Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 7, 2018

Severin’s release of Violence in a Women's Prison and Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals share a number of common elements, not the least of which is the resplendent Laura Gemser starring as crusading journalist (or something like that) Emanuelle. As I mentioned in the Violence in a Women's Prison Blu-ray review, the success of 1974’s Emmanuelle led to a whole slew of knock-offs, some of which slightly changed the spelling of the character’s name. One of the better remembered series of Emmanuelle linked films grew out of 1975’s Black Emanuelle, the film which introduced Gemser as a (frequently) undercover investigator looking into an almost insane array of subjects. Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals was more or less part of this supposed “franchise”, coming along in 1977, positing Emanuelle on a trek to find a lost tribe of cannibals. Speaking of “an almost insane array of subjects”, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals actually starts in a psychiatric ward, where Emanuelle rather hilariously is documenting the goings on there courtesy of a kind of Chatty Cathy looking doll which has been modified to be a camera (the doll’s eyes click open and shut to indicate a picture is being snapped). The doll evidently gives Emanuelle enough of a “cover” that she’s “looney tunes” (if I may be slightly cheeky about it), though a doctor who is evidently in on the masquerade still upbraids her for wandering around the halls unescorted since she’ll blow her cover. Emanuelle is out and about in the asylum because she has noticed the perhaps unignorable situation of a psychiatric nurse leaving a patient’s room with half of one of her breasts chewed off, in just the first of several depictions of genital mutilation that Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals indulges in. It turns out that the poor nurse had been attending to a young girl who had been found in a jungle and transported to the facility. The girl has been mute, but she evidently doesn’t mind opening her mouth if there’s “food” around (so to speak). Emanuelle’s infallible journalistic instincts kick in, and she secretly sneaks into the girl’s room to “interview” her. The girl is not being especially forthcoming, so Emanuelle gets “creative” in an attempt to relax her interview subject (I won’t spoil Emanuelle’s technique for those who haven’t seen the film, other than to say it’s just the first sequence involving digital manipulation of an individual leading to, um, "relaxation").

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals received a release in the UK over two years ago, and for those interested in any “plot” mechanics, I refer you to Svet’s Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray review (anyone coming to this film for “plot” may wish to reconsider their cinematic priorities). I would like to comment on a couple of aspects of the film, though, since I personally found them so wonderfully funny at times. There’s little doubt that this film’s soft core proclivities are probably more undeniably erotic than some of the “shenanigans” at play in Violence in a Women's Prison (though no doubt there are probably fans of Violence in a Women’s Prison who probably find that film titillating). But what just struck me as laugh out loud enjoyable is how the sex scenes just take over at any given moment. The initial “interview” of the refugee from the cannibals is any early example, but stuff like this recurs throughout the film, with supposed “narrative” elements tossed by the wayside so that guys and gals and/or gals and gals can frolic in the jungle scenery to their heart’s (or other organs’) content.

There are also other kind of outré elements, like the character of the nun (Annamaria Clementi) or even vignettes like the cigarette smoking chimp ogling naked chicks in a verdant jungle pool, that give Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals an almost hallucinatory ambience at times. It’s all the kind of delirious weirdness that has made this subgenre a cult item, and for those who are not squeamish about soft core tendencies, the film has a certain overheated quality that can actually be fun.

