This week has seen Cannibal Holocaust come up more often than even that time I went to the Cannibal Holocaust convention. First Bloody Disgusting reported that CH director Ruggero Deodato was making a cameo appearance in Eli Roth’s Hostel: Part 2. Then we relayed to you Ryan “Rotten” Turek’s look at Welcome to the Jungle, Jonathan Hensleigh’s new cannibal movie that takes Cannibal Holocaust as its starting point. And last night I taped an interview for a top secret documentary film where I brought the film up. I doubt that part of the interview will make it into the film, but look for updates about the status of the project – there are some pretty cool people in this movie.
Now, just to cap off this week of Cannibal Holocaust news, Bloody Disgusting is saying that Ruggero Deodato is going to make Cannibal Holocaust 2. Of course there already is a Cannibal Holocaust 2*, but I’m sure Deodato will ignore that.
Bloody Disgusting says Deodato will write and direct the film, which was influenced by seeing how well American audiences responded to Roth’s Hostel. And he said that he ran the idea by Roth, who liked it a bunch.
Of course a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust will never have the same impact as the original, which was banned all over the world and entered our consciousness through rumors of its depravity. The internet and DVD players will make Cannibal Holocaust 2 fairly available, robbing it of any mystique. And with movies like this, half of the point is the mystique.
*Interestingly, directed by a guy who directed a couple of the Mondo movies that obviously inspired Deodato when he made Cannibal Holocaust, and who was cinematographer on the film I most want to see (but least want to buy a whole giant box set for), Goodbye Uncle Tom.