Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 26, 2025

Joe D'Amato's "Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shameless Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include archival opening credits and vintage trailers. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the Italian track. Region-Free.

Sweet and dangerous Papaya

It is tempting to compare Joe D’Amato to Jess Franco. Both are European directors who shot a wide range of genre films, the majority of which are considered poor even by seasoned film aficionados whose definitions of good and bad cinema are very flexible. Both also shot various adult films, some of which attracted mainstream actors. Both were embroiled in controversies and peaked during the 1970s. However, this is where all the big similarities between the two end.

D’Amato was a much more refined stylist who constantly experimented with new talent. While he traveled a lot, he loved working at home in Italy, and virtually all of his films were associated with big trends in Italian cinema. It is why D’Amato shot many copycat films, gialli, cannibal films, erotic films, and ultimately adult films. Franco was a pathological workaholic who shot well over two-thirds of his films outside his home country of Spain. Many are easy to link to several dominant trends in European cinema, too, but he was an outspoken freethinker who met expectations only when paid enough money. It is why so many of his films are in a category of their own.

However, the biggest reason D’Amato and Franco’s films look different despite often working with similar material is the size of their budgets. D’Amato, even when agreeing to do very small projects, insisted on having sufficient funding so that they would be properly shot, edited, and even scored. Franco was very flexible and, for better or worse, routinely used similar or dramatically smaller funding that was made available to him to launch multiple projects at the same time. Technically, Franco frequently cheated the producers he worked with, but he was moving so fast that only his closest associates could tell that his multitasking could permanently cripple this career. Many of the very cheap-looking duds Franco left behind are creations of this illegal multitasking practice.

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals demonstrates pretty well the technical superiority of D’Amato’s working methods. It is a very small hybrid project, shot with a tiny budget, that is worth seeing primarily because one of its stars is Sirpa Lane, who played Countess Romilda de L'Esperance in Walerian Borowczyk's cult shocker The Beast. In Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals, Sara (Lane) and her friend and lover Vincent (Maurice Poli) have landed in Santo Domingo, where the latter is scheduled to begin building a massive nuclear reactor. When one of Vincent’s colleagues is murdered, the police reach out to the visitors, and soon after, without understanding why, the two become targets for a mysterious local beauty named Papaya (Melissa Chimenti). While searching for answers, Sara and Vincent enter a deep rabbit hole where the real and the surreal routinely overlap.

To transform Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals into an intriguing film, D’Amato performs Franco’s favorite trick. Once Sara and Vincent are drawn into the rabbit hole, Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals switches into a trance-like mode and produces heavy atmosphere. A decent amount of erotic footage, a staple of all similar D’Amato films, is, of course, present and linked to equally familiar graphic footage. (Here, the graphic footage comes from cockfighting and religious rituals that feature dismembering of dead pigs). However, while the trick is underway, D'Amato remains in control of it, ensuring that Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals does not evolve into a fluid, unmanageable seance, which is a very common development in similar Franco films.

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Schemeless Entertainment.

The release introduces a recent, very beautiful 2K makeover of Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals. Excluding a couple of areas where I think that shadow nuances could be slightly more convincing and the dynamic range of the visuals there improved, the rest of the film looks as good as I think it can. For example, virtually all close-ups, regardless of whether they are well-lit or come from darker footage, look outstanding. The outdoor footage looks terrific as well. In some areas, clarity and depth can fluctuate a bit, but these inconsistencies are introduced by the original cinematography, not anomalies that can be traced back to the restoration work. Color reproduction and balance are convincing. All primaries and supporting nuances are properly set and look healthy. Image stability is very good. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. I noticed a few tiny scratches, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian track.

I chose to view the film with the English track, which should be considered its original track because the majority of the actors utter their lines in English. However, it features original English overdubbing, which comes with the typical limitations these types of tracks are known for. There is some noticeable unevenness, very small synch issues, etc. The Italian track features original overdubbing, too. The jazzy/funky music sounds very nice and there are no serious age-related anomalies to report.

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Italian Opening Credits - presented here are unrestored original Italian opening credits for Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals. (3 min).

• English Opening Credits - presented here are unrestored original English opening credits for Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals, which introduce it as Caribbean Papaya. (3 min).

• Trailer One - presented here is an original international trailer for Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Two - presented here is an original U.S. trailer for Caribbean Papaya. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Three - presented here is a vintage trailer for Shameless Entertainment's DVD release of Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Cover - a reversible cover with vintage Italian poster art for Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals.

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

That so many of Joe D'Amato and Jess Franco's films appear to have plenty in common, even though the two had drastically different working methods and thrived in different environments, should not be surprising because they collaborated on some projects, like Justine and the Whip. D'Amato was not as prolific as Franco, but he was better at virtually everything that Franco did -- directing, lensing, editing, etc. D'Amato left superior 'bad' films too, many of which I think are, like Franco's so-called duds, misunderstood and underappreciated gems. Right before he permanently transitioned to the adult business, D'Amato shot numerous very stylish erotic films that are yet to appear on Blu-ray, which is most unfortunate. Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals, which is pretty good but not one of these films, will appeal to folks who are fond of Franco's seance-like exotic thrillers, like Macumba Sexual. Shameless Entertainment's Blu-ray release introduces a beautiful new 2K makeover of it and is Region-Free. RECOMMENDED.