In The Land Of The Cannibals (2004) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Bruno Mattei
Starring: Claudio Morales, Lou Randall, Cindy Jelic Matic
Rated: UR/Region: 1/1:33/Number of disc: 1
Available from Intervision Picture Corp
The late Italian sleaze maestro Bruno Mattei, infamous director of HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, CAGED WOMEN, RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR and SS EXTERMINATION LOVE CAMP, here under the name Martin Miller brazenly combines CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and PREDATOR for a whole new level of green inferno perversion: When a team of hard-ass commandos venture deep into the Amazon jungle to rescue a senator’s hot daughter, they’ll trigger a bloodbath of flesh-stripping, gut-ripping, limb-hacking, stock footage and sexual brutality. Cindy Matic and Claudio Morales (MONDO CANNIBAL) star in this mind-boggling hybrid also known as LAND OF DEATH and released in Japan as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 3: CANNIBAL VS. COMMANDO now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!
Shot back to back with Mondo Cannibal, Bruno Mattei might have used yet another fake name while directing this movie, but he pretty much uses the same cast as before and makes the same mistakes that made Mondo Cannibal a slightly entertaining cinematic car crash. So, if you are looking for more along those lines, you get your wish with this. What parts of Cannibal Holocaust that wasn’t copies in Mondo Cannibal gets used here as the director goes to toss in some Predator for good measure! I wouldn’t say this film is any worse than the other film, but I sadly can’t say that this one is any worse. If anything, this one at least seems to toss in a few laughs enabling the laughter the film brings to be intentional this time around! That could be seen as an improvement. There is also some good gore here as well. Could we use the term “so bad it is good” for this one? Maybe, it is still kind of too close to call.
There is once again some nudity here. I don’t know if the director could be accused of finding any better use for it, but it is here and there is a least one nice pair of jugs to take a gander at while you play the game of “did this scene come from Predator or Cannibal Holocaust”. Sadly, there is not an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, epic handshakes, or cleaver Cannibal story to be found at the end of the day with this one. It is another one of those that can have random moments of humor, gore, or entertainment, but it mostly kind of makes you want to check your watch from time to time as well. I’m happy to see stuff like this getting proper releases, but it isn’t my favorite film Intervision has ever brought to DVD for our viewing pleasure. Maybe they saved all the cool cannibal movies for the Severin set?
- Trailer
