Some joker told me this flick was boring and stupid. I don't know what movie that guy was watching because this movie was a blast! I have a soft spot for jungle adventures and although this is billed as a horror/cannibal movie, it is more like an un-politically correct adventure movie for adults. Sure, it is cheap and corny but who cares because it has enough gore and nudity which should have exploitation fans everywhere thanking Shriek Show for having the good sense to release this on DVD.

Michael Sopkiw (2019: After The Fall of New York) stars as Kevin Hall, a bone hunter from the Boston Institute of Paleontology who is able to tag along on a plane that is making a side trip to the cursed 'valley of the dinosaurs' where there is supposedly a huge number of bones, fossils, and footprints to examine. After a quick bar fight between Kevin and a couple of oiled-up muscle dudes, the plane is soon bound for the forbidden zone. Along for the ride are a Vietnam vet and his bickering over the hill Marilyn Monroe wannabe wife, a photographer with a couple of models, and an older professor with his hot daughter. The plane crashes and Kevin finds himself trying to lead the passengers to safety through the cannibal-infested jungles while also contending with quicksand, snakes, crocodiles, piranhas, slave labour, and a power struggle with the army guy.

The main reason I think that many people are disappointed with this flick is because it appears to be a cannibal movie but in fact the only chow-down action that we get is a heart being extracted from somebody's chest and eaten. Those who are expecting Cannibal Ferox II (which this was also released under) will be sorely disappointed. I will say that there are some gory scenes however including the aforementioned heart feast as well as a nasty piranha attack. On the nudity end of the spectrum, there is an abundance courtesy of Suzane Carvalho and Susan Hahn both of whom are not shy in running around with little or no clothes on. Watching them run topless from the cannibals was a beautiful thing that is slow motion in my memory even though it wasn't on screen. Some other highlights include a fat cannibal who wants to be Cousin It, a cockfight, the plane crash which was obviously done with a model and a puddle, a cannibal who is actually drumming with human bones, and Kevin calling someone a "fat, smelly, evil bastard". The whole movie was like a weird cross between Romancing The Stone and Cannibal Ferox.

If you are looking for a serious jungle downer like Cannibal Holocaust or one of its imitators, you will be let down but if you are looking for an entertaining sleazy fun where there is always something happening, this may be for you. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this one and as a bonus there was no animal violence (which plagued many of the other cannibal movies of the time). Suzane Carvalho is now an Indy car racer in Brazil. (Josh Pasnak, 9/11/05)

Directed By: Michael E. Lemick (Michele Massimo Tarantini).
Written By: Michael E. Lemick (Michele Massimo Tarantini).

Starring: Michael Sopkiw, Suzane Carvalho, Milton Morris, Marta Anderson.