THE MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (deluxe widescreen edition)

Sergio Martino is one of the most prominent of Italian exploitation directors. Over the years, he has worked in many different genres, covering almost the entire Italian exploitation field - gialli ('I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carbale' (AKA TORSO), 'Lo Strano Vizio della Signora Wardh' (AKA NEXT!), 'La Coda Dello Scorpione' (AKA THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL) etc), horror (ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS (AKA THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU)), adventure ('Il Fiume del Grande Caimano' (AKA THE GREAT ALLIGATOR RIVER), 'Screamers' (AKA ISLAND OF THE FISHERMEN), apocalyptic adventure ('2019: Dodo la Caduta di New York' (AKA '20198: After the Fall of New York)), sex comedies (SEX WITH A SMILE, LOVE IN 4 EASY LESSONS, FOXY LADY) and cannibals (this film). He has had some considerable success, particularly in the giallo where his work stands out from much of the less distinguished directors' efforts. However, the criticism most often levelled at him is that he is a hack, jumping from genre to genre in accordance with whatever audiences were paying to see from year to year. This is of course true of many other Italian (and Hollywood) directors, and is somewhat unfair, particularly given the infamously plagiarist nature of Italian cinema in the 70's and 80's.

MOUNTAIN is a fairly early entry in that most dubious of Italian exploitation areas, the cannibal film. For those who don't know, the following is a quick run-down of the history of the cannibal genre... Umberto Lenzi kick-started the whole thing with his 1972 entry 'El Paese del Sesso Selvaggio' (AKA 'Deep River Savages', 'The Man From Deep River'. However, it was several years before Ruggero Deodato followed up Lenzi's train of thought with his 1976 'Ultimo Mondo Cannibale' (AKA 'Last Cannibal World'). Martino's MOUNTAIN was next, pre-figuring Deodatos' apocalyptic CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST by a year or two. Several films then followed in quick succession; Lenzi's 1980 'Mangiata Vivi' (AKA 'Eaten Alive') and 1981 CANNIBAL FEROX, Antonio Margheriti's 1980 'Apocalisse Domani' (AKA 'Cannibal Apocalypse') and Marino Girolami's cannibal-zombie genre-mixing 1980 'La Regina dei Cannibali' (AKA 'Dr Butcher MD', 'Zombie Holocaust'). So, in the space of a few years, the genre was resurrected then died out again, but has lived on in the hearts (and stomachs!) of horror film fans the world over. It is quite surprising that Martino got involved with the cannibal genre as quickly as he did, since he tended to be a trend-follower, rather than a trend-setter. However, the fact remains that his entry is probably the most enjoyable of the cannibal films, being a quite light-hearted adventure romp rather than an all-out gore fest, like Lenzi and Deodato's films (Margheriti's CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE is also a fairly restrained cannibal film, being more of a thriller with very gory effects work).

The lovely Ursula Andress (original Bond girl, and a Swiss beauty queen) stars as Susan Stevenson, a young lady who's husband has gone missing whilst exploring a remote mountainous island in New Guinea. She and her brother, Arthur (played by Antonio Marsina, star of many Italian films, none particularly good) contact Dr Edward Foster (played by Stacy Keach, a very prolific actor in Italian B movies) in the hope that he will take them on a search for her missing husband. Dr Foster tells them about where he thinks the Professor has gone - the official line is that he's missing in the 'Marabata Jungle', but Foster reckons that the Prof has actually gone to the 'Island of Roka', which lies 5 miles off the coast of the Jungle. On this island is the cursed 'sacred mountain of Ra Ra Me'. So, the three of them set off on an expedition to Roka, with a few native guides. As they progress through the jungle, we see glimpses of natives wearing strange masks, and ominous music. They reach the coast, and as they're crossing it, a big rubber alligator grabs one of the natives, dragging him off (Martino would make further use of his rubber alligator the following year in THE GREAT ALLIGATOR RIVER). Once they're on Roka, the rest of the natives are quickly dispatched - one gets caught in a trap with spiky stones, another gets his head lopped off. Andress is about to get offed when another white person shows up and saves her (don't bother thinking about the likelihood of this!). It turns out that he ('Manola') is staying at a mission in the jungle. They set off there, and Arthur wastes no time in getting down to business with a native girl. Of course, this turns sour and she is killed. Dr Foster gets attacked by one of the natives with the strange masks, and it turns out that the tribe that lives on the sacred mountain are the 'Pooka', long presumed extinct. Dr Foster had been captured by them on a previous expedition and forced to eat human flesh. The four of them then set off to climb the mountain. There is a twist in the tale, however, which I won't reveal here. When the inevitable happens, and the party is caught by the cannibals, Andress is stripped off, and daubed in goo, in a scene which supposedly made it onto a 'celebrity' tape of Electric Blue. Her husband's remains are built into a kind of shrine, with his Geiger counter at the centre, its ticking resembling a heart beat. Do they escape? Well, you'll just have to watch it yourself to find out!!!

As you might have surmised from the above description, MOUNTAIN does not exactly rely too much on narrative as a selling point. The film's raison d'etre is to show lots of stock footage of the jungle and animals, plus the usual animal cruelty and cannibal high-jinks. To be honest, the animal footage seems out of place in this film, given its fairly tame nature, though to be fair some of it does seem to be spliced in. The film is not terribly violent, and does not feature sexual violence, something which sets it apart from its more extreme companions. One gets the impression that Martino is more interested in providing the audience with a good old fashioned adventure film, with a bit of the required gore/animal violence thrown in for good measure.

