Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)

Capitalizing on the new cannibal film craze (started by Ruggero Deodato's Jungle Holocaust), director Joe D'Amato decided to ride the gravy train with all the same elements of the cannibal movie, but with more sex. Sounds like a winning combination to me - let's see if it delivers.

Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is a journalist posing as one of the patients in the mental ward.

Suddenly a nurse runs into the room - her clothes torn off and her breast bitten. She's a victim of a supposed cannibal girl held in this facility. The other staff rushes to her aid.

The cannibal girl (Cindy Leadbetter) chews on the flesh of the nurse.

She's apprehended by the orderlies.

Emanuelle is here to get the scoop on this cannibal girl. She holds a doll which secretly snaps pictures of the incident.

A doctor arrives and injects the cannibal girl with a sedative. She says the girl was found in the jungle - a "true savage". Emanuelle is escorted away from the scene.

That evening Emanuelle sneaks into the cannibal girl's room. she is in a straight jacket and full restraints.

Emanuelle tames the savage by pulling up her straightjacket stroking her.

Emanuelle asks her, "Why don't you say anything? You're confused - or you just don't understand."

Using the camera hidden in the doll, Emanuelle takes pictures of the cannibal girl.

The Evening Post editor is impressed with Emanuelle's story, and wants her to do more on this cannibal girl.

They have a look at the amazing photos Emanuell was able to take of the cannibal girl. They take note of a symbol "right above her pubic region." They'll have to consult an expert to decipher its meaning.

The editor suggests Emanuelle meet a certain anthropology professor and curator of a natural history museum who has led expeditions along the Amazon. He could help her with this story.

Emanuelle meets with Professor Mark Lester (Gabriele Tinti).

Emanuelle probes Lester for information on the cannibal tribes, and they plan for an expedition to the Amazon.

The day before her trip, Emanuelle has one last fling with her lover, Peter. They park on the shore and have sex.

Arriving in the jungle, they meet with a Mr. Wilkes who organizes their expedition.

Lester greets Isabelle Wilkes (Mónica Zanchi), the daughter of Mr. Wilkes, who he has known since she was a child. He marvels at how much she's grown. Isabelle will be accompanying them on their journey.

Sister Angela (Annamaria Clementi) will also be joining them. She is going up the river to join her mission.

They will leave in the morning.

The four of them head down the river.

Emanuelle and Isabelle take a dip in a lagoon.

They notice a chimpanzee smoking Marlboro reds on shore.

Sister Angela is upset to find her mission group are all gone. She worries the nuns have been taken by the cannibals.

Along the way, they run into Donald Mackenzie (Donald O'Brien) and his wife Maggie (Nieves Navarro). They are out here hunting big game.

That evening in her tent, Maggie gets a notion to throw off her sheet and start fondling herself.

Maggie is staring at the black guide through an opening in the tent.

She rubs herself from behind (in a wildly unexpected graphic scene from Nieves Navarro).

Maggie abruptly puts some clothes on, steps outside the tent and tells the guide, "Come with me."

Lester and Emanuelle look on with surprise.

Maggie leads the guard into the jungle and they have sex.

Donald wakes up and peeks into the tent occupied by Sister Angela and Isabelle.

Isabelle is fast asleep.

Maggie returns to her tent.

Donald speaks with Maggie - but it has little to do with her escapade in the woods. They are clearly up to no good.

Another day's journey through the jungle. They encounter wild animals and are horrified to find the remains of Sister Angela's mission group, all eaten by cannibals.

Isabelle falls in quicksand but is rescued by Lester.

They camp for the night. Isabelle sleeps right out in the open.

Donald can't help himself. He starts fondling Isabelle in her sleep. She wakes up and screams. The rest of the group rushes to her aid. Lester and Donald get into a fight.

Sister Angela steps into the woods to use the bathroom and finds herself surrounded by the cannibals.

They rip off her habit.

Then the cannibals start cutting off pieces of her flesh and eating her. The rest of the group hears her screams, but by the time they find her it's too late.

The Mackenzies find the site of a plane crash and discover a loot of diamonds. But their celebration is shortlived as Maggie is abducted by the natives and Donald is stabbed.

Donald's wounds are tended to, and the gang crosses the river to rescue Maggie.

Maggie is pulled from a cage and Donald is captured by the natives and brutally murdered.

Emanuelle and Lester watch from a safe distance as Maggie is tied to posts and subsequently stabbed and eaten.

Emanuelle and Lester watch through foliage as Isabelle is drugged, stripped naked and carried barely conscious to the center of the tribe.

The natives gather around her. Lester explains to Emanuelle that they will be sacraficing her to the gods.

Her legs are spread and the men take turns mounting her.

Lester and Emanuelle have a plan. She gets butt naked and paints herself to look like the water goddess of the natives.

Isabelle is lifted up by the natives and carried toward the river.

The natives step aside as Emanuelle walks up from the water (as Lester shoots up a flare). They believe she is the water goddess.

Emanuelle wakes up Isabelle and takes her hand. They both walk off into the river.

It takes a minute, but the realization dawns on the cannibals that they've been duped. But it's too late - Dr. Lester, Emanuelle and Isabelle are soon motoring to safety.

Emanuelle blasts half the natives with her shotgun as they make their escape. She says, "I didn't think I was capable of shooting a man." She feels guilty that so many died for the purposes of her newspaper scoop. Lester tells her to not feel bad, it's nobody's fault. THE END

VZ6 SCORECARD

I thought this was great.  These seventies cannibal movies can often be a bit much for my taste, with an overabundance of gross-outs.  This had its share, but it still didn't feel dark and depressing.  I enjoyed the slow build up and the great shots of NYC in the late seventies.  The sleaze is off the charts, but is often hampered by poor stylistic choices and shaky cam effects. 

Mónica Zanchi provides an amazingly long nude scene as she's drugged and carried around naked by the jungle natives. Monica's mother was Swiss (she was born in Bern) and her father was Italian. From IMDb: Monica decided at age fifteen to leave home without informing her parents to hitchhike abroad alone. For a whole year her family didn't know her whereabouts, to the point where the Interpol was notified of her absence, until they started receiving bills from various hotels where she ran a scheme of checking in pretending that her parents are "on their way", and then sneak out without paying rent after a couple of weeks of stay. While in Sicily, she met a movie agent who convinced her to have some still shots taken of her. Monica subsequently embarked on a brief acting career in various Italian exploitation pictures. 

In an interview about filming Last Cannibals, Monica said: "I got really angry during the shooting because the costume designers hated me - you just can't imagine how much! They would do anything not to give me a proper wardrobe: I chose a costume and they gave me another one." 

 

Nieves Navarro was a fixture in Italian exploitation films including early giallos and spaghetti westerns. I was shocked to see her masturbating in this film - an extremely graphic scene.  I thought it must be a body double as the camera focuses on her backside and her fingering herself.... but no, it's really her!

Cindy Leadbetter, the actress playing the cannibal girl, was the Italian Playmate of the Month the year after this film was released. She was born in Los Angeles, so I'm not sure how she became an Italian model/actress. This is her first film..  According to her centerfold info, her favorite singer is Mick Jagger and favorite book is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

Annamaria Clementi is kinda wasted in this role.  She was a stone cold fox in Operation Orient (1978) and other exploitation films of this era.  But this was her first credited role, and she's stuck in a nun's habit for most of her screen time.  When she's attacked by the natives her clothes are removed, but it's dark and an annoying shaky cam effect obscures most of the action.

Overall, a delightfully sleazy cannibal movie that thankfully takes a few steps back from the over-the-top gore, and instead amps up the nudity and sleaze.  A wise choice.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 8/10