Mattei's FILIPINO CANNIBALS come to reg. 1 dvd

We are indeed squatting in exciting times and so it is time to put on the skull-mask and ride that flaming ghost-horse once again, uh, I mean... re-animate this slumbering blog!

Hey there, how y'all doing! "Exciting times" at least in regards to new releases of foreign films shot in the Philippines!

There's no less than five cool Filipino films on dvd (and one blu-ray) from Vinegar Syndrome, and Severin/Intervision has just released Bruno Mattei's two post 2000 cannibal movies, LAND OF DEATH and CANNIBAL WORLD, on reg. 1 DVD in the US.

The new DVDs are retitled In The Land of the Cannibals and Mondo Cannibal. They've previously been out on DVD and VHS in Japan (check my old post and see way cooler Japanese covers here).

Check Steven Ruskin's review and DVD info on AVMANIACS here. And yeah, I'll agree with Steve on the films. They're not great by anybody's standards but if you like your entertainment trashy you know what you'll get with these two films, entertaining trash. I do however think Bruno's two post 2000 zombie films and THE JAIL: A WOMAN'S PRISON are way better (they were shot in the 'Pines as well).

Are BRUNO MATTEI cannibal movies Asian worldweird movies?

If you were to say no then... I'd have to disagree. Well, kinda. Bruno Mattei and his Italian film crew were, needless to say, Italian - but ol'e Bruno actually filmed quite a few of his post 2000 films in the Philippines and quite a few of the cast members were locals, either Filipino actors or the ex-pat actors we're so familiar with not least from the trashy Vietnam War and action films that were shot in the 'Pines in the 80s and early 90s. So in a bizarre way Bruno Mattei's cannibal movies that you see presented on Japanese VHS here actually do belong on this site!

Mattei also made several other films in the Philippines, ZOMBI 3 was shot there (and altho it is credited to Lucio Fulci it was probably Mattei who made most of the film due to Fulci's falling ill shortly after the filming had begun. It's rumoured that Fulci's footage only takes up about 15 minutes of the film) and so were his last two zombie flicks ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD and ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING, and also his highly entertaining and gory WIP film THE JAIL: A WOMAN'S HELL.

I received these two Japanese ex-rental video tapes yesterday. The two films are LAND OF DEATH (2003) (released in Japan as "Cannibal Holocaust: Cannibal vs. Commando") and CANNIBAL WORLD (2004) (aka "Cannibal Holocaust: The Beginning" in Japan). The films are also released on Japanese DVD and these vhs/dvd releases are the ONLY legit releases anywhere in the world. There are bootleg dvd's in the USA, and LAND OF DEATH is out on a Russian boot dvd as well, but like I said they are bootlegs.

If you check the covers you'll notice sequel numbers 2 and 3 after the Japanese language titles. In Japan they were released as sequels to Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST from 1980. The two films are quite entertaining but no-way nearly as awesome as Deodato's film. They're fun trash films though.




If you check Youtube you'll find the ordinary trailers for both films from the Italian film company, but here's the Japanese made trailer for LAND OF DEATH. Check it out, it's wild!!