Cannibal Holocaust
A rescue expedition into the Amazon uncovers footage whose savage images indict both exploitative filmmakers and the audience consuming their work.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- oppressive
- disturbing
- gritty
- cult horror marathon
- extreme cinema night
What critics said
Critics recognize the film's provocative documentary-style structure and social commentary but remain sharply divided over its extreme gore, animal killings, sexual violence, and racist portrayal of indigenous people.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The rescue mission discovers and screens the missing crew's raw reels, making authenticity and spectatorship central to the horror.
The American documentarians pursue indigenous communities as exotic material while the film implicates the media economy surrounding their footage.
The film includes genuine animal slayings that became a defining source of controversy and discomfort.
The raw footage is treated as commercially valuable evidence even as its brutality implicates both filmmakers and viewers.
Films like Cannibal Holocaust, and why
The Blair Witch Project
shares found-footage horror, documentary realism, colonial critique, and confrontational violence
Cannibal Ferox
shares cannibal horror, exploitation cinema, jungle setting, and graphic shock tactics
mondo cane
shares mondo filmmaking, sensationalized ethnography, and disturbing documentary-style imagery
Audition
shares transgressive horror, graphic violence, and morally provocative treatment of spectatorship
Movie Details
- Director
- Ruggero Deodato
- Release Date
- 1980-02-07
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 6.3 / 10 (1947)
Cast
- Robert Kerman
- Francesca Ciardi
- Perry Pirkanen
- Luca Barbareschi
- Salvatore Basile
- Ricardo Fuentes
- Carl Gabriel Yorke
- Paolo Paoloni
- Lionello Pio Di Savoia
- Luigina Rocchi
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+, Fandor, Shudder, Night Flight Plus, Cultpix, Midnight Pulp, Bloodstream
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Bloodstream
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Cannibal Holocaust about?
- A rescue expedition into the Amazon uncovers footage whose savage images indict both exploitative filmmakers and the audience consuming their work.
- What is Cannibal Holocaust like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Cannibal Holocaust as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Cannibal Holocaust violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Cannibal Holocaust as graphic.
- What did critics think of Cannibal Holocaust?
- Critics recognize the film's provocative documentary-style structure and social commentary but remain sharply divided over its extreme gore, animal killings, sexual violence, and racist portrayal of indigenous people.
- Which films are like Cannibal Holocaust?
- Films with a similar feel include The Blair Witch Project, Cannibal Ferox, mondo cane, and Audition.
- How long is Cannibal Holocaust?
- Cannibal Holocaust runs 96 minutes.
- Where can I watch Cannibal Holocaust?
- In United States, Cannibal Holocaust streams on Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+, Fandor, Shudder, Night Flight Plus, Cultpix, Midnight Pulp, Bloodstream.
