Westerners and the natives. The films' advertising focused on the presentation of this content rather than any critical acclaim. This form of advertising was sometimes accompanied by claims regarding the film's notoriety. For instance, the posters for Cannibal Ferox claimed that the film was banned in 31 countries, while the British home video cover for Eaten Alive! similarly noted that

774-492: The cannibal films is that mondo filmmakers (as in Cannibal Holocaust ) or anthropologists (as in Cannibal Ferox ) from a "civilized" country enter a jungle and run afoul of cannibalistic natives. Ironically, many have an anti-imperialist slant to them, as in the films, the "civilized" Westerners are the first to perpetrate extreme cruelty and violence upon the natives. The cannibals, in turn, reap revenge by inflicting

817-537: The center of controversy, and many have been censored or banned in countries around the world. The animal cruelty featured in many of the films is often the focal point of the controversy, and these scenes have been targeted by certain countries' film boards. Several cannibal films also appeared on the video nasty list released by the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1983 in the United Kingdom . Nonetheless,

860-432: The cover of the bushes. They quickly escape back to New York when helicopters sent by the authorities come looking for them. Back in the village, the rest of the cult commits ritual suicide, leaving one young female survivor for the authorities to find. Eaten Alive! was part of the cannibal boom and filmed before the release of Cannibal Holocaust . The film uses a more traditional adventure film narrative opposed to

903-431: The film as Lenzi capitalizing on public interest in cult leader Jim Jones and referring to it as a "ridiculous film". Online film database AllMovie gave the film a one and a half star out of five rating, noting that the film includes "Stone Age cannibals, a Jim Jones-type cult, hired assassins, and gratuitous animal slaughters thrown onscreen every five minutes just to keep the viewer awake." The review also commented on

SECTION 20

#1732797314540

946-435: The film during 1978. He had difficulty finding a distributor for the film in 1979. He tried to interest United Artists , the company that released 200 Motels , but they declined. Other studios followed United Artists' lead, fearing that Zappa's "cinematic style" had lost considerable appeal in 1970s pop culture, and also declined to distribute the film. Several European distributors told Zappa that there might be interest if

989-451: The film was previously banned in the country. Films containing elements similar to cannibal films existed before the genre's inception. Rainforest adventure films were often found popular in cinema (such as with the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and 1940s starring Johnny Weissmuller ). Some of these films even included primitive, and in some cases, alleged cannibal tribes, and could be seen as

1032-449: The genre are: Like directors, few actors are cannibal genre regulars. The three actors who appeared in the most cannibal films were: Other popular cannibal genre actors include: Laura Gemser , an Indonesian model-turned-actress in Italy; Perry Pirkanen , who played Jack Anders in Cannibal Holocaust and an uncredited role in Cannibal Ferox ; Carl Gabriel Yorke , who played Alan Yates in Cannibal Holocaust ; Giovanni Lombardo Radice ,

1075-478: The genre has occasionally fallen under favorable or more positive critical interpretation, and certain cannibal films have been noted for containing themes of anti-imperialism and critiques or commentary on Third World oppression and exploitation. The plots of cannibal films usually involved Western characters entering the Amazon or South East Asian rainforests on an expedition, only to encounter hostile natives on

1118-473: The genre was Cannibal Holocaust . Ten days after the premiere in Milan , the film was seized by Italian authorities and director Ruggero Deodato was arrested on the belief that his film was a real snuff film . Facing life in prison, Deodato was able to bring all the actors onto a television show and demonstrated in court how some of the special effects were accomplished. The charges were dropped, but because of

1161-458: The prototype for the modern cannibal film. One movie that can almost be definitively linked as the predecessor to the cannibal genre is Cornel Wilde 's 1965 film The Naked Prey , which involved a white man being chased by a tribe of natives because his safari group offended their chief. Another influential film on this genre was the 1970 Richard Harris western A Man Called Horse which, although it involved non-cannibalistic Native Americans,

1204-440: The running time was cut from its original 168-minute length. The film was cut to 90 minutes, but still, there were no takers. Even after Bruce Bickford's sequences won first prize at a French animated film competition, there was no interest. Eventually Zappa took it upon himself to distribute the film independently, via his own production company, Intercontinental Absurdities. The film was first released on videocassette in 1983 in

1247-562: The same form of barbarism on the Westerners. A few are set in modern urban centers with cannibalism practiced secretly, as in Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals and Zombie Holocaust (which was the first film to mix the cannibal genre with the then-popular "zombie film"). Several directors of different nationalities have contributed to the genre, but most of them did not make more than one cannibal film each. The major directors to

1290-438: The still extremely explicit content, the courts still banned the film because of the real cruelty towards animals. Deodato was ultimately held on charges of obscenity and animal violence. Four years later, in 1984, Deodato was able to overturn the courts' rulings and the film was unbanned. Ironically, that same year, the United Kingdom , Norway , Finland , and Australia banned Cannibal Holocaust ; all four have since repealed

1333-536: The template for what would later become the Italian cannibal film genre. The subgenre as it is known today is usually regarded to have started with Italian director Umberto Lenzi 's 1972 film Man from Deep River . It was released in New York City as Sacrifice! , and was a 42nd Street hit. This film inspired several other similar films to be made during the late 1970s, a period identified by genre fans as

Baby Snakes - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-446: The themes of the film, stating that "both of the leading characters are given a backstory of having exploited blacks in their Alabama cotton mill, only to lose all their ill-gotten money and – in one case – pay the ultimate price, as one underclass avenges another half a world away. In more talented hands, there could have been a real statement made with this film. As it turns out, the only statement most viewers are likely to come away with

1419-405: The true gross may never be known. Umberto Lenzi would also contribute to the genre in 1980 with Eaten Alive! , and again in 1981 with the notorious Cannibal Ferox , but by then, however, the genre was beginning to fade, and only a few other obscurities were made until Mondo film director Antonio Climati was considered to have put an end to the genre in 1988 with the film Natura contro , which

1462-408: The way to their destination. Other films that are sometimes associated with the genre, such as Cannibal Apocalypse and We're Going to Eat You , do not follow this plotline. The films are known for their lurid content, such as sex, nudity and various forms of graphic violence. Sexual assault , torture, and the on-screen depiction of cannibalism are also common, and these acts are performed by both

1505-703: The world. Only three films of the genre ( Schiave Bianche: Violenza in Amazzonia , Ultimo mondo cannibale and Zombie Holocaust ) have been rated R by the MPAA for the edited version (the R rating for Zombie Holocaust has since been surrendered, and the film is now unrated in the United States). The most controversial aspects of the genre include the real killing of animals and graphic scenes of rape and other sexual violence being present in many cannibal films. The most controversial and most infamous movie of

1548-486: Was about a civilized white man being captured by, and forced to live with, a tribe of savages, during which time he comes to respect, and strives to join, his captors. The basic plot of Man from Deep River is an almost scene-for-scene swipe from that film, merely substituting rainforest cannibals for the Native Americans. This film, created to imitate the famous 1970 Richard Harris western, would wind up becoming

1591-409: Was also released as an unofficial sequel to Cannibal Holocaust (it has an alternative title of Cannibal Holocaust II ). Other similar films were made with a direct-to-video release afterward, most notably the films by horror director Bruno Mattei . The genre is heavily indebted to mondo cinema , which similarly aimed to shock audiences with exotic customs and graphic violence. A common premise of

1634-452: Was banned, blocked and withheld. They distributed it at a later date, but it was dead by then. However, it did astonishing business abroad." Its graphic and unrelenting violence and exploitation brought it significant attention. Despite this (or perhaps because of this), Cannibal Holocaust was an enormous success; it is sometimes claimed to have accumulated a $ 200,000,000 USD worldwide box-office gross, though this has not been verified and

1677-458: Was down to me that he [Deodato] got to do Last Cannibal World . It was me that said no. So he did it instead. However, if I had accepted it, like the contract stated, maybe he would never have done a cannibal film. In response, Deodato, being interviewed for the same film, stated: I think the forefather of the cannibal genre was me. I had not seen Umberto Lenzi's movie Man from Deep River . So my film, Last Cannibal World , really originated, and

1720-441: Was given before. He refused, saying it was too much and so on. I said okay, good luck to you. Plus I was already signed up with Dania Film to do Almost Human . So what the producer did, so as not to void the contract with the Germans, was to change directors, stating I was ill or something. But he kept Me Me Lai and Ivan Rassimov. But Rassimov had a smaller part now. Nevertheless, both of them remained as part of this contract. So it

1763-433: Was more of a copy of A Man Called Horse . A large number of cannibal films were made in 1980, making it the most successful year for the genre. In February 1980, Ruggero Deodato released Cannibal Holocaust , probably the best-known of all the cannibal films. Luigi Cozzi has said: "to me, the real beginning of the cannibal genre is Cannibal Holocaust . It was a legitimate success at the box office, but not in Italy as it

Baby Snakes - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-429: Was released on DVD on December 9, 2003, by Eagle Vision United States in its complete unedited form. This version has a four channel Surround sound mix included. The surround mix was created by Zappa for theatrical showings in 1979 but not previously available on home video. This DVD was also the first time that the film was widely distributed to the public. The soundtrack album was first released on vinyl in 1983 as

1849-451: Was written to start this whole cannibal trend. I studied a lot of books on the subject and documented some of it from National Geographic magazine as well. I also looked closely at the ritualism of cannibalism and I don't believe Lenzi did that with his film. Maybe Lenzi did it after I made Last Cannibal World . You know, when he went on to do Cannibal Ferox [in 1981]. He didn't do it first, that's for sure. When I finally saw his film, it

#539460