Devil Hunter (1980) User Reviews

Entertainingly Nonsensical Franco-Ultra-Sleaze

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 4/10 · 18 April 2011]

I am a huge admirer of the prolific Spanish Exploitation deity Jess Franco, whose impressive filmography includes over 190 titles so far. It is undeniable that the man has made masterpieces and total crap alike, and his attempts to cash in on the popular Italian Cannibal-sub-genre belong rather to the latter category. This movie of the delicate title SEXO Cannibal (aka. THE DEVIL HUNTER) of 1980 is better than his absolutely terrible other Cannibal flick from the same year, MONDO CANNIBALE (which is not to be confused with Umberto Lenzi's PAESE DELLO SESSO SELVAGGIO and Ruggero Deodato's ULTIMO MONDO CANNIBALE, two genre-classics which are often referred to as MONDO CANNIBALE 1&2). SEXO Cannibal is somewhat interesting for its epitomizing Jess Franco's habit to shamelessly ignore any logic and build up movies that exist almost entirely of sleaze and violence. The film is furthermore notable as it is one of the three Franco-films that landed on the UK's infamous "Video Nasty" list of banned movies, making him the most prolific Video Nasty maker alongside the Italian genius and 'Godfather of Gore' Lucio Fulci, who also made three films that landed on the list.

A model (Ursula Buschfellner) is kidnapped by criminals who ask for a ransom of 6 million dollars. Her agent asks 'nam vet and soldier of fortune Weston (Al Cliver) to free her. Out of all places, the criminals hold her hostage on an island full of savages who habitually feed young women to a rape-hungry cannibal fiend. Needless to say that the island is full of hot women with exhibitionist tendencies...

The film is fun to watch for its shameless sleaze and for the gore (though the latter wasn't as extreme as I had expected). It is also fun to watch for the lack of logic, and some parts that are downright absurd. Weston's sidekick, for example, is the wussiest 'Nam vet I've ever seen on film. The guy starts crying whenever he enters the jungle. Franco obviously picked up on the 'Nam-trauma' theme that was so popular in US-cinema in the late 70s and 80s here, and since he is Jess Franco he decided to exaggerate it more than a little bit. Overall, this isn't one of Franco's worst 80s movies, but it certainly far from being one of his better ones. Personally, I would state that Franco is best when making films about deranged Scientists or Nymphomaniac/Lesbian Vampires, his contributions to the Cannibal-genre are rather forgettable. SEXO Cannibal is still worth the time for my fellow fans of the man, who are most likely not gonna expect intriguing story lines and breathtaking suspense anyway.

This Spain/France/West Germany co-production results to be a scary movie lousily directed by Jesús Franco or ¨Uncle Jess¨

[ma-cortes · 3/10 · 20 June 2022]

Loathing , grim and unsettling Jesus Franco picture with plenty of nudism, blood , gore and guts. Dealing with a cruel indigenous cannibalistic tribe that worships a Devil God , it is filled with some genuine fright , horror and doom . A Vietnam veteran named Peter Weston (Al Cliver) accompanied by another unsettling veteran (Robert Foster or Antonio Mayans) head to an island inhabited by cannibals to save a kidnapped cover-girl (gorgeous Ursula Buchfellner or Ursula Fellner) not only from her kidnappers (Gisela Hahn, Werner Pochat...) , but also from the cannibals' lurking Devil god (Bertrand Altmann with bug-eyes that were created with ping-pong balls which had tiny holes poked to let to see) . Hunted, raped, and tormented out of her mind... Where the natives are pleased to Meat you! Kidnapped by cannibals! Raised to eat her human flesh! . She grew up to be her sacrifice !. Now a Vietnam veteran is looking for her !.

A ruthless , barbaric , authentically disgusting flick packing inexplicable disturbing occurrences , nudism , shocks , thrills , suspense , chills , hair-rising events with horrible mangling and being really gory . It follows in the wake of the cannibalist films from Umbert Lenzi , and, especially , the really a brutal fake documentary : ¨Ruggiero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust¨ that resulted to be the mother of all cannibal films , the most savage , the most controversial movie ever made and the most horrific tale in modern history . It belongs to Eighties' terrible period in which Franco wrote or directed various Cannibal film , such as ¨Sexo Canníbal¨, ¨Terror cannibal¨ and ¨Mondo cannibale¨ . Adding other extremely gory films as ¨The Sadist of Notre Dame¨, ¨Oasis of the Living Dead¨, ¨Zombie Lake¨, ¨Bloody Moon¨, ¨Faceless¨ . El caníbal (1980) is a below average yarn with too much chilling scenes , filled with sleaziness and non-sense of style . It is filled with killings , naked girls , sexual violence , disfigured people, grisly murders by means of slashing , ripping to death , killings in cold blood executed by ominous cannibal , loathsome and loads of blood and gore . A mysoginist movie with plenty of nudism , sadistic frames , graphic cannibalism , explicit scenes of violence and made in extremely eerie style , no for squeamish . This Terror/Cannibal Movie displays lousy special effects with cutting , chopping , hacking , beheading , stomach ripped out and other cannibalistic frames .Stars a second-class cast with B-Italian actor Al Cliver and the beautiful ex-playboy girl Ursula Fellner. And involving some familiar faces from Jesús Franco's movies , such as : Muriel Montossé or Victoria Adams as Girl on Yacht , Lynn Mess as Cannibal Priestess , Werner Pochath and of course Antonio Mayans .

Mediocre cinematography by Juan Soler filmed on location in Benidorm, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Archena, Murcia, Spain , Sintra, Lisbon, Monserrate Chapel, Palácio de Monserrate, Sintra, Serra de Sintra, Portugal , where Franco shot several films ; however , being faded by the odd colouring of the old VHS, I would like to see this get remastered on blu-ray . It contains anticlimatic musical score composed by Jesus Franco himself . A disconcerting horror movie with no much interest and badly made by Jesús Franco. He often used a lot of pseudonyms , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others. In many of the more than 180 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who played and realized over 200 pictures. His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films. Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking and getting , at times great eye for composition. He was a hard-working filmmaker, directing a lot of ridiculous movies. However, making some acceptable films , such as : ¨We are 18 years old¨, ¨The awful Dr Orloff¨, ¨The Bloody Judge¨ , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨99 women¨, ¨Parxismus, ¨The Blood of Fumanchu¨, ¨Faceless¨ and a few others. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals. But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production diminished since the 90s , but he went on working until his death. This shocking and gory terror/adventure movie with lots of blood and guts has an inferior rating : 3.5/10 . Only for Jess Frank completists.

More coma inducing Franco rubbish.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 30 May 2009]

Of the three titles from Jess Franco to find their way onto the Official DPP Video Nasty list (Devil Hunter, Bloody Moon and Women Behind Bars) this is perhaps the least deserving of notoriety, being a dreadfully dull jungle clunker enlivened only very slightly by a little inept gore, a gratuitous rape scene, and loads of nudity.

Gorgeous blonde Ursula Buchfellner plays movie star Laura Crawford who is abducted by a gang of ruthless kidnappers and taken to a remote tropical island inhabited by a savage tribe who worship the 'devil god' that lurks in the jungle (a big, naked, bulging-eyed native who likes to eat the hearts of nubile female sacrifices).

Employed by Laura's agent to deliver a $6million ransom, brave mercenary Peter Weston (Al Cliver) and his Vietnam vet pilot pal travel to the island, but encounter trouble when the bad guys attempt a double-cross. During the confusion, Laura escapes into the jungle, but runs straight into the arms of the island's natives, who offer her up to their god.

Franco directs in his usual torpid style and loads this laughable effort with his usual dreadful trademarks: crap gore, murky cinematography, rapid zooms, numerous crotch shots, out of focus imagery, awful sound effects, and ham-fisted editing. The result is a dire mess that is a real struggle to sit through from start to finish (It took me a couple of sittings to finish the thing), and even the sight of the luscious Buchfellner in all of her natural glory ain't enough to make me revisit this film in a hurry.

More exotic, hugely padded-out crap from Jesus.

[Bloomer · 2/10 · 25 October 2007]

When a man who doesn't have Alzheimer's can't remember how many films he's made, he probably is the world's most prolific director after all. That man is Jesus Franco, the king of so-called 'eurotrash'. His 1980 flick Devil Hunter is as rushed, opaque, stupid, lazy and exploitative in the truest sense of the word (the film's title is misleading, for starters) as any other Franco film I've seen. That makes it sound pretty awful, and it is... Yet Franco does have some kind of inimitable sensibility, a generous way with the baldly outrageous, with nudity and sleaze and violence, and even with his stupid cheap editing which tries to pave over the extreme haste with which all his films were made. The mix of all these elements causes you to ride his films out, even while you're mostly waiting for them to end because they're so very tedious.

Devil Hunter is nigh on incomprehensible for the first half an hour. The kidnap by strangers of a white woman who seems to be a model or film star is intercut with a bunch of native action in South America. There's lots of naked writhing, dancing, and endless repeated zoom-ins on an ugly totem pole. You need to get used to the repetitive zoom-ins and the technique of cutting back to the same shot about three times in a row right away, as these are Franco's main methods of extending a film out to feature length.

The monster who looks like the totem pole is actually kind of scary. He has raw bug eyes and his presence is always signalled on the soundtrack by cacophonous groaning, apparently recorded in an echo chamber. Early in the piece he chews on a native lady strapped to a tree, and it's hard to know what really happens here but I think he ate her stomach (or her genitals, sweet Jesus!).

Anyway, the adventure begins properly when a studly guy and his freaked out Vietnam vet pal are sent to the island to recover the white girl from the kidnappers. The flakey guy has an accent which, as dubbed, is half Brooklyn-American, half English-Liverpudlian and all retarded. All of the dialogue and dubbing is ridiculous and laughable, making for another layer of the film which can somehow hold your interest.

Not too much really happens from here on in, and it happens pretty sluggishly, studded with the odd bit of outrage like a rape. The nebulous action is fleshed out (haha!) by acres of 360 degree nudity from the natives and the two female leads, and even from the monster himself. That he walks around with his penis exposed makes wrestling him an unappetising prospect for the tough guy hero, but it's gotta be done at some point, and it's nice to note that the director will show anyone's genitals on camera.

The best feature of Devil Hunter is the location filming. Franco can be extremely cheap with the structural and story aspects of film-making, but he doesn't muck around with sets. You get real islands, jungles, helicopters and mountains, all in widescreen. This is something that is really cool to experience in these days of crappy CGI sets and backdrops ad nauseam.

Ultimately, issues of recommendation where this film is concerned seem moot. If you're trying to see all the Video Nasties, you will have to watch this at some point, and you'll be made as restless as I was. If you like Franco, you'll watch this anyway. If you fall into neither of the above categories, the odds are you'll never come across this film. Copies of it aren't just lying around, and I could hardly recommend the seeking out of it. It's Franco. Lazy, crazy Franco.

A chore by anyone's standards

[world_of_weird · 16 September 2004]

The Devil Hunter (this film's UK video title) found itself caught up in the early 1980s 'video nasties' scare, for reasons I find impossible to fathom. It certainly should have been banned, but only because no reasonable human being should have to pay to sit through such junk. As with most of Jesus Franco's films, there are crash zooms to nothing, dreamy music, terrible performances, clumsy dubbing (most of the male characters are apparently dubbed by the same actor!) and several interminable sequences, suggesting that the former musician couldn't wait for a day on the set to finish - so he shot everything fast and cheap in order to get back home to his jazz records and his trumpet. Large parts of the film make no sense, and you'll run out of fingers and toes trying to count the goofs, but the really priceless ones are the actor who actually giggles when a squirt of blood hits him in the face, and the totem pole that bounces when it's supposed to be crashing to the floor. And check out those sound effects - since when did walking through the jungle sound like walking down a gravel drive? If you can find a copy of this tosh anywhere, I'll be surprised, but do yourself a favour and pass it by. If you decide to watch it, you'll want to sue Franco and his colleagues for ninety minutes of your life that you'll never get back.

This movie is so bad it's hilarious!

[orlando-gomez · 1/10 · 12 May 2008]

How can you tell that a horror movie is terrible? when you can't stop laughing about it of course! The plot has been well covered by other reviewers, so I'll just add a few things on the hilarity of it all.

Some reviews have placed the location in South America, others in Africa, I thought it was in some random island in the Pacific. Where exactly does this take place, seems to be a mystery. The cannibal tribe is conformed by a couple of black women some black men, and a man who looks like a young Frank Zappa banging the drums... the Devil God is a large black man with a terrible case of pink eyes.

One of the "freakiest" moments in the film is when, "Pablito" find his partner hanging from a tree covered in what seems to be an orange substance that I assume is blood, starts screaming for minutes on and on (that's actually funny), and then the head of his partner falls in the ground and "Pablito" kicks it a bit for what I assume is "shits n' giggles" and the eyes actually move...

But, of course, then the "freak" is gone when you realize the eyes moved because the movie is just bad...

I hadn't laughed like this in a loooong while, and I definitely recommend this film for a Sunday afternoon with your friends and you have nothing to do... grab a case of beers and start watching this film, you'll love it! If you are looking for a real horror or gore movie, though... don't' bother.

More Franco ultra-sleaze

[Coventry · 5/10 · 6 December 2005]

Lesser known but full-blooded Jess Franco exploitation that cashes in on the popular early 80's trend of European cannibal movies. A successful actress is kidnapped by a gang of thugs whilst shooting a movie in the South-African jungle. She's kept prisoner and gets sexually abused frequently, but this is only the beginning of her misery as the jungle homes a native tribe with strange and primitive beliefs. Their God is a spooky, flesh-eating madman with his eyeballs hanging out of his sockets. Yikes!! "Devil Hunter" features some beautiful filming locations, good atmospheric music and a whole lot of authentic euro-sleaze. Still, there are many tedious moments and redundant sub plots. The amount of gore is limited but several sequences are truly nauseating, notably the one where the lead-cannibal bites off a poor girl's labia and devour it! Oh my God!! According to the VHS-cover it was her heart, but I doubt her heart was located between the legs. Proceed at your own risk!

Uncomfortable watching I tell ya.

[insomniac_rod · 5/10 · 3 January 2010]

I didn't expect much of the movie because of it's title, the time it came out, the title, and because it was Jess Franco's attempt to crash into the cannibal craziness.

Sure, the movie offers the needed brutality and of course sleaze.

At some points, the movie gets dull and tedious. For example, by the time the hot actress gets abducted in her home (while taking a shower; gratuitous nudity inserted) I was getting desperate because of the incuts showing the cannibals and hunters followed by the Director's POV and horrible but creepy music and sounds.

The brutality is present but only in minimal amounts. Yikes! The cannibal leader or whatever even rips off with his teeth and later eats a woman's... oh well you should watch it.

I wouldn't recommend this piece of euro trash for fanatics of quality exploitation. Sure, the plot is depraved and rough but the execution is somewhat cheesy and not well produced.

At some points I wondered if the edition was just terrible or if it was an edited version.

I enjoy Franco's work but this effort is just a waste of time. Watch it only if you are fan of Euro sleaze or trash cinema.

Incredibly dull cannibal movie despite the sex and violence

[dbborroughs · 2/10 · 8 April 2006]

An actress making a movie in Africa is kidnapped and taken into the jungle where she is held for ransom. The producer hires some one to go and bring her back. Complicating everything are the cannibals in the jungle who worship a really ugly looking "god" who likes to eat naked women.

