The most fascinating thing about CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is that it still holds its horrific and captivating power over the viewer and the genre 40+ years later. It's a power that has become a litmus test for horror fans and their stomachs.

One aspect of this film that rarely gets mentioned since the violence, animal deaths, and sexual content get the focus is that it can never be made like this again. Never say never, and while Eli Roth's GREEN INFERNO is an admirable attempt, animal killings and sexual violence notwithstanding, the filming locations have possibly forever changed. The look of the film - more on this in a bit - can't be duplicated.

While conservation efforts are happening, the Amazon rain forest is disappearing. From migration to industrial building and the need to deforest for capitalist ways, the location is going away. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is a proud proponent of the rain forest's exploitation, has blocked conservation efforts and in his brief term, has widely led its deforestation. While CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST was filmed in Colombia, where there's bigger conservation efforts happening there and has the world's largest national park in Serrania de Chiribiquete, let's not fool ourselves in the grander scheme of climate change and industrial development is doing to the world's most important life line.

Then there's Ruggeto Deodato. To really understand the power of the film is to look into Deodato's background of working with Roberto Rosselini of the Neo-Realism movement, with notably THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS and ROME, OPEN CITY fame.

Deodato learned the craft under Rosselini, where a focus on stories featuring working class, use of non-professional actors and a look at society in terms of poverty and oppression. These films explored the conditions on location of the locals. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is, at its core, a look at two types of people: the natives and their customs against New Yorkers and their smugness. These are the colliding forces at the heart of HOLOCAUST.

With these two ideas I presented along with Deodato's keen eye at crafting the documentary look inspired by the news' frank showing of violent Red Brigades terrorism, as well as Vietnam footage, blanket the film with such a grim, stark realism.

This is a film so powerful and real, that in 1980 was deemed with snuff film allegations, court hearings on the human deaths (FX so real they fooled everyone) and of course, the animal cruelty aspects. 40 years later, even on the popular THE LAST DRIVE IN with film critic Joe Bob Briggs, he had to put out a warning about the film a week before they showed it.

Regardless, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST a product of a bygone era in every aspect, is a placeholder on a Mt. Rushmore of extreme cinema and a uncompromising masterpiece.