EMANUELLE IN AMERICA (1977)

  I've always thought of this one as my favorite of the "Black Emanuelle" films(7th in the series) but after rewatching it recently I think EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS and LOVE CAMP have surpassed it for me as far as being entertaining and overall less boring. That being said though this one certainly has the most memorably gratuitous scenes of depravity out of all these movies. In the uncensored version you get a lady jacking off a horse, some fairly realistic snuff movie scenes and hardcore sucking and fucking. Unfortunately there are also long boring bits inbetween that and a very nonsensical ending that takes place on an island inhabited by an African tribe? that Emanuelle(Laura Gemser) gets sold off to. Worth a look for sleazoid Eurotrash fantatics though. AKA BRUTAL NIGHTS

                                               The very 70s main theme!:

EMANUELLE AND THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE (1978)

  This entry in the "Black Emanuelle" series(the 13th or 14th, it gets a little blurry!) has quite the leisurely pace to it for a good chunk of the film. There is plenty of sexual hijinks and eurobush though to keep all the pervs happy as our heroine, Laura Gemser, goes undercover to expose a prostitution/slavery ring. There is a pretty wacky standout tranny kung fu scene, multiple gang rapes(both of the friendly and unfriendy variety) and Gemser narrowly escaping from a lobotomy like some kinda super spy! For director Joe D'Amato this is a bit skimpy on the more extreme elements(especially when compared to stuff like EMANUELLE IN AMERICA and EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS) which brings it down a bit for me but still worth a watch for completists. 

AKA EMANUELLE AND THE GIRLS OF MADAM CLAUDE

EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS (1977)

  The idea of mixing a softcore sex flick with a cannibal movie is an insane one, so of course Eurotrash legend Joe D'Amato gave it a shot with this and because it's so nuts it's one of my favorites in the "Black Emanuelle" series. It starts out more in the softcore porn vein and then once we leave classic sleazy 70s New York City for the Amazon it delves headlong into more traditional cannibal movie territory. Nipples and vaginas get cut off or open, heads roll and intestines get ripped out and munched on. No skimping on the sex or gore here so it's hard to say anything bad about this unless that's not what you are looking for. 

The lovely Laura Gemser returns, DR BUTCHER himself, Donald O' Brien, shows up and multiple cannibals have a gut-chomping freakout of a time! Classic 70s sleaze!  

Released on video as TRAP THEM AND KILL THEM.

This is either the 10th or 11th movie in the "Black Emanuelle" series following EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD and right before EMANUELLE AND THE PORNO NIGHTS. For a more complete list click here.

THE SAVAGE ISLAND (1980)

  Probably best known as ANTHROPOPHAGUS(but I first saw it as THE GRIM REAPER back in the VHS days, sadly that's the most edited version missing the 2 big shock bits) this is the gory tale of a sorta zombie-like cannibalistic monster running around a Greek island slashing up and chomping down on a group of folks including Mia Farrow's little sister Tisa. George Eastman plays the maniacal creature, and at 6'9" is the perfect imposing figure for such a role. There are a few lulls in the action after the meat-cleaver-to-the-head opening but it more than makes up for that with all the absurdly gory scenes to follow. There's fetus-munching, scalping, neck biting, a severed head in a bucket and plenty of stabbings to go around. It's all topped off when our seemingly decomposing villian gets his guts spilled and decides he's gonna chow down on them. Definitely an all-time video-nasty classic memory! AKA THE ZOMBIE'S RAGE and known in England as THE BEAST.

Known in Germany as MAN-EATER!:

Known in Spain as GOMIA, TERROR IN THE AEGEAN SEA!:

CARIBBEAN PAPAYA (1978)

  This Joe D'Amato-directed slice of Eurosleaze starts off with a bang as our titular character, Papaya, chomps off a gentleman's genitals (which explains the alternate title of PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS) making me think I was in for something quite gory. Unfortunately ol' Joe then shifts gears and gives us a pretty unexciting sex flick concerning some islanders who are upset about a nuclear power plant being built on their land. You do get weird native orgies and a couple of dead pigs sliced open which is pretty gross. So if you want a couple of gross-outs while watching lesbianism and naked natives frolic about this might be worth a look. I didn't think it was a great example of either a cannibal flick or a sexploitation flick but still an interesting mash-up similar to D'Amato's BLACK EMANUELLE  films from this time minus the lovely Laura Gemser.    

                                    

The Love Goddess of the Cannibals from Cult Films and Shameless on Vimeo.