This is a gory sleazy movie. There is copious amounts of nudity and violence, not to mention violence against nude people. Its an exploitation film designed to appeal to the deepest darkest parts of our being, and if the movie wasn't so boring this film would be a classic. Lets face it, despite the gore, the nasty sex and abuse,and the ugly monster this movie is a snoozer. The pacing is all off kilter and it puts you out. There are multiple plot lines that all seem to be happening separately from each other, even though its ultimately all one story. Worst of all, almost no one says anything. Most of the minimal dialog concerns the cruelty or one characters protestations that "I'll do what I want". Its such a quiet and dull movie that if it weren't for the frequent screams of the victims I'd recommend this as a sleep aide.

This is a movie to avoid unless you need sleep, or unless you need to see every Euro-cannibal movie.

(An aside. VideoAsia just released this as part of their Terror Tales series. Their print is oddly letter-boxed which looks to be the result of taking their print from a Japanese source (there is fogging) that was cropped to remove the subtitles. Their print also has no opening titles)

What the hell were they thinking?

[coldwaterpdh · 2/10 · 13 January 2010]

Not sure if I'm referring to those who labeled this a video nasty or to the director..."Devil Hunter" sure is one bizarre 'horror' movie.

The plot is a loosey goosey combo of superior films like "Cannibal Ferox" and "Cut and Run." Chick gets kidnapped in the 'jungle' by a 'tribe' of 'savages.' The jungle looks more like a park somewhere in Mexico. The tribe is like a group of hippies who walk around in Party City-style Halloween costume renditions of tribal garb. And the savages range in race from white to Asian to black to hispanic. I suppose Franco just grabbed anyone who looked even slightly ethnic for this romp.

To make matters worse, this film has ultra-minimal gore, no real scares and a lot of unnecessary penis. Not fun. I can find something to like in just about any sleazy Italian or Euro-trash film; this one just fell WAY short.

2 out of 10, kids.

Welcome to the jungle...Jess Franco style!

[udar55 · 2/10 · 13 September 2009]

or anyone who was praying for the sight of Al Cliver wrestling a naked, 7ft tall black guy into a full nelson, your film has arrived! Film starlet Laura Crawford (Ursula Buchfellner) is kidnapped by a group who demand the ransom of $6 million to be delivered to their island hideaway. What they don't count on is rugged Vietnam vet Peter Weston (Cliver) being hired by a film producer to save the girl. And what they really didn't count on was a local tribe that likes to offer up young women to their monster cannibal god with bloodshot bug eyes.

Pretty much the same filming set up as CANNIBALS, this one fares a bit better when it comes to entertainment value, thanks mostly a hilarious dub track and the impossibly goofy monster with the bulging eyes (Franco confirms they were split ping pong balls on the disc's interview). Franco gets a strong EuroCult supporting cast including Gisela Hahn (CONTAMINATION) and Werner Pochath (whose death is one of the most head-scratching things I ever seen as a guy who is totally not him is shown - in close up - trying to be him). The film features tons of nudity and the gore (Tempra paint variety) is there. The highlight for me was the world's slowly fistfight between Cliver and Antonio de Cabo in the splashing waves. Sadly, ol' Jess pads this one out to an astonishing (and, at times, agonizing) 1 hour and 40 minutes when it should have run 80 minutes tops.

For the most part, the Severin DVD looks pretty nice but there are some odd ghosting images going on during some of the darker scenes. Also, one long section of dialog is in Spanish with no subs (they are an option, but only when you listen to the French track). Franco gives a nice 16- minute interview about the film and has much more pleasant things to say about Buchfellner than his CANNIBALS star Sabrina Siani.

Jess Franco's long-derided, beautifully bungled, Jungle jackanapes is a sheer delight!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 10 September 2020]

A trail-blazing titillator, if, perhaps, not always tasteful; that perfectly prurient, Euro-cult polymath, Jess Franco, not infrequently makes the kinda' wilfully artsy-fartsy, frequently artless, always transgressive weirdness that by its very ribald, uncompromising nature will strongly trigger the vociferous oratory of any mondo movie fan curious enough to dip into the morally murky movie miasma of Spain's premier, pop-cult sexualist extraordinaire. Even amongst ardent Franco-philes, 'The Devil Hunter' aka 'El Cannibal' (1980) is usually given brusque, short-tempered shrift, perhaps being due to the curious lack of gore, and the film's relatively mild sexploitation. So, why on earth do I love it so unreservedly? Because it is absolutely hilarious, a screamingly silly, sinfully stupefying, blissfully taste-free, trash-movie classic! A gloriously shambolic, Ed Wood Jr/Al Adamson /Andy Milligan cinematic tour de farce!

