9 Definitive Italian Cannibal Movies

6. Eaten Alive! (1980)

eaten alive Yes folks, it's Umberto Lenzi time again. This time possibly even usurping himself in the ultra violent cannibal fare that he produces with Eaten Alive! Sheila has lost touch with her sister - Diana - whom she believes has disappeared in a jungle in Asia. She takes a trip into the heart of darness to find her sister with the assistance of Mark. They must endure mighty trials in the hunt for Diana. Diana seems to have joined a cult headed by a man named Jonas who does terrible sexual perversions to his followers and the local natives. He rapes Sheila with a dildo. A group of the cult followers along with Sheila and Mark attempt to escape but run into cannibal territory. Diana and another woman are raped and torn into pieces by the tribe. Mark and Sheila are saved by some pretty handy helicopters floating above. An intensely brutal and savage Cannibal film, it is hard to know whether Eaten Alive! outgrosses Cannibal Ferox or Ferox outgrosses Eaten Alive! In Eaten Alive! there is rape, castration, gratuitous nudity and grim acts of violence. These things are usually de rigeur in the standard Cannibal film, but in Eaten Alive! they really push at the barriers of what we can physically stomach in a cannibal film. Plus Lenzi lifts several scenes from other, better movies including his own (!). The best thing about the movie is the cast - a veritable spread of who's who in 1970s exploitation - Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov, Me Me Lai, Robert Kerman and Mel Ferrer.
 
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Contributor

My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!