Cannibal Holocaust - Film Influence

Film Influence

Deodato drew influence from the works of Paolo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti, and Franco Prosperi, documentary filmmakers of whom Deodato was a fan. Prosperi and Jacopetti produced several Mondo films, which are documentaries similar to the one made in Cannibal Holocaust. These documentaries focused on sensationalistic and graphic content from around the world, including bizarre local customs, death, and general cruelty. Deodato followed suit in ways of similar content, such as graphic violence and animal slayings. Although fictional, Deodato created a similar exposé of worldly violence, such as Cavara's, Prosperi's and Jacopetti's Mondo cane.

Certain scenes in Cannibal Holocaust have been noted as being similar to scenes in Antonio Climati's Mondo film Savana violenta, specifically the scene in which Monroe bathes naked in the river and the scene of the forced abortion rite. The cinéma vérité style used heavily in Cannibal Holocaust also was used before in Climati's first Mondo film, Ultime grida dalla savana, in a scene where a tourist is attacked and killed by a pride of lions. Another scene, in which a native man is captured, tortured, and murdered by mercenaries in South America, uses a similar filming style, and both scenes may have been influential on Deodato's direction. Mark Goodall, author of Sweet & Savage: The World Through the Documentary Film Lens, and David Slater and David Kerekes, authors of Killing for Culture: An Illustrated History of Death Film from Mondo to Snuff, have also suggested that Deodato was attempting to comment on the documentary works of Climati with his film.

Cannibal Holocaust was innovative in its plot structure, specifically with the concept of the "found footage" being brought back to civilization and later viewed to determine the fate of the crew that shot it. Later films, such as The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project, use similar devices. Each film uses the idea of a lost film team making a documentary in the wilderness, and their footage returned. Advertisements for The Blair Witch Project also promoted the idea that the footage is genuine. Deodato has acknowledged the similarities between his film and The Blair Witch Project, and though he holds no malice against the producers, he is frustrated at the publicity that The Blair Witch Project received for being an original production. The producers of The Last Broadcast have denied that Cannibal Holocaust was a major influence.

Cannibal Holocaust bears similarities to other cannibal films made during the same time period, notably Cannibal ferox, which also stars Robert Kerman and Perry Pirkanen. Although Cannibal ferox director Umberto Lenzi has not acknowledged any influence, star Giovanni Lombardo Radice says Cannibal ferox was made based on the success of Cannibal Holocaust. Cannibal Holocaust also spawned numerous and similar unofficial sequels, some with scenes mirrored from the original.