The last time I saw this was on some barely visible video copy and although I almost fell asleep, I thought this was due to the poor state of the print. Watching it anew on Blu-ray there are whole stretches that more like a National Geographic presentation than a video nasty. Nevertheless it begins well enough with an uninhibited Ursula Andress looking very good for her age and scampering about regardless of her near naked state. Stacy Keach is also effective although unaccountably we loose him some time before the end. This print has had the animal cruelty elements 'softened' and essentially this seems to mean that those long sections of the explorers hacking their way through the jungle (actually a Sri Lankan botanical garden) are rather incident free. The conclusion is still good with many mud covered extras running amok (and worse!) in the caves and in the midst of it all a naked Ursula gets covered in gold, although it looks more like what it probably is, a muddy brown. Brave performance from the lady and the film just about keeps going.

Being left extremely impressed by Umberto Lenzi's surprisingly elegant Man From Deep River and Ruggero Deodato's " rough'N' ready" Jungle Holocaust,I decided that I should finally go on a journey to the wild Italian jungle with a director whose work I have always been keen in taking a look at. The plot:Feeling uneasy over not hearing a single word from her husband Henry, since he left to do an expedition in a remote jungle based in New Guinea.Susan Stevenson decides that she has had enough of waiting by the phone,and is instead going to New Guinea in an attempt to find out what has been keep Henry so busy.Not wanting his sister to visit a possibly dangerous place on her own,Susan's brother Arthur decides to come along so that he can watch her back and protect her if any situation arises.Shortly after getting off the plane,Susan and Arthur enlist the help of mutual friend Dr.Edward Foster to guide them through the jungle which Susan suspects contains her husband.Talking to the local residents who live near by the jungle,the group are terrified to discover, that the residents have made it a rule that no one is allowed to enter the jungle of "Ra Ra Me",due to there being a legendary myth about the mountain surrounded by the jungle being cursed.View on the film:Unlike the rough,industrial documentary moments in Deodato's Jungle Holocaust and the impressively well chosen moments of calm in Lenzi's landmark Italian Cannibal film Man From Deep River,Co-writer (along with Cseare Frugoni) /director Sergio Martino gives the film an appearance which strongly looks back towards the Tarzan movies of the 1930's.Wanting to show off the films stunning New Guinea location,Martino uses a number of wide angles that along with allowing him to show all of the environment that the group are finding themselves up against,also allows him to give an equal amount of focus to the actors and the fantastic location that they are surrounded by.Despite being all shot on location,the last 30 minutes or so of the film set in a New Guinea mountain cave feel disappointingly "stagey",due to the location oddly not crating any atmospheric sense of "danger",and the residents of the cave being weird (a scene involving someone getting a little too friendly with a pig being a particularly strange moment!) but not being that frightening.Watching the bonus interview for this very enjoyable film on the Blue Underground DVD,I was surprised to see Sergio Martino being openly shown as lying about not knowing that the scenes of animal torture in the movie were not going to take place.Although the animal killing scenes are on the nasty side,Martino smartly goes for a much more matter of fact directing style of the scenes,and thankfully avoids the feeling of the scenes just being there to make the viewers jump out of their seats.Although I have not seen Dr No in a number of years,I feel that the great performance by Ursula Anderss (whose beautiful curves are put on full display for the films final) really helps to hold the film together,thanks to Andress showing Susan to be someone who is prepared to run straight into a paternally deadly situation,but is also someone who (most of the time) knows when to use her intelligence's and instincts to avoid the deadly traps that lay before her.For the excellent screenplay of the film,Martino and Frugoni initially make the film look like its going to be a fun Jungle adventure,until around the half way point.Where,Martino and Frugoni cleverly allow the gangs dark internal motives to slowly rise to the suffice,and make each of the characters look far from the innocents that they may have originally appeared.

This video nasties was known as Prisoner of the Cannibal God in Britain, and banned until they cut 2 minutes and 6 seconds. They re-released it in 2001. The cuts were presumable some of the killing of animals to satisfy PETA, but they still managed to gut an iguana. or, maybe it was some of the unnatural things done to a pig once they reached the mountain.There is a lot of animal killing in the film, but it is the same stuff you would see on Wild Kingdom, but maybe for a little longer than you are used to.There is also Ursula Andress. Not like you remember her in Dr. No. No, this is the real deal. All her glory is revealed to us.Be prepared for some real gore and sex in the mountain kingdom, as well as some strange action.Claudio Cassinelli, last seen in Flavia the heretic turns out to be the hero in this movie of deceit and horror.

Susan(Ursula Andress)Stevenson's ethnologist husband has gone missing during an expedition in New Guinea.Susan goes after him with her brother Arthur enlisting his friend Edward Foster(Stacy Keach)as a guide.The missing man was last seen headed for a "cursed" mountain on an island.The trip there is fraught with peril from animals and natives as well as the prospect of betrayal by members of the search party with ulterior motives.Finally at the mountain the remaining members of the expedition must cope with a Stone Age cannibal tribe."Mountain of the Cannibal God" is not as harrowing and disturbing as Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust" or "Jungle Holocaust". There are some strong gore scenes and brutal animal butchery including iguana slaying,unfortunately with relatively no cannibals in sight until the climax.Still there's a really nice decapitation,a guy who gets all cut up in some kind of cannibal mantrap,a native who gets devoured by an alligator and even a bestiality scene.It's great to see Ursula Andress ravishing body in the finale.8 out of 10.