Viewed purely as schlocky, monobrowed comedy it's a titanically tasteless, full-blooded hootenanny, but for those hoping for a sensationalist, sicko-splatter 'Video nasty, are in for an unpleasant surprise, since it is a dismally plasma-light, B-Movie blight, no doubt wholly deserving of censure, but, happily, a 'Cannibal Holocaust-wannabe' it surely 'ain't, since it's a freaking laugh-riot of stumble-bum, diabolically-dubbed hilarity! Hell's onions! Even the hypertensive, Teutonic tantrums of boggle-eyed, B-Movie misanthrope, Werner Pochath are absolutely worth the price of admission alone, and any sliver of doubt about the vastly comedic potentialities of 'Devil Hunter' are resolutely expunged by the less than dynamic arrival of our morbidly myopic, sightlessly-stumbling cannibal stooge, and while his recently enslaved, ex-Playboy pin-up, Ursula Fellbuchner, has all the vacuous, celluloid charisma of a mildewed shower curtain, the stalwart presence of Italian exploitation stud, Al 'Endgame' Cliver, makes for an entirely stolid, if somewhat somnolent, heroically-moustachioed, damsel-delivering hero! While I readily accept that my absurdly enthusiastic appreciation of this cretinous, cannibal crap-out will do little to endear me to the online hipster B-Movie cognoscenti, but, whether anyone else likes this salaciously silly film isn't going to keep me up at night, but viewed askew, I'm quite sure others of a similarly 'twisted bent' might find some grimy edification in Jess Franco's long-derided, beautifully bungled, Jungle jackanapes!

Uncle Jess:Devil Hunter.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 16 January 2021]

As the screaming faded on the freeze frame final image of Lucio Fulci's splendid City of the Living Dead (1980-also reviewed) I decided to double bill it,by watching a Jess Franco flick from the year. Finding one of the titles that I've heard about for ages by him, but have yet to see,I got set to join Jess on the hunt.

View on the film:

Revealed in Stephen Thrower's terrific book Flowers Of Perversion:The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco, that Amando de Ossorio originally planned to make the film, until the producers cut the budget so low, that he quit before filming began.

Never in his life running away from a budget no matter how low it could go, co- writer/( Julian Esteban)composer/ directing auteur Jess Franco is joined by his regular cinematographer of the period Juan Soler to roar in the jungle, with Uncle Jess scanning the tribal jungle from his trademark button-bashing zoom-in trombone playing landing on the soft-focus glory of damsel in distress Crawford (played with eye-catching sleazy glamour by Playboy October 1979 Playmate of the Month Ursula Buchfellner) screaming at the chumping at the bit cannibals.

Whilst the main cannibal has a wonderfully unsettling bulging enlarged blood red eyes appearance, the screenplay by Esteban & Uncle Jess blocks the jungle Adventure from swinging into action,by taking a collage approach,via the head-on fight between rescuer Weston and Crawford's kidnappers being scattered across the disconnected, rough edges of the cannibal antics of the islanders.

Getting into the cannibal mind-set with blurred first-person tracking shots, Uncle Jess brings the jungle to life with a delightfully strange score,thanks to Jess overcoming the low budget of the film,with a layered,multi-track soundtrack of chirps from exotic birds, bellowing Jazz and ghostly screams calling out to the devil hunter.

The Mark of Franco

[Tender-Flesh · 2/10 · 17 January 2010]

As the number of Video Nasties I've yet to see dwindles, this little pile of garbage popped up on my "to rent" list when I saw it was available.

The premise involves a fashion model or something being kidnapped and taken into the jungle to be held for ransom by a motley crew of idiots. Some other goof gets hired to bring her back and is given a sack of money to use as a bargaining chip, though if he returns with the girl and all the money, he gets a significant cut. He's brought a helicopter and pilot with him and, wow, that pilot is one of the worst actors EVER! Granted, they are all totally terrible and the dubbing will make you cry blood. After stealing away into the jungle, we learn that nearby is a cannibal cult whose flesheating earthbound god wanders the woods like a human King Kong looking for tribeswomen to ravage and devour. Now, this fellow is just a naked guy with some of the worst makeup ever, ping-pong balls for eyes and that's pretty much it. His growls and groans are an everpresent feature on the soundtrack, and I found myself muting much of those scenes.

Oh, did I forget to mention the almost constant nudity? This is probably the main reason this film was banned, though there is one specific scene, about one second long, where the god attacks a girl and pulls her guts out, but it's not a redeeming factor for gore fans. Also, Jess Franco goes beyond the usual T and A and shows lengthy close-ups of female genitals, and, sadly, male as well. So, if you want "fair" in terms of exploitation, you got it.

I can't recommend this trash to anyone. It's not even the good bad movie. It's just atrociously padded trash that only a Video Nasty fan will probably view and even then, if you are making your way through the list, leave this for the very last. If you watch it first, you may get the notion that this is the norm for the list, which is certainly not true.

Somewhat entertaining in spite of itself

[lazarillo · 19 May 2008]

Perhaps I'm more favorably disposed to this movie than to the similar Jess Franco effort "Cannibals" because I only rented this one instead of purchasing the DVD. Regardless though, while "Cannibals" is pure dreck, this movie is kind of entertaining, mostly in spite of itself. A group of kidnappers snatch a bimbo starlet (Ursula Fellehner) and hold her captive on an island. They are pursued by two hired mercenaries (Franco regulars Al Cliver and Anthony Mayans). While the two groups fight amongst themselves, the girl falls into the clutches of a local tribe of "cannibals" (half of which are African, and the other half obviously white Southern Europeans), who plan to sacrifice her to their "god", a tall black guy with ping-pong ball eyes. (Franco famously, if very unconvincingly, once accused the movie "Predator" of stealing his plot idea from this movie).

