Synopsis
White Cannibal Queen (1980) centers on a doctor who escapes a brutal cannibal attack in the Amazon after witnessing the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter. As he organizes an expedition to return to the jungle a decade later while wealthy adventurers, a sympathetic physician, and ruthless cannibal tribes stand between him and the child he believes is still alive, he discovers that she has built an entirely different life among the people who raised her. This Spanish-Italian-French cannibal horror film examines family, survival, and cultural conflict within a dangerous jungle landscape, as revenge, obsession, and moral uncertainty unfold through violent encounters, tribal rituals, and perilous adventure.
Criticism
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For many viewers, the biggest stumbling block to enjoyment of this movie is the issue of plausibility. My advice is forget it – Franco has an artist’s contempt for the plausible. He’s more interested in the absurd, the bizarre, the ineffable. Plausibility is very low on his agenda: it’s one step away from mundanity. He’s a kind of poet of the unlikely. … We’re in some delirious netherworld of his own devising, a place where realism is a joke to be kicked around like a deflated football and abandoned in a ditch. … The Cannibals doesn’t try and then fail to match the shocking violence or gritty realism of its Italian forebears. It’s the work of a total iconoclast who’s been asked to make a movie in a genre he dislikes, and who’s decided to amuse himself with the material while offering just enough genre ‘gravy’ to pass it all off as horror.
Stephen Thrower, Flowers of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco, Volume Two (Strange Attractor Press, 2018)
Selected disc options for White Cannibal Queen
| Extras | Vinegar Syndrome BD-A/US 2025 | Blue Underground DVD-1/US 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth | has extra | |
| European Cannibals - Interview with Eugenio Ercolani | has extra | |
| Franco Holocaust - Interview with Director/Writer Jess Franco | has extra | |
| Jungle Holocaust - Interview with Actor Antonio Mayans | has extra | |
| Meat Market - Interview with Alessio Di Rocco | has extra | |
| Sardonic Cannibals - Interview with Stephen Thrower | has extra | |
| Alternate English Opening Title Sequence as “Barbarian Goddess” | has extra | |
| French Theatrical Trailer | has extra |
Notes
- Blue Underground’s DVD is also available as a “Midnight Movies Cannibal Double Feature” with The Cannibal Man (1972).
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Ultimate Edition
Combine the best digital presentation with a selection of choice extras for the ultimate edition.
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European Cannibals (33:03) -
Franco Holocaust (19:33) -
Jungle Holocaust (30:55) -
Meat Market (27:53) -
Sardonic Cannibals (32:36) -
Alternate English Opening Title Sequence as “Barbarian Goddess” (2:29)
| Presentation |
Vinegar Syndrome BD 2025
|
|---|---|
| Extras | Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth Vinegar Syndrome BD |
| European Cannibals - Interview with Eugenio Ercolani Vinegar Syndrome BD | |
| Franco Holocaust - Interview with Director/Writer Jess Franco Blue Underground DVD | |
| Jungle Holocaust - Interview with Actor Antonio Mayans Vinegar Syndrome BD | |
| Meat Market - Interview with Alessio Di Rocco Vinegar Syndrome BD | |
| Sardonic Cannibals - Interview with Stephen Thrower Vinegar Syndrome BD | |
| Alternate English Opening Title Sequence as “Barbarian Goddess” Vinegar Syndrome BD | |
| French Theatrical Trailer Blue Underground DVD |