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Devil Hunter
[Severin]
1980; color
Directed by Jess Franco
Starring: Ursula Fellner, Al Cliver, Robert Foster, Antonio De Cabo & Gisella Hahn
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Devil Hunter is an early '80s Jess Franco effort, which even he seems to not be too thrilled about having made. (According to opinions voiced during the bonus interview.) Apparently Franco didn't want to do a cannibal movie but, because Devil Hunter had a 'monster,' didn't consider it to really be of the genre. He's kinda right in saying this is not a true cannibal film. Although there are sequences of cannibalism in it, there's very little gore and none of the make-you-squirm torture scenes more notable directors in the genre (Ruggerio Deodato, Umberto Lenzi) used to such shocking effect. Either way Franco, credited here under his Clifford Brown moniker, delivers a serious dose of schlock with a mind-numbing plot that makes more sense the more I think about it. There's an inexplicable kidnapping (at least we're never given any explanation for it) where the victim is held on a tropical island inhabited by a tribe of totem pole worshipping natives who may or may not be cannibals. (We never see them eat flesh.) Their god is very much alive however, living in the jungle, and the natives placate him by tying a young girl to a tree so he can kill and eat her. PS: their god is a naked black guy with bloody ping pong ball eyes and some of the most atrocious facial makeup this side of Zombie Lake. The priestess of the tribe is a hot black chick who Franco spares no effort in capturing nude and gyrating, often on all fours, as frequently as possible. A bounty hunter type guy (at least that's what I think he's supposed to be) is sent to find the girl, then the man who hires him adds an interesting twist, giving him the ransom money and saying if he brings back the girl AND the money, he'll get 10% of the money. (Amounting to $600,000). The hunter and his helicopter pilot buddy set off to find the girl and the kidnappers but, once they land on the island and attempt a futile exchange of girl-for-cash, the natives get a hold of the girl and everyone's fortunes take a turn for the worse. After some attrition through various means (everything from tiger pit to decapitation by hand) the hunter and cannibal god have a showdown whose end result is the hunter and the girl leaving the island together. I'm not sure if I can recommend this to anyone but Franco completists and fans of jungle exploitation.
—the Kommandant
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