One thing which should be mentioned is the winning presence of Andress in the film. To be honest, she is about as convincing in the role as... well, someone not terribly convincing! However, she provides much-needed charisma and presence in the film - both Keach and Marsina seem somewhat wooden in their roles, and Andress really holds the film together. The film actually has a special credit at the end for "Miss Andress' leatherwear", and you'll see why if you watch the film - she wears a succession of fetching outfits, complete with extremely impractical looking high-heeled leather boots! Also, her heavy eye make-up and thickly accented voice (listen to her say 'Henry' and 'husband'!!) make her seem quite exotic, suiting the mood of the film well.

All-in-all, if you're looking to start working your way through the dreaded cannibal films, you could do a lot worse than to start here. It'll provide you with a gentle introduction to the joys of the genre, whilst starting to prepare you for the all-out excesses of Lenzi and Deodato. Martino had crafted another enjoyable film with MOUNTAIN, so it's a shame that his latter-day output tends to be rather disappointing.

DVD Specification
Original year of release - 1978
Approximate running time - 94m25s (cover states 99min, probably the PAL run-time)
Aspect ratio - Widescreen (2.35:1)
System - NTSC (colour)
Rating - 16 (Holland)
Sound - Dolby Digital Stereo (2.0)
DVD release - EC Entertainment
Region Coding - Region 0 (code free)

DVD Extras
Stills and artwork gallery
Dutch/English subtitles
Trailers (MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, plus A BLADE IN THE DARK and THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK)
Inlay card with biography/filmography for Martino, and stills from the film

DVD Ratings (out of 5)
Picture - 4
Surprisingly good, for a film of this type. Colours are very well-defined, and seeing the film in all its scope glory for the first time allows one to really appreciate Martino's direction and Giancarlo Ferrando's lovely cinematography. Anyone who has only ever seen an old nth generation bootleg of the film will be in for a real surprise if they view this DVD - it's amazing what a difference the crystal clear images on a DVD make to one's appreciation of a film, elevating it from an old exploitation film that people only had in their collection because of the cannibal connection (or perhaps because of Andress' "body-painting" scene!) to a glossy adventure film with some great location scenery. There is quite a bit of grain in the image, but nothing too distracting. As with all EC's DVD releases, the back cover claims that this one was 'digitally mastered in 1998'. Whatever the truth of this claim, the film does look great, and is highly unlikely to ever look better, unless Anchor Bay picks it up (doubtful, I would have thought...)
Sound - 4
DD Stereo. Again, very good. It's nice to see a good stereo soundtrack on an old film like this, especially due to its jungle setting - lots of birds chirping and animal noises, and of course the obligatory constant 'voodoo' drum beats. Very clear, thought there is a fair bit of hissing during the opening credits, especially when the image (of an aeroplane - what else?!) freezes for a few seconds to display some trite text concerning the last frontier that is the jungle. The De Angelis boys provide a passable score, pretty much what you expect in the genre, and it keeps the film ticking along.
Extras - 2
Not terribly impressive, but then I doubt that there is much that EC could have found to put on the disc. The trailers are OK, and lead me to hope that EC's next DVD's will be Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK and Deodato's HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK. The artwork gallery is quite interesting, showcasing many different video covers for the film from around the world, as well as posters. The stills gallery is nothing to write home about! We do at least get an inlay sheet with this DVD, unlike some of EC's other DVD's. This is a fold-out sheet which has stills from the film on one side, along with the poster artwork, and a biography/filmography of Martino on the other. The filmography is quite impressive, but the biography has obviously been translated, and is written in very poor English, with many mistakes and grammatical errors. Still, better than nothing....
Overall Rating - 4
A good package for a quite good film. Likely to appeal to aficionados of the cannibal genre, or of Ursula Andress! Undoubtedly one of EC's better discs. Anyone interested in Martino's career should certainly see this, as it shows very well his style and ability to apply himself to more-or-less any genre. If you're put off the films of Lenzi and Deodato because of the gruelling violence, then this is certainly a better bet. However, if you're a fan of the Lenzi/Deodato films, then you'll more than likely find this a bit of a tame ride. Still, no-one could dispute that it works very well as an adventure film, and is perfectly enjoyable, providing that one's expectations are not too high. One last point is that it is always nice to see films like this getting full scope presentations on DVD.

AKA
LA MONTAGNA DEL DIO CANNIBALE (Original Italian title)
SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD
PRISONER OF THE CANNIBAL GOD

Alternative versions
This film has had many many video releases the world over. Indeed, the gallery on this DVD highlights the artwork from a good many of them. The film has been variously released uncut, slightly cut and hacked to pieces. However, the only release of any real worth prior to this DVD was EC's laserdisc a few years ago. As one would expect, that utilised the same print as this DVD.

Movie Facts
This film was not one of the official 'video nasties' in the UK, but was one of the many titles that were in effect banned by the DPP. Certainly, it has not been available in the UK for many years, and will almost certainly never be released uncut here, due to the scenes of animal cruelty.