The best part of this flick is the goofball dialogue and dubbing. Anthony Mayan's character, for instance, talks like Gabby Hayes for some reason and keeps having Vietnam flashbacks, even though he looks a little young to have been in 'Nam. One of the kidnappers shouts obscenities at everybody and seems genuinely disturbed by the "wild vegetation" (he makes Giovanni Lombardi Radici's character from "Cannnibal Ferox" seemed well-mannered and soft-spoken by comparison). When asked by reporters what she thinks of the men in their, country Fellehner's character responds in true bimbo fashion, "I have no opinion of men. I just love them." Later one of the mercenaries tells her stay put. Her response: "Huh?!"

Naturally, the special effects are laughably un-special, and the public domain copy I saw was obviously ported from a Japanese source since it "optically fogs" Fellehner's pubic region (which is quite a job since the German Playboy Playmate barely spends a minute of her screen time with any clothes on). But despite the rampant (albeit partially "fogged")nudity from Fellehner and other assorted bimbos, this movie really fails to live up to its foreign title "Sexo Cannibal" (the cannibal doesn't get any sex, nor does anyone else really). Amazingly, this rather tame item was one of only two Franco films that were banned in Britain back in the "video nastie" days.

Of course, I'm sure an overpriced "uncut" and subtitled version will someday appear for all the spendthrift masochists, i.e. Jess Franco fans, out there. But frankly I don't think they can improve on the unintentional hilarity of this public domain version (aside from "unfogging" Fellehner's pubes, of course).

They tore her heart out.

[lastliberal · 4/10 · 2 April 2009]

This video nasty was initially banned in Britain, and allowed in last November without cuts.

It features the Playboy Playmate of the Month October 1979, Ursula Buchfellner. The opening cuts back and forth between Buchfellner and foggy jungle pictures. I am not sure what the purpose of that was. It would have been much better to focus on the bathtub scene.

Laura (Buchfellner) is kidnapped and held in the jungle for ransom. Peter (Al Cliver - The Beyond, Zombie) is sent to find her and the ransom. Of course, one of the kidnappers (Antonio de Cabo) manages to pass the time productively, while another (Werner Pochath) whines incessantly.

The ransom exchange goes to hell, and Laura runs into the jungle. Will Peter save her before the cannibals have a meal? Oh, yes, there are cannibals in this jungle. Why do you think it was a video nasty! Muriel Montossé is found by Peter and his partner (Antonio Mayans - Angel of Death) on the kidnapper's boat. Montossé is very comfortably undressed. Peter leaves them and goes off alone to find Laura, who has been captured by now. They pass the time having sex, and don't see the danger approaching. Guts, anyone? Great fight between Peter and the naked devil (Burt Altman).

Blood, decapitation, guts, lots of full frontal, some great writhing by the cannibal priestess (Aline Mess), and the line, "They tore her heart out," which is hilarious if you see the film.

Wasted Opportunity For A Great Film

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 3/10 · 28 June 2017]

This has to be one of the most boring and laborious films I've ever seen. However, with the premise of the story, this film should have been a kickass action horror film. A model is kidnapped while on a shoot by a gang of criminals who intend to ransom her off. They, unfortunately, didn't count on the cannibals and their demon God. In comes Peter Western a type of bounty hunter hired to rescue the model.

The possibilities for this story are huge and as such, I believe this would make a good remake. Having said that, the original misses on all the exciting possibilities and just relies on the story concept. This mistake and the ensuing horrendous film lies squarely on the shoulders of the writer and director Jesus Franco and writer Julian Esteban. Everything is so lacklustre and lackadaisically constructed even the special effects - the demon God is just a tall man with the worst "bug- out" eyes ever, he's more comical than ominous.

The bad thing is that the acting isn't too bad, it's the slow pace and the below standard direction which makes them come off badly.

Except for the story, there's not much that saves this film. Because of this, I would only recommend to Die Hard cannibal fans, though I would like to stress, make sure you're wide away and you have a large cup of coffee close by as you may need the caffeine buzz to get through this boring snoozefest.

"What strange footprints, whose could they be?" More tedious crap from Jesus Franco.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 23 May 2006]

Sexo Cannibal, or Devil Hunter as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts with actress & model Laura Crawford (Ursula Buchfellner as Ursula Fellner) checking out locations for her new film along with her assistant Jane (Gisela Hahn). After a long days work Laura is relaxing in the bath of her room when two very dubious character's named Chris (Werner Pochath) & Thomas (Antonio Mayans) burst in & kidnap her having been helped by the treacherous Jane. Laura's agent gets on the blower to rent-a-hero Peter Weston (Al Cliver) who is informed of the situation, the kidnappers have Laura on an isolated island & are demanding a 6 million ransom. Peter is told that he will be paid 200,000 to get her back safely & a further 10% of the 6 million if he brings that back as well, faster than a rat up a drain pipe Peter & his Vietnam Vet buddy helicopter pilot Jack are on the island & deciding on how to save Laura. So, the kidnappers have Laura & Peter has the 6 million but neither want to hand them over that much. Just to complicate things further this particular isolated island is home to a primitive tribe (hell, in all the generations they've lived there they've only managed to build one straw hut, now that's primitive) who worship some cannibal monster dude (Burt Altman) with bulging eyes as a God with human sacrifices & this cannibal has a liking for young, white female flesh & intestines...

