a.k.a.
My tolerance for cannibal films is pretty low, since few go beyond being a squalid exercise in bad effects. Despite the presence of "name" actors and an obvious budget, neither does this one, though it's still a cut above later entries like Ferox and Holocaust. Andress plays a devoted wife, who tracks into the Papua New Guinea jungle, guided by Keach, in search of her missing husband. But why is Keach carrying a Geiger counter? It's kinda like Gwendoline with less bondage, though Andress is mistaken for a goddess by one tribe - they must have seen Dr. No - so gets tied up and covered in what might be tomato soup, but probably isn't.
Along the way, there's the usual tension, sexual and otherwise, innumerable shots of Ursula looking horrified (and probably deciding how to fire her agent), plus much footage of nature being red in tooth and claw. The look on that monkey's face as the python closes its jaws will stay with me for a while, and I'm damn sure the film crew didn't just happen across it by accident. Even allowing for the fact this was made pre-Discovery Channel, the results are pretty tedious, though I was briefly amused by the midget cannibal. Occasionally, it seems to head for Aguirre territory, but needs someone like Klaus Kinski, proclaiming himself God, rather than Stacey Keach channelling Oliver Reed badly.
D
