Blue Underground / Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) / Color / 1 disc / 103 minutes

Sergio Martino’s 1978 jungle film, MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, offers more than just blonde bombshell Ursula Andress in various stages of undress.

It’s a study in extremes: The beauty of nature vs. the violence of nature; pacifism vs. the fight for survival; the noble savage and the… well… savage savage. The contrasts don’t stop there either. The first two acts of MOUNTAIN are occassionally violent, but more or less, benign. However it’s the grisly and often explicit third act that will leave you slack-jawed and wondering “What the hell am I watching.”

Italian director Martino kickstarted his career in 1969 with the documentary-esque MONDO SEX. He’s also know for his gialli, including 1973’s TORSO. Filmed in Sri Lanka and Malasia, MOUNTAIN is the first (and probably best) in a trilogy of jungle movies Martino directed based on scripts by Cesare Frugoni. (ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN and BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER, both 1979).

Both of those flicks starred Playboy covergirl Barbara Bach, but it’s Martino’s use of Swiss Miss Andress — the original Bond girl Honey Ryder from 1962’s DR. NO — that makes MOUNTAIN a choice low-budget jungle exploitation film. Indeed the then 40-year-old Andress is put through the mill: She has 80-pound pythons dropped on her, scales waterfalls, strips for nude scenes and slogs through the muck of the jungle with convincing skill.

Andress plays Susan Stevenson, who, with her brother, simpering emo-punk Arthur (Antonio Marsina), sets off into the New Guinea wild to locate her anthropologist husband, who went missing some weeks before on an excursion to the Mountain of Ra-Rami. She’s joined on her odyssey by local explorer Dr. Edward Foster (Stacy Keach) and jungle man Manolo (Claudio Cassinelli).

The adventure is jinxed from the get-go when Foster, trying to assist Susan, is forced to skewer a large spider with his machete. This upsets his native assistants, who believe the spider’s death was a bad omen. To counter the bad luck, the natives sacrifice (meaning they roast and rip apart) a live iguana. Pressing ahead, the expedition party discovers evidence that the missing anthropologist was indeed searching for Ra-Rami.

The explorers find themselves in trouble when they are confronted by warriors of the believed-to-be-extinct cannibal Puka tribe. They are saved by Manolo, who takes them to the safety of a native mission, where they immediately fall out of favor with the tribal chief when Arthur gets caught sleeping with a native girl, and a Puka warrior follows them into the mission and wreaks havoc.

Keach’s character, Foster, reveals that some years later he was captured by the Puka and forced to partake in their rituals before he was able to escape. “You never forget the taste of human flesh,” he tells Manolo, claiming the experience has left him psychologically haunted.

The team closes in on Ra-Rami and a double-cross is in store as Susan and Arthur reveal exactly why they came to the mountain. Before they can gloat, they are all captured by cannibals and taken to a grotto where they discover Susan’s husband dead, but worshipped as a god by the natives. Recognizing that Susan is the dead man’s wife, the natives decorate her and hold her hostage as a goddess, leaving it up to Manolo to find a way out.

Martino juxtaposes disturbing nature film footage alongside the action. The cruelest scene is also one of the film’s most infamaous: A small monkey being devoured by a large snake. Martino’s camera gazes into the monkey’s eye at a close distance as the snake has its way with the primate, eventually compressing it to death. The uncomfortable ordeal is done when the monkey eventually stops struggling against the snake’s jaws.

While shocking, the footage is strangely compelling in its depiction of a natural death struggle up-close and beautifully photographed. The scene has reportedly been recycled for similar films.

Interestingly, the natural violence mirrors the human violence that develops as the story arcs. Manolo, who declares his pacifism early on, must learn to become a killer in order to survive. He refuses to kill a deadly cobra, and Karate-chops a python into submission, but when confronted with the possibility of becoming a meal for the cannibals, he takes up weapons and kills.

MOUNTAIN also features a beheading, a painful death in an animal trap, an alligator attack, a dwarf cannibal gets his brains dashed out and one unfortunate would-be rapist has his genitals lopped off in close-up. Susan’s brother, the annoying Arthur, is ripped apart and eaten by his captors, who pull endless strands of intestines out of his body cavity. The combination of sex, death and gore make for convincing grindhouse fare. This film is NOT for casual viewing, and the scenes of animal cruelty alone may turn off many viewers. Still, it’s a well-made product, with beautiful shots, lighting (The soft-focus, warmly-lit shots of Andress as a goddess are beautiful) and well-timed pacing. The soundtrack is nothing stunning, but it’s bone-clicking percussion and heroic motifs are appropriate for this type of film.

All the violence can be experienced in digitally remastered glory. Blue Underground’s new winter 2008 release of MOUNTAIN is exquisite in regards to its sharp and colorful print quality and the monaural audio sounds fine.

The new version also restores depraved footage of “deviant sexuality from the private collection” of director Martino. It’s fairly shocking stuff, including a stomach-churning scene of beastiality in which the camera lingers just a bit too long. The scenes could have easily been omitted without affecting the narrative. Still, it’s nice to have them there to complete the version.

The disc includes some nice special features. Extras include a trailer for the film, a featurette, “Legacy of the Cannibal God” featuring director Martino, a poster and still image gallery and talent bios of Martino, Andress and Keach.

MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, in all its exploitive glory, gets a perfect score from me: Four stars!

Check out a trailer for this film below: