slaveofcann

Given the presence of two moderately respectable actors like Stacy Keach and Ursula Andress, I had a feeling that this movie would do away with the old cannibal flick standard of torturing hapless animals on screen...how wrong I was.

Slave of the Cannibal God is begins with Ursula Andress flying to New Guinea in search of her husband , an explorer who went missing six weeks earlier on an island off the coast. Joining her on her quest is her shifty looking brother Arthur. They go to see a government official who tells them that only one man can help find her husband. Indiana Jones and Alan Quartermain are evidently unavailable , because he recomends a very grimy looking Stacy Keach ( best known as Sgt. Stedanko in Up In Smoke and Nice Dreams).

Unbeknownst to Ursula Andress and Arthur, Keach was captured by cannibals on the island years before, and was forced to eat people until he could escape. He assembles a ragtag crew of largely cannibal fodder bearers, and leads the two in search of the missing explorer. Here we see the first examples of animal cruelty in the movie. For starters , a spider is cut in half, and then a goanna is killed to ward off bad karma brought about by the death of the spider. I don't know what the logic was behind this , but in any case before the movie was over a whole lot more rare and endangered animals met similar fates.

As the troupe gets closer and closer to the fabled mountain where the cannibals live , they are picked off one by one. One guy is taken by a crocodile , and others are empaled or decapitated by cannibals. The survivors come accross a mission where they are able to rest for a while until they're kicked out after Arthur gets a little too friendly with one of the scantily clad native girls (who gets skewered by a cannibal spear). They move on , with a great scene involving a perilous climb up a slippery waterfall. Eventually they discover the horrible secret of the mountain , and the fate of Andress' husband.

Despite all of the animal cruelty ( which also included a poor monkey being thrown to a huge anaconda) , this was a fairly entertaining cannibal movie. I was pretty surprised at how gory this was too. It had a great decapitation , heads being crushed , numerous spearings , and a particularly sick looking slimy corpse. Ursula Andress fans (if there are any) should also be pleased to note that she's stripped naked by the cannibals in one scene.The funniest line in the movie has to be Stacy Keach describing his diet as a prisoner of the cannibals : "You never forget the taste of human flesh!". This isn't the best cannibal movie around , but it does have its moments. If you're in the mood for entertainment with exotic locations , you'll still find more heart in this than you will in a piece of recycled trash like Castaway.