PRIMITIV

Three young anthropologists, Amri, Rika, and Tommy, accompanied by an expert guide, venture into a rainforest to conduct in-depth research on the local indigenous people, their customs, and traditions. But soon, their exploration trip will turn into a nightmare, from the moment the three anthropologists discover that the indigenous population practices cannibalism. The adjective "Horrible" would suffice to describe this abominable American film born in the early 1980s in the wake of famous Italian cannibal-movies like "Cannibal Holocaust" and "The Mountain of the Cannibal God". Directed by an almost unknown Sam Gardner, "Primitiv" is the worst that could be offered by a horror film on the theme of cannibals. The film cannot be saved in any aspect. The clumsy screenplay appears rather weak, repetitive, boring, and in no way manages to minimally engage the viewer; while the dialogues are most of the time terribly banal and ridiculous. Many scenes, which should have been dramatic and full of tension, appear sloppy and unintentionally comic (like the fight between the native and the big snake or the scene where a native throws a hammer that, with a boomerang effect, comes back and hits the native himself). Moreover, the film contains several scenes showing the jungle fauna and fights between fierce animals: all these scenes are inserted poorly and it is clear that they have nothing to do with the film but were stolen from some old animal documentary. Another major weak point of the film is the baffling cast: the actors, in addition to being complete unknowns, seem completely unfit to play their roles. The three anthropologist protagonists are played by three pathetic individuals who surely accepted to work in the film in exchange for a piece of bread and a bowl of milk; moreover, if it were not for the way they are dressed, it would have been impossible to distinguish them from the natives. The natives, poorly represented with ridiculous wigs, behave more like mentally retarded individuals halfway between mad and monkeys, and in many scenes, to add a touch of stupidity, they roar. Moreover, what one would expect most from a cannibal-movie is the presence of abundant doses of blood and multiple splatter scenes, but, to avoid this film being saved from flunking, it was decided not to include any of that. There is barely a shadow of blood and the splatter scenes are almost entirely absent except for an annoying scene where the natives truly butcher a crocodile to eat it. The makeup effects are really bad, to the point that all the wounds are very obvious prosthetics poorly added and too prominent. In conclusion, "Primitiv" is a really poorly made film and, as the title suggests, "primitive". Destined to not please even the most die-hard cannibal-movie fan. Bad only because there is no lower rating. To be avoided like the plague.