Severin is also releasing a deluxe edition of the film which includes a soundtrack CD: Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Severin's press surrounding this release touts "now scanned in 2K from original vault elements", and a cursory comparison with the 88 Films UK release seems to show this is a different master, one with more evident grain but a somewhat cooler looking palette (contrast screenshot 1 in this review with screenshot 18 in the UK review for one example). I don't have the 88 Films version, and so am going solely by screenshots (a dangerous proposition at times), but to my eyes, this Severin release looks more organic and natural than the 88 Films version, which may lead some to wonder why I'm scoring this at the same 3.0 that Svet scored the 88 Films release. The source element has some problems that have not been significantly addressed in whatever restoration efforts may have been undertaken. The chief issue here is a hugely variant array in terms of densities, palette reproduction and grain resolution, but for one example of a relatively fleeting moment of decent clarity, palette saturation and grain structure, refer to screenshot 8. What's odd about this fairly early moment is that it is surrounded by more problematic looking moments. The opening optically printed credits sequence is understandably dirty and overly grainy looking, but the subsequent introduction of the psychiatric hospital has highly variant grain as well, along with an almost blanched looking palette, and a general lack of detail (see screenshot 6 for one example). The palette is even further stripped of hue when Emanuelle talks to her editor (see screenshot 9), to the point that things almost look "colorized". A lot of the later footage has a blue undertone, something that affects some of the jungle imagery. There's also quite a bit of damage that can be seen, with a variety of dirt and specks showing up and, rather late in the film, a series of almost crimson colored vertical scratches that are mostly (but not always) on the left side of the frame (see screenshots 1 and 18). Scattered throughout the presentation are moments where things approach the levels seen in screenshot 8, but there's a really unusually wide array of "looks" here which gives things a heterogeneous appearance. All of this said, while obviously not optimal, things have just as obviously not been artificially degrained or really even cleaned up that much, so lovers of this kind of genre outing may well get the "grindhouse" experience they may be after. Those who don't mind the wide variances and damage on display may well feel this a more authentic presentation than the 88 Films version.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals features English and Italian language tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. I toggled back and forth between the two tracks as I watched the film, and to my ears the English language version offers better overall balance, with a little bit more "oomph" in the lower midrange, something that helps to elevate the groovy score by Nico Fidenco. You're getting dubbing one way or the other, so sync is almost hilariously loose much (most?) of the time, another element that may actually add to the enjoyment of some fans. Both tracks can sound just slightly boxy at times, but there's nothing close to the sort of variances and damage that are seen in the video element of this release.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The World of Nico Fidenco: An Interview with Composer Nico Fidenco (1080p; 27:04) is a really interesting interview with the musician, who has a rather incredible history as a vocalist, including on some pretty well known English language tunes. In Italian with forced English subtitles.


• A Nun Among the Cannibals: An Interview with Actress Annamaria Clementi (1080p; 22:53) is another fun supplementary interview, with Clementi talking about how agent Pino Pellegrino got her into the business. This is probably NSFW material (what are you watching a Blu-ray at work for, anyway?) due to quite a bit of archival nude material. Clementi actually jokes about one of her chief memories of the film being how she was naked all the time. In Italian with forced English subtitles.


• Dr. O'Brien MD: An Interview with Actor Donald O'Brien (1080p; 18:47) features O'Brien looking like a mountain man that someone caught at the local pub (there's a bit of background noise going on during the interview). O'Brien is quite the raconteur in any case, talking about not just his career but a number of notables either he or in one case his sister knew. In Italian with forced English subtitles. (The main menu has O'Brien's first name spelled incorrectly as Donal.)


• From Switzerland to Mato Grosso: An Interview with Actress Monika Zanchi (1080p; 18:40) features Zanchi giving a rather broad history of her life, from her birth forward. In Italian with forced English subtitles.


• I Am Your Black Queen: Archival Audio Interview with Actress Laura Gemser (1080p; 11:25) is a nice interview with Gemser, who talks about her background and career. This is more NSFW material, as the interview plays out to both stills and film, many of which feature a naked Gemser.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:33)

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My 2.0 score above is for the general Blu-ray buying populace who may not be up to speed with Emanuelle and her extremely busy life. Lovers of these films will probably delight in this one at least as much as Violence in a Women's Prison, and there's no denying the allure of Gemser in this film. The video presentation here is widely variant, but the label has assembled a really nice array of supplements, so my advice for potential consumers is to parse the screenshots in this review to see how you feel about image quality.