Cannibal Holocaust

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courtesy Nathan Wardinski

A close-up of Nathan Wardinski.

Nathan Wardinski

For exploitation and horror film fans who have the ability to watch extreme gore, the style of films the Italian industry released in the 1970s and '80s are hard to top. Cannibal Holocaust, from 1980, included “documentary” footage as a film-within-the-film that was realistic enough that it was seized after its Italian premiere, and the filmmakers eventually convicted of obscenity. YIKES. There is more going on with the film beyond being extreme, however…enough so that Madison author Nathan Wardinski has written a book about it, Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust. Wardinski will discuss the film following this UW Cinematheque screening.

media release: Italy | 1979 | 35mm | 96 min.

Director: Ruggero Deodato; Cast: Robert Kerman, Carl Yorke, Francesca Ciardi

Employing a “found footage” device that predates The Blair Witch Project by 20 years, Cannibal Holocaust tells of four documentary filmmakers who meet a brutal end at the hands of a savage South American tribe of cannibals. Director Deodato’s approach to this material is so intensely graphic and realistic that he and the film’s producer were arrested upon its release, and the film was seized. Film scholar Nathan Wardinski, author of Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust, will join us for a post-screening discussion and Q&A. Viewer discretion advised.