the audience applauded

The Age of Commercialism

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A gory return to the jungle for Ruggero Deodato and perhaps his last really gruesome film - certainly