ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Bezenby *Dring! Dring!*"Hey babe...it's me. I was figuring baby that you and I should catch a movie tonight...ya dig? Yeah? Well baby I hear there this new romance film in the cinema. A love story that spans cultures, I understand. Baby. Y'see it's all about this English fella, goes to Thailand to do a travelogue but then he accidentally kills this local fella and runs for it, which is a shame because he was enjoying the kickboxing."So he heads up river even though he's told not to and gets his guide killed, then gets captured by this tribe who think he's a fish, although he says "I'm a man…not a fish!" and they all want to kill him except the chief's daughter Me Me Lai, who keeps giving him the glad eye. Told you it was romantic. Baby."So the English fella's getting fed up being poked with bamboo and being tied up but I guess they get used to him and let him go, because he becomes part of the tribe eventually. What do you mean it sounds like I've seen the film already? What? Of course not! It just had a really big review in the local paper, babe. Just tryna convince you to go, ya dig? I'm just saying that the guy's torn between escaping (during which he kills the top tribal warrior) and his growing love for Me Me Lai."Another problem is that just up the river there's this tribe of cannibals who the other tribe hate, who are punished for cannibalism by having their tongues cut out, who then attack the other tribe and end up raping and killing this woman which leads the English fella to…What? I told you I haven't seen it! What…isn't romantic? I suppose the guy eating the girl's arm is…erm…I hear Elliot Gould is the head cannibal if that helps."But it's a love story! Why else would they celebrate the birth of their child by slitting a goat's throat…hello? Hello?...damn…."

BA_Harrison Although this film is often cited as the first of the Italian cannibal classics, in reality it is nothing more than a rather well-made rip-off of Elliot Silverstein's A Man Called Horse (1970) with only a small amount of cannibalism thrown in at the end to spice things up. However, it does feature several elements that would become staple to the cannibal genre: graphic blood 'n' guts, some nudity and rape, and a whole load of nasty violence perpetrated on poor innocent animals.Ivan Rassimov plays John Bradley, a photographer who travels up-river to the border of Thailand and Burma, only to be captured by a primitive tribe. He is forced to be a slave, but eventually earns the villagers' respect, becomes a warrior and gets to have it away repeatedly with the chief's daughter (the beautifully exotic Me Me Lai).Director Umberto Lenzi, who would later bring us the infamous Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive (also starring Rassimov and Lai), delivers quite a restrained movie considering the excesses of some of his later work: the film moves at a leisurely pace, taking its time to develop the characters and story, only stopping occasionally to fling in a spot of rumpy-pumpy or a brutal animal slaying! If you're at all interested cannibal genre, then the movie is recommended; it is interesting as a point of reference for later films but is also pretty entertaining in itself (particularly if you like very cute nekkid native chicks!).I give it 6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb. That's on about a par with Mountain of the Cannibal God and Cannibal Ferox, slightly better than Eaten Alive, but nowhere near as good as Cannibal Holocaust or Cannibal Apocalypse.

Jonny_Numb "Man from Deep River" is about as shocking in its purpose as anything contained within its gore scenes. Directed by Italy's go-to-guy for cannibal sleaze, Umberto Lenzi ("Make Them Die Slowly") weaves in his share of exploitative and downright offensive elements (he can't get enough of *live* animals fighting/being cut apart) to tell the tale of an American photographer (Ivan Rassimov, sporting a bad blonde dye job) who stabs a surly bar patron while drunk, and flees up a river in the Philappines only to run afoul of a cannibal tribe. Now, while Lenzi's subsequent efforts have celebrated the 'gore-to-profits' equation to success, "Deep River" has a surprisingly human story at its core--upon first glance, Rassimov is a prisoner seeking escape; but he eventually assimilates to the tribal culture and even weds one of the ladies (Me Me Lai). In a bit of ironic turnabout, our Ugly American gets in touch with his inner human, and his journey there is told with a pulse more dramatic than horrific, which blind-sided me. While this might not be to all tastes, Lenzi's commitment to the material truly sucked me in and made me care. Those seeking an alternative to "Cannibal Holocaust" should be pleased with "The Man from Deep River."

bensonmum2 It's amazing that the relatively tame Man from Deep River spawned the whole Italian cannibal sub-genre. I use the word "tame" because in comparison to other similar films it's just that – tame. Sure, there are a few scenes of over-the-top cannibal violence and real animal deaths, but they are not the focus of the movie. The scenes of violence that give the Man from Deep River its notoriety could have been excluded and the movie would have probably been just as good. The main benefit to the movie of these scenes is to provide a sense of realism.The main plot concerns a man who at first is held prisoner by a primitive tribe only to become accepted by the tribe and, in turn, accept the tribe as his own. Other commentators have spoken of the movie's similarity to something like Dances with Wolves and it's an accurate comparison. Ivan Rassimov is quite good in the Kevin Costner role. Other than his incredibly bad dye job that remains with him throughout the film even though at least a year of time passes, he's believable. A pre-boob job Me Me Lai has the Mary McDonnell role. She not the greatest actress you'll ever see, but at least here she does look more authentic as a native than she does in later cannibal films with her perfect make-up and over inflated chest. The rest of the cast, made up of locals and real tribes-people, are surprisingly effective.Another surprise is the way Lenzi allows the relationship between Rassimov and Me Me to grow believably throughout the movie. Too often, films like Man from Deep River just expect the viewer to accept the fact that the best looking native woman immediately and without reason falls for the white male intruder. The relationship in Man from Deep River is interesting and a far cry from what you'll find in other cannibal films. For what is essentially an early 70s Italian exploitation film, it's actually quite touching and sad.