Cannibals | 1980 | France/Spain | Jesus Franco
Literally shot on the same set as Alain Dueruelle’s Spanish gut-muncher Cannibal Terror, Jess Franco’s film was actually shot first before Dueruelle’s wholesale repurposing of his assets (actors and crew included). The flimsy plot follows Taylor, a tropical disease researcher whose wife and daughter are besieged by cannibals when venturing into their territory. After losing his arm in the attacks, Taylor wakes up an amnesiac in a nearby city before visions of his daughter jog his memory and he embarks on a new journey into the jungle to rescue his now mature daughter, who’s a potential mate to the cannibal’s chieftain. Shot in a cheap fashion, the film is virtually harmless and contains little to offend, but the cannibal title, theme and languid scenes of female victims being eaten alive clearly got this noticed.