Каннибальский Холокост: История скандального фильма ужасов

1980 Italian horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato
the film

Cannibal Holocaust achieved notoriety as its graphic violence aroused a great deal of controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was ordered to be seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was later charged with multiple counts of murder due to rumors that claimed several actors were killed on camera. Although Deodato was cleared of these charges, the film was banned in Italy, Australia, and several other countries due to its graphic content, including sexual assault and genuine violence toward animals. Although some nations have since revoked the ban, it is still upheld in several countries. Critical reception of the film is mixed, although it has received a cult following. The film's plot and violence have been noted as commentary on journalism ethics, exploitation of South American countries, and the difference between Western and non Western cultures, yet these interpretations have also been met with criticism, with any perceived subtext deemed hypocritical or insincere due to the film's presentation.

Deodato decided to film Cannibal Holocaust in English in order to appeal to a wider audience and to lend the film credibility. However, the film had to establish a European nationality so that it could be more easily distributed among European countries. Under Italian law, for the film to be recognized as Italian, at least two actors who spoke Italian as a native language had to star in the film. Robert Kerman had years of experience working in adult films under the pseudonym R. Bolla, including the well known Debbie Does Dallas, before breaking into the Italian film industry. Kerman was recommended to Deodato for his previous film, The Concorde Affair, in which Kerman played an air traffic controller, and his performance impressed Deodato enough to have Kerman cast as Harold Monroe in Cannibal Holocaust. Kerman went on to star in the Italian cannibal films Eaten Alive! and Cannibal Ferox, both directed by Umberto Lenzi. Kerman's girlfriend at the time was cast as one of the station executives, as she was available to film in both New York City and Rome. Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment compares these scenes to Vsevolod Pudovkin's theory of montage, saying: "In Cannibal Holocaust, we see the actors kill and rip apart a giant sea turtle and other animals. [ ] The brain has been conditioned to accept that which it's now seeing as real. This mixture of real and staged violence, combined with the handheld camerawork and the rough, unedited quality of the second half of the movie, is certainly enough to convince someone that what they are watching is real." Deodato says he included the execution footage in The Last Road to Hell to draw further similarities to Cannibal Holocaust and the Mondo filmmaking of Gualtiero Jacopetti. Interpersonal relationships were strained on the set. Kerman and Deodato frequently clashed, as the two got into long, drawn out arguments every day of shooting, usually because of remarks made by Deodato to which Kerman took offense. Although Deodato noted that the two were always friendly again a few minutes later, Yorke and co star Perry Pirkanen also did not get along, which Yorke attributed to disappointment that Pirkanen felt after his friend dropped out of the production. Yorke also alienated Ciardi after he declined to have sex with her in preparation for filming their sex scene. The film's main theme was used in 2022 for the American teen series Euphoria, where it was played during the closing credits for the season 2 episode "The Theater and Its Double".

Due to its graphic content, there are several different versions in circulation, edited to varying degrees. In the United Kingdom, it was originally released on VHS by Go Video in 1982 with approximately six minutes of cuts. These cuts were self imposed by the distributor, possibly due to technical limitations of the tape. In 2001, the film was passed for release on DVD by the British Board of Film Classification with five minutes and 44 seconds of cuts to remove scenes of animal cruelty and sexual violence; all but 15 seconds of these cuts were waived for a re release in 2011. Grindhouse Releasing's home video releases contain an "Animal Cruelty Free" version that omits the six animal deaths. Other versions also contain alternative footage shot specifically for Middle Eastern markets that do not depict nudity.