This Spanish, French & German co-production was co-written & directed by the prolific Jesus Franco who also gets the credit for the music as well. Sexo Cannibal has gained a certain amount of notoriety here in the UK as it was placed on the 'Video Nasties' list in the early 80's under it's alternate Devil Hunter title & therefore officially classed as obscene & banned, having said that I have no idea why as it is one bad film & even Franco, who isn't afraid to be associated with a turkey, decides he wants to hide under the pseudonym of Clifford Brown. I'd imagine even the most die-hard Franco fan would have a hard time defending this thing. The script by Franco, erm sorry I mean Clifford Brown & Julian Esteban as Julius Valery who was obviously another one less than impressed with the finished product & wanted his named removed, is awful. It's as simple & straight forward as that. For a start the film is so boring it's untrue, the kidnap plot is one of the dullest I've ever seen without the slightest bit of tension or excitement involved & the horror side of things don't improve as we get a big black guy with stupid looking over-sized bloodshot eyes plus two tame cannibal scenes. As a horror film Sexo Cannibal fails & as an action adventure it has no more success, this is one to avoid.

Director Franco shows his usual incompetence throughout, a decapitated head is achieved by an actor lying on the ground with large leaves placed around the bottom of his neck to try & give the impression it's not attached to anything! The cannibal scenes are poor, the action is lame & it has endless scenes of people randomly walking around the jungle getting from 'A' to 'B' & not really doing anything when they get there either. It becomes incredibly dull & tedious to watch after about 10 minutes & don't forget this thing goes on for 94 minutes in it's uncut state. I also must mention the hilarious scene when Al Cliver is supposed to be climbing a cliff, this is achieved by Franco turning his camera on it's side & having Cliver crawl along the floor! Just look at the way his coat hangs & the way he never grabs onto to anything as he just pulls himself along! The gore isn't that great & as far as Euro cannibal films go this is very tame, there are some gross close ups of the cannibals mouth as it chews bits of meat, a man is impaled on spikes, there's some blood & a handful of intestines. There's a fair bit of nudity in Sexo Cannibal & an unpleasant rape scene.

Sexo Cannibal must have had a low budget & I mean low. This is a shoddy poorly made film with awful special effects & rock bottom production values. The only decent thing about it is the jungle setting which at least looks authentic. The music sucks & sound effects become annoying as there is lots of heavy breathing whenever the cannibal is on screen. The acting sucks, the whole thing was obviously dubbed anyway but no one in this thing can act.

Sexo Cannibal is a terrible film that commits the fatal mistake of being as boring as hell. The only good things I can say is that it has a certain sleazy atmosphere to it & those close ups of the cannibal chewing meat are pretty gross. Anyone looking for a decent cinematic experience should give Sexo Cannibal as wide a berth as possible, one to avoid.

Devil Hunter

[a_baron · 3/10 · 8 June 2018]

A stunningly attractive woman with a rich Daddy is kidnapped and held for a king's ransom. An adventurer is hired to bring her back. What more is there to this film? Well, the kidnap location is very exotic, if you consider a tribe of cannibals to be exotic; somehow the damsel manages to fall into their clutches and is shortly to be sacrificed while the rescuer and his team do battle with the bad guys.

When you've said that, you've said it all, apart from the totally gratuitous nudity including female pubic hair. In short, this is a film that can't make up its mind precisely what it wants to be, but pornographic it is definitely not, indeed it manages against the odds to be somewhat boring.

Not bad Jess Franco horror film

[MovieGuy01 · 4/10 · 7 October 2009]

I have been looking for this film for ages because it is quite rare to find as it was one of the video nasties. I finally found it on DVD at the end of last year it is a very low budget movie The story is set around amazon jungle tribes that are living in fear of the devil. Laura Crawford is a model who is kidnapped by a gang of thugs while she is working in South America. They take her into the jungle Laura is guarded by some ridiculous native who calls himself "The Devil" she has to go though all unpleasant things until they are happy. Maidens are Chained up. The devil demonstrates eating flesh in a horrible manner. Peter Weston, is the devil hunter, who goes into the jungle to try and rescue her,

Devils have bad eye sight.

[jewbo23 · 3/10 · 16 November 2005]

A model named Laura is working in South America when she is kidnapped from her hotel room by a gang and taken into the jungle. They demand a huge ransom for her release. Peter is hired to get her home safe and there is a bonus in it for him if he can bring back the money as well as the girl. Peter is taken to the jungle by helicopter with friend Jack. They try to give the kidnappers fake money in return for Laura but the plan goes horribly wrong and they have to bail out in the helicopter. The helicopter is shot and they also have to bail from that (not going well so far). Also roaming the jungles is a devil of sorts. In reality its just a naked black guy with weirdly big eyes and a breathing problem. He starts to kill a few of the kidnappers and Laura escapes only to be captured by some primitives. The rest of the film is a bit of a blur really.

Now I'm not a massive Jess Franco fan, in fact to date this is only the second film of his I have seen, but even I can tell that this really isn't one of his best efforts. The films drags along at a pretty slow pace without much at all happening. The whole thing could have been edited down quite easily into a 25 minute TV show. There are plenty of overly long shots of people walking through the jungle that could have just been lifted straight out.

