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Cannibal Holocaust Is Getting An Interactive Video Game Sequel

Infamous Italian director Ruggero Deodato and Fantastico Studio have announced (Via Twitter Below) Cannibal, the fourth entry in the Cannibal Holocaust film series- as a video game. The 1980 movie Cannibal Holocaust by Deodato became infamous due to its violent content. The film’s premiere saw a local magistrate order the film to be seized, and Deodato arrested on obscenity charges.

Cannibal Holocaust is an exploitation film from 1980. It focuses on an American documentary crew that goes missing in South America, only to disappear. A scientist goes and finds a tribe of natives, withdrawn from society, holding onto the remains of the documentary crew’s equipment. After managing to gain the tribe’s trust, they surrender the equipment to him.

This leads to the second half of the film, where a television crew and the main protagonist watch the footage they recovered, and watch the final days of the documentary crew as they tried to shoot a powerful motion picture by antagonizing the tribes in violent, brutal ways. The tribe retaliates in turn, brutally murdering and ravaging the documentary crew.

That movie was and still is, banned in many countries for its sickening depiction of real animal cruelty and alleged sexual assault. Deodato was even charged in court for apparently filming real deaths of several cast members, but he later presented evidence proving that they were still very alive.

That’s why it’s extremely surprising that Rome-based Fantastico Studio has announced Cannibal, an interactive horror graphic adventure game and the fourth chapter of Deodato’s Cannibal film trilogy. Yes, there were three movies in the ‘series’, including 1977’s Jungle Holocaust, 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust, and 1985’s Cut and Run.

Now, on the 40th anniversary of the original film, Deodato and Fantastico Studio are producing Cannibal, the fourth sequel of the series. Described as “an interactive horror graphic adventure made with Unity,” Dedato will direct and write the script. Solo Macello will provide original drawings.

“Experimenting is one of the things that I consider most fundamental in this field. What really interests me is to test myself, try something new, maybe that’s also why I waited so long to return to the world of the jungle and cannibals. At the time we went to the jungle, lived with the natives, showed the public a reality that they could never have personally experienced and understood. Today, instead there are dozens of documentaries and films that show life and nature of those places, and for me the theme had lost its appeal. Meeting the Fantastico Studio guys offered me the opportunity to return to those atmospheres, to those themes, but trying something new: contaminating my world with the video games language is a new challenge, making the story interactive opens up many new possibilities and I hope it will also help to bring young people closer to my narrative universe.”

There’s no gameplay shown yet, nor is there any real description of what the game’s going to actually be. All we know is that you’ll be playing as several different characters as they delve deep into the heart of the jungles of Borneo, documenting their expedition, in an “interactive graphic adventure”.

We also know that the game will probably touch on some very taboo subjects, much like the films did, including: “natives lives, told in its rawness, and cannibalism powerful metaphors that reveal the most disturbing and deep impulses in our society.” I’m not sure how the lives of natives can be considered a “deep impulse” of our society, but it sounds like they’re trying to go for the same shock factor as the movies did before.

Cannibal will be releasing for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Mobile in November 2020.