Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.0

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 30, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle release.

Kier-la Janisse gave film fans one of the most outstanding boxed sets of the last few years with All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, a late 2021 release that ended up making my Best of 2022 list. Janisse is back now with another gigantic boxed set, one that's even bigger than the folk horror compendium, and one that may appeal to a certain niche audience who may not have been especially interested in that earlier set. Those who may remember the rating system of days of yore will probably recall the "M" designation, which meant "for mature audiences only", and if I may be permitted an orthographic joke that is admittedly a bit arcane, some might argue that Emanuelle gave up one of her "m"'s in favor of three x's, at least with regard to some cuts of the many Black Emanuelle films. For those not conversant with the history of this perceived franchise, and who may be scratching their heads at my "joke" (what else is new?), Black Emanuelle was a pretty blatant attempt to cash in on Emmanuelle, and in order to avoid any potential legal hassles one of those original "m"'s in the title character's name got dropped. Furthermore, as supplements on many of the discs included in this set offer, there were hardcore XXX inserts (in more ways than one) that at least some of the Black Emanuelle productions offered. Joke explained, hopefully. Perhaps even more comedically than my fitful attempt at humor, the Black Emanuelle series ended up offering many more films than its perceived progenitor, and 24 of them (with additional cuts) are aggregated in this at times overwhelming collection. This is a collection where the quality of the films may be highly debatable, though it's salient to note that the supplements both overtly reference and are in and of themselves examples of perhaps unexpected critical scrutiny this franchise has engendered, and anyone interested in this kind of bizarre franchise mash up of what might be called porno, mondo and gonzo will most likely find this an amazing set to dive into.

This is one of a few titles that Severin itself has released previously on Blu-ray as a standalone offering. Those interested can read my Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Blu-ray review of that version for plot details as well as a chance to compare screenshots. Parts of my original review are repeated below, as appropriate.

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 almost overwhelming book The Black Emanuelle Bible included with this set offers a brief description of the transfer, as follows:

Source: 2K scan of original camera negative.

This is a kind of interesting presentation when compared to Severin's original release. I've attempted to reproduce some of the screenshots I uploaded to accompany my original review and those who like to do some "comparison shopping" may notice right off the bat that this new version is considerably darker than the older one, and my hunch is some may actually prefer the lighter version as it can reveal more detail in things like that cigarette smoking chimp's fur and the like. That said, there's a marginal but noticeable uptick in what I'd call the "crispness" of the visuals now, and detail levels are generally very good throughout. There is still some of the mottled, near pixelated look to the grain field at times, as well as the wide variance in densities and overall palette reproduction that I noted in my original review.

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 2.0 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 

• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Stephen Thrower


• The World of Nico Fidenco (HD; 27:05) is subtitled in English.


• A Nun Among the Cannibals (HD; 22:49) is an interview with actress Annamaria Clementi. Subtitled in English.


• Dr. O'Brien M.D. (HD; 19:32) is an interview with actor Donald O'Brien. Subtitled in English.


• From Switzerland to Mato Grosso (HD; 18:31) is an interview with actress Monica Zanchi. Subtitled in English.


• Dressed to Eat (HD; 18:46) is an interview with costume designer Silvana Scandariato. Subtitled in English.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:39)

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, and there's no denying the allure of Gemser in this film. The video presentation here is still widely variant despite whatever additional work has been done, 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.