Devil Hunter is poorly lit (Infact I don't think it was lit at all), badly dubbed, poorly acted and slow yet for some reason it didn't bore me. I think the main reason for this was some of the hilariously bad scenes in it. For example a scene where Laura is walking in the street was obviously shot in a real street as crowds of people stop to stare straight at the camera as its shooting. Another funny scene has one of the gang who has been killed, hung in a tree dripping blood as one of his friends stands directly under him screaming for what seems like minutes. Then for no reason at all the man in the trees head just falls of and hits the guy under him. It has to be seen to be believed. Then of course there is the actual devil. It is just some naked black guy who despite the fact he has massive eyes, he has very blurry vision.

The film was hooked up in part of the video nasty scare in the 80's here in the UK and was banned. Now why it was I have no idea. There is very little gore at all and it's hardly a shocking film. Minus the nudity I would have said that it could get away with a PG almost. The only thing I can think of is that it was never actually watched and was added to the original list because of word of mouth.

There is not much reason to watch this film really unless you are a massive Jess Franco fan. There is plenty of nudity to keep you from falling asleep and also some scenes that are so bad you can have a good laugh at them but other wise I would say just pay for a ticket to South America and get lost in a jungle. It would probably be more fun.

3/10

boring cannibalflick

[trashgang · 3/10 · 2 June 2010]

How this flick became a video nastie is for me still an enigma. It is a Jess Franco example of how not to make a movie. I can take a lot and used to watch obscure ultra low budget but they are so bad that it becomes a good flick. But here, man, what's in a name, The title alone. Devil hunter, huh, were is the hunt on that devil. It's all about a model being kidnapped and some guys going after her on an island full of cannibals. Okay, a naked black man with red eyes pops up now and then, I guess that's the devil. The other title was Sexo Cannibal. Wrong again, there is no 'sexo' in it only some nudity. Well, some, the whole movie there is gratuitous nudity. For example, a naked girl on a boat, the two guys searching the model come aboard. The girl stays naked, and when she falls asleep one of the guys goes for a f*** with here, she doesn't have any problem with that. Let's say, every girl shows their boobies or goes full frontal. But a storyline, no way. And it clocks in over 90 minutes, too long. Boring as it is, it is still well searched due Jess Franco directing. I have seen it full uncut...there is much better out there concerning cannibals. You should see his filming of some voodoo dance. Always zooming in on pubic hair? A waist of time but due being a video nastie one to have...

Jesus Franco makes another sleaze fest

[MonsterVision99 · 8/10 · 7 September 2016]

I really liked this movie, I think that many people hate on this movie because they just don't know much about Jesus Franco, if you know Jesus Franco you'll realize that his movies are fun and cheese, but most importantly sleazy, there's a lot of gore and nudity, well, lets start with the plot, a model gets kidnapped and a Vietnam veteran its contracted to rescue her, in the middle of that there's a tribe of cannibals that worship a god?, I don't think that monster could be considered a god but OK, the gore its great, there's also a lot of nudity and sex, the movie itself its very fun, just sit back, relax and enjoy a sleaze fest of great quality. Fantastic direction by Franco as well.

Junk Ahead!

[Tweetienator · 6/10 · 23 October 2020]

While my mind and soul were almost dissolved into the void of total boredom due watching one of those contemporary over-produced but soulless movies (no, I won't reveal the name of that movie, may it be forgotten quick 'n' fast!) I had to do some serious countermeasure - watching El Canibal just felt the right thing to do. Soon, after only a couple of minutes watching this mayhem I felt relieved and revived, strong like a young cannibal god so to say. Yes, the movie is total dreck and schmaltz deluxe, and really bad, but, entertaining if you like to enjoy digging in the dirt: a bunch of cannibals and some boobs, and a man rolling (felt) for minutes over the ground to avoid tons of bullets shot at him, I ask you: what more can a man wish for to be entertained!? Final note: the true mastery of this gem is not meant to be revealed to everyone - may this very secret remain hidden forever for the few chosen ones.

One of Franco's (many) lesser efforts

[The_Void · 4/10 · 14 October 2007]

Devil Hunter gained notoriety for the fact that it's on the DPP 'Video Nasty' list, but it really needn't have been. Many films on the list where there for God (and DPP) only known reasons, and while this isn't the tamest of the bunch; there isn't a lot here that warrants banning...which is a shame because I never would have sat through it where it not for the fact that it's on 'the shopping list'. The plot actually gives the film a decent base - or at least more of a decent base than most cannibal films - and it follows an actress who is kidnapped and dragged off into the Amazon jungle. A hunter is then hired to find her, but along the way he has to brave the natives, lead by a man who calls himself "The Devil" (hence the title). The film basically just plods along for eighty five minutes and there really aren't many scenes of interest. It's a real shame that Jess Franco ended up making films like this because the man clearly has talent; as seen by films such as The Diabolical Dr Z, Venus in Furs, Faceless and She Kills in Ecstasy, but unfortunately his good films are just gems amongst heaps of crap and Devil Hunter is very much a part of the crap. I saw this film purely because I want to be able to say I've seen everything on the DPP's list (just two more to go!), and I'm guessing that's why most other people who have seen it, saw it. But if you're not on the lookout for Nasties; there really is no reason to bother with this one.