6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
While doing undercover work in a mental hospital, Emanuelle discovers a girl who seems to have been raised by a tribe of amazonian cannibals. Intrigued, Emanuelle and friends travel deep into the Amazon jungle, where they find that the supposedly extinct tribe of cannibals is still very much alive, and Emanuelle and her party are not welcome visitors.
Starring: Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Nieves Navarro, Donald O'Brien, Percy HoganHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 62% |
Erotic | 25% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
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 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 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.
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.
Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali | Limited Edition to 3000 Units
1977
Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali
1977
1977
1980
La via della prostituzione
1978
1980
Mangiati vivi! | Standard Edition
1980
Caged Women / Emanuelle in Hell / Violenza in un carcere femminile
1982
Rosso Sangue
1981
Nudo e selvaggio | Standard Edition
1985
Il paese del sesso selvaggio / Man From Deep River / Deep River Savages
1972
El caníbal
1980
1981
Le notti del terrore
1981
Primitif | Savage Terror | Standard Edition
1980
Black Cobra Woman / Eva nera
1976
The Mountain of the Cannibal God / La montagna del dio cannibale
1978
The Last Survivor / Last Cannibal World / Ultimo mondo cannibale
1977
1980
El tesoro de la diosa blanca
1983
Zombi 2 / Zombie Flesh Eaters
1979
Night of the Howling Beast / La maldición de la bestia
1975