The DVD format is a supremely wonderful invention for the cult film enthusiast. Hundreds upon hundreds of films that I never would have expected to see receive the special edition treatment are being dealt with as if they were pure gold. I could start naming names, but the list goes on a mile long and we'd be here all night. Besides, I'm fairly certain that you're right there with me, empty wallet and cult DVDs in hand. It didn't start with DVD though, I still have my Cult Epics release of Cannibal Holocaust on Laser Disc. The fact that Cannibal Holocaust has made multiple appearances on DVD already is also quite surprising, it's a strange and wonderful world we live in. We can now add to the list the recent Italian PAL Region 2 release, which is both impressive, and a bit confusing at the same time. Let's dig deep into this new import DVD of one of the most infamous cannibal films ever made.

Four American documentary filmmakers (3 men, 1 woman) are missing and presumed dead after heading into the Amazon jungle. A rescue team led by Professor Monroe (Robert Kerman) heads deep into the jungle in an attempt to track down the missing filmmakers. Eventually they stumble upon a native tribe and make peace (by dangling their wangs) in just enough time to be given the missing canisters of film and they quickly head back to NY.

The remaining moments of Cannibal Holocaust are comprised of a "screening" of the found footage (this is where many people make the Blair Witch correlations) for a bunch of braindead TV executives. The "found footage" consists of the four filmmakers taunting and abusing the local tribe members, real and extremely upsetting animal atrocities and the grand finale in which we see in gross and morbid detail exactly what had happened to the disrespectful filmmakers.

Notorious for its ultra realism and relentless scenes of carnage, Cannibal Holocaust has a sordid and fascinating history. Quite often banned (in many countries) and at times rarely available uncut on home video, the film had even dragged director Deodato kicking and screaming to court at one point where he had to prove that the violence wasn indeed fake (except for the animal violence that is). Shocking because of its deadpan delivery, the many other cannibal clones available often came across as camp with nutty dialogue and hammy performances. Not Cannibal Holocaust though, with its serious and grim tone, the film is anything but a laughing matter (unlike Cannibal Ferox) and remains just as ferocious today as it ever was.

I've already mentioned the animal violence so keep in mind that you'll have to suffer through the likes of muskrat, monkey and turtle carnage before you even get to much of the human atrocity. The violence is still shocking, even by today's standard's and still looks a little too convincing for comfort including an adulterous woman who's taken with a spiked wooden dildo and that infamous image of the woman impaled by that darn stake.

OK, let's talk The Last Road to Hell sequence and what's apparently "missing". There are indeed a few seconds of footage missing from this sequence on this DVD release. The Last Road to Hell is comprised of footage from a "previous documentary" from the filmmakers that are lost in the jungle. The footage is brief and consists of some mondo footage, people being executed etc. There is a brief shot (no pun intended) from a firing squad that's missing, really only a second or two of footage. Now, kicking and screaming, calling this a "cut" release is a bit premature and shows a fair amount of balls. I did a direct comparison of this sequence to my Laser Disc and discovered that there are really only a few seconds of footage missing. There's also an audio blip at the very moment the footage would have appeared. If it weren't for the audio blip, I may not have even noticed. It's minor, but worth noting for the purists.

Update! - People have been driving me nuts about this "audio blip" I've been speaking of. Here's the deal. At the point in the film where the few seconds are missing, there is a "jump" in picture and audio. It's slight, but it is indeed there. This is exactly at the point where the few seconds of footage would have been, instead there's an "odd" cut back to the folks watching the footage of the documentary. It's not a "smooth" edit, this is the so-called "blip" I was speaking of. It's not necessarily an "audible" blip persay, but it's a bit of an odd jump in picture and audio, evident that a few frames of film are indeed missing. Hopefully this clears things up.

Picture quality is certainly stunning to say the least, easily the best I've ever seen this film look (and I've even seen a remastered print projected theatrically). This high level of video quality is really important to how the film plays out. The footage from the city and in the jungle that is NOT part of the actual "documentary" is of stunning quality. Sharp vibrant colors and no grain or print damage. The documentary footage is slightly grainy with some spots and blemishes (this footage was shot on 16mm). The contrast in quality really gives the "mondo" footage the upper edge and makes it seem all the more disturbing and realistic. This really shows how Deodato was just way ahead of his time, I enjoyed the film more this viewing than I ever have. The shifts in quality between the mondo footage and the "film" itself really stand to enhance the experience of watching Cannibal Holocaust, especially when it's this noticable. The bummer here is the non-removable Italian subs over the English track. I've heard some claims that you can indeed remove the subs on some players, alas not mine.

Audio is offered in two Italian tracks (standard surround and Dolby Digital 5.1) and an English mono track. The English track is acceptable, but not outstanding. Distortion is minimal, except for some high-end noise, overall it gets the job done and is comparable to previous editions of the film. Don't forget about those pesky non-removable subs either.

There are plenty of extras here, so if you speak Italian you'll be happy as a clam. That's right, no English subs or tracks for most of this goodness. There are a couple of trailers and a radio spot (English) in addition to a 3-minute piece on the restoration of the film, with no dialogue, just music. There's also an hour long documentary only in Italian and an audio commentary featuring Deodato, Italian only as well. There are also a couple of extensive still galleries (press and behind the scenes) and BIOS, once again, only Italian.

Overall this is an extremely high quality presentation with a lot of extras that I just simply didn't understand, why oh why didn't I study Italian? If you speak Italian, you'll be in heaven! If you're as ignorant and English speaking only like me, then you'll have to weigh your options and decide. This is easily the most attractive presentation I've ever seen for Cannibal Holocaust, how bad do you want it? If you don't feel like waiting for an official US DVD release and you can get past the Italian only extras and forced subtitles, then dig on into this PAL Region 2 DVD.

For all of yer sick and twisted DVD needs including Cannibal Holocaust, head on over to xploitedcinema.com