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Regular
Price $19.95
Starring:
Elvire Audray,
Will Gonzales,
Dick Campbell,
Andrea Coppola,
Dick Marshall,
Directed By:
Mario Gariazzo,
Rated: R (Restricted)
Release Date: 1985
Studio: Shriek Show
Format:
Color,
DVD-Video,
Widescreen,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
Decent Exploitation Film, But DVD Specs Are Wrong...
First let me start by saying that even though the DVD is supposed to be anamorphic widescreen, it is not. In fact it is not even a real pan and scan transfer. In order to view the movie in its appropriate aspect ratio (16:9) you must use the zoom function on your DVD player and zoom out to 3/4 the size. Otherwise you will see, not a pan and scan transfer, but one that has been (accidentally?) zoomed in at some point during the DVD creation process. The result is an abnormally cropped image.
On to the review....As some of the other reviews stated, this is NOT a cannibal film nor a horror movie. The tribe in the film is a tribe of headhunters and not a single act of cannibalism is shown in the movie. Instead this is an exploitation film about a young English woman kidnapped by a tribe of headhunters in the Amazon after her parents are brutally murdered and decapitated. The plot is good enough to keep the viewer interested the story is intriguing and the pacing keeps it from becoming boring. In true grindhouse fashion there is more nudity and gore than you can shake a headhunter's spear at. We get decapitations, animals killing each other, an alligator eating a native, beatings, a head blown apart by gunfire and more. Of course since this is a movie dealing with a woman victimized by a native Amazonian tribe there is nudity aplenty. The lead actress spends nearly the entire film naked as do the female natives.
So if exploitation is your thing you could do much worse than to watch this little forgotten flick.Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
Lesser known jungle shocker
"Amazonia" could easily share the reputation of the other 1980's cannibal gut-munchers, but for some reason it's not quite as well known. Which is a shame, as though it's by no means a masterpiece, it's not actually that bad. The plot involves a young girl (the titular Catherine Miles)who is stranded in the remote jungle after both her parents are killed and decapitated by a tribe of headhunters, who keep Catherine as a prisoner, and the majority of the film charts her fate in the hands of the tribe and her ultimate revenge on the death of her parents.
Now let me say first of all that "Amazonia" does try to deliver the blood and gore, but the presentation of most of the gruesome effects is done very poorly. The editing and camera angles for all the gore shots are awful, and it's probably because the prosthetic heads and body parts are for the most part, pretty sub-standard. Which is a shame because most horror fans are going to be watching for just these things. Things kick off in very eye-popping (literally!) fashion with the opening murder of Catherine's parents, but you'll see what I mean if you watch the film, because the editing of the gore close-ups is so sloppy that it looks like the film has been cut. I don't think it has, I think the director was just too scared to show the effects for longer than just fleetingly because they weren't very good. Time and time again, Catherine is confronted by awful sights such as someone being attacked by a crocodile, or various savage punishments and rituals, but each time the "money shot" is botched and disappointing.
But on the other hand, other parts of the film are actually very well made. There are some gorgeous shots of the lush jungle paradise, and some scenes of Catherine being dwarfed by the stunning scenery are really nicely done. Of course the usual inserts of stock footage of didn't fool me for one second, and yes we do get to see various wild animals eating each other, but I didn't see any examples in this film where I think a situation was set up and animals were killed especially for the cameras , whcih makes a nice change for this genre.
What also surprised me is that I actually did get involved in the plot. No doubt influenced by the "recovered film" idea of "Cannibal Holocaust", the story is told as an entire extended flashback, from a courtroom where Catherine is introduced at the very start of the film, actually standing trial for murder. Who she murders (and why) is only revealed towards the end of the story, but it doesn't take much brainpower to predict the twist ending that is revealed.
All in all, I would class this film as pretty well made. The jungle location used is very impressive, and parts of the film must have used quite a considerable budget. They also shoot all the scenes of Catherine's life in London in some nicely chosen parts of the city.
The acting isn't too bad, the main actress playing Catherine does pretty well, and for a role that is 95% almost totally naked I'd say she comes through it with most of her dignity still intact. The rest of the roles feature the standard hammy Italian bit-players, and the whole cast is saddled with a rubbish English dubbing job as usual. What really annoyed me was the woeful appearance of the head-hunting tribespeople, there wasn't one of them that looked anything like an authentic savage, and all of them were dolled up in the most painfully obvious black wigs, which looked doubly ridiculous on the men, especially the poor "hero" Umukai, who even dared go swimming in his mop and always returned from the water with something resembling an oilslick on his head.
At least I can't say "Amazonia" is not entertaining. I enjoyed watching it and had the special effects been better it could have been up there with the Lenzi and Deodato jungle shockers. If you've never been brave enough to watch a film of this type before, this might be a good one to start with as it's probably the least offensive out of the genre, and you can enjoy some chunky gore without that bad taste in your mouth afterwards...hey, maybe that's a bit like the difference between headhunters and cannibals!Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
actually not a cannibal movie
i've seen many of those cannibal movies, and this movie hasn't got any cannibalism in it. tribes and gory scenes though. i think the artwork shown here is terrible, my release is from Italian Shock and it has the original retro artwork. go for that release instead. the movie is beautiful, with a wonderful soundtrack, and though it contains a lot of violence it is a very touching flake. if we shall call this a cannibal-movie, this is maybe the most serious movie of them all - next to cannibal holocaust. this movie does not contain the awful mass of authentic animal killing scenes, that for example that scum Umberto Lenzi used to use in his films (cannibal ferox, eaten alive, man from the deep river). this is a low bugdet, high quality motion picture. if you ask me, a like this movie most among those "cannibal"-movies. second comes "emanuelle and the last cannibals" and third comes "cannibal holocaust".Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
Fine Cannibal Film
I have almost all of the cannibal movies ever made and this is one of the most original. A girl takes a boat voyage with her parents, aunt and uncle. Her parents are killed with blowguns. A tribe of natives takes the girl captive and a warrior takes a particular liking to her, but it is said he killed her parents. There's a twist ending that wraps it up, and shouldn't be too surprising unless you forgot some big continiuity at the beginning. The girl is modestly hot and topless through most of it. This is a must-see for fans of cannibals. I guess this version by Shock-O-Rama is an official release, as it's listed here on Amazon.com.Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
Hmmm?.
This movie is basicly too lousy too be watched at all. The plot is boring and the gore and sex that might make one forget about that is badly made and occurs too rarely.
Yawn.Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story
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