BEYOND THE DARKNESS (1979)

 This is a real creep movie! I mean I guess pretty much any movie that deals with necrophilia can be classified as that but this one has an especially creepy vibe that runs throughout it. The soundtrack by Goblin definitely helps set this mood. The story concerns a fellow whose fiance dies so he decides to dig her up, embalm her and keep her around. He also goes out and meets new gals(I guess since his corpse-lady isn't so hot in the sack) that he brings home and ends up murdering in various ways. Luckily, or maybe not?, he has a super-creepy maid who helps him get rid of these extra bodies. If you're into stuff like NEKROMANTIK, this is probably the closest to that film that Italian cinema got with a similar subject matter(at least that I'm aware of). So if you're in the mood for intestines being spilled and corpses being fondled check it out. AKA BLUE HOLOCAUST & BURIED ALIVE

TOUGH TO KILL (1979)

 Joe D'Amato takes us into war movie territory with this extravaganza featuring Luc Merenda as a mercenary who joins up with a rag-tag army to collect the bounty on the head of one of his fellow soldiers. Donald O'Brien from ZOMBIE has a big role also as the major and I don't think I've ever seen him kick as much ass as he does in this. Many bottle of J&B whiskey also put in an appearance like in any good Eurotrash flick. The first half hour, which takes place in a training camp, is a little slow but after that the action kicks in and it gets into a sorta-DIRTY DOZEN situation except with 6 guys. Worth a watch if you dig bad low-budget war movies with tough guys doing tough guy stuff. Unfortunately, even though there's a scene where a guy is decapitated, there's no blood in this at all. So if that's what you're looking for skip it. I do give this extra points for a strange twist ending that I really wouldn't have imagined showing up in an Italian film from the 70's.

The title of this was also used for this book on Eurowar flicks that I haven't read yet but it looks pretty bad-ass!: 

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-zuzelo/tough-to-kill-volume-1-italian-action-explosion/paperback/product-2530590.html

BLACK COBRA (1976)

 Not to be confused with the Fred "The Hammer" Williamson action film of the 80's with the same title this BLACK COBRA stars Laura Gemser, best known from the BLACK EMMANUELLE series, as a stripper who does an act featuring a large snake. Jack Palance catches this act and just so happens to be a snake-loving herpetologist who really digs Miss Gemser's act and has his own large collection of slithering friends. Luckily he's a filthy rich scientist who offers her anything she wants just to live in his house and basically become part of his collection. Palance also has a creepy brother who likes to occasionally let a very poisonous snake out to chomp on a lady-friend or two. Gemser herself has a super jealous ex-boyfriend and all these characters come into play against one another in one way or the other. As with most films directed by the great Joe D'Amato and featuring Gemser there's plenty of nudity with ample amounts of lesbianism on show here. You also get some gratuitous snake butchering and someone shockingly gets a hungry cobra shoved up the anus which is pretty gross. There's a censored version of this titled EMMANUELLE GOES JAPANESE, which is a strange choice of titles since this movie doesn't take place in Japan. Other AKA's include HOT PANTS, BLACK COBRA WOMAN and EROTIC EVA.

EMMANUELLE'S REVENGE (1975)

         "You tell that shithead we're not making arty-farty flicks for intellectual faggots!"

 Most of director Joe D'Amato's Emanuelle movies starred Laura Gemser as the title character who was a black version of the original French character made famous by Sylvia Kristel.  This one was before the Gemser-era so we get a different white Emanuelle whose sister is dating great character actor George Eastman who looks weird here without any facial hair on his mug.  Eastman plays a sleazy lowlife actor who  lets a film director rape his gal, convinces her to star in a porn flick, cheats on her and generally treats her shitty which results in her gory suicide by train.  From there it's time for Emanuelle's revenge which consist of seducing big George, drugging him and chaining him up behind a two-way mirror.  After this we get treated to some lesbian antics, an orgy, some fake cannibalism and other assorted sex acts that we watch from behind the mirror which I'm sure is a comment on the type of cretin who enjoys these sleazoid films.  Castration is threatened and meat-cleaver wielding shenanigans ensue.
 Co-written by one of my favorite filmmakers, the great Bruno Mattei, this film is filled with a creepy downer vibe and nihilistic ending that you don't get in a lot of sexploitation flicks and at a lot of points this feels more like a giallo than anything else which makes this one of my favs in the sexy shocker genre.  It's also supposed to be a remake of some 60's film from Greece.  There's also a pretty strong feminist message in there which you don't really expect from your average Joe D'Amato flick.
  The old VHS copy I have of this is heavily cut so look for the 100 minute version for the complete sexy and splattery show.  A.K.A. BLOOD VENGEANCE, BLOOD RAGE and EMANUELLE AND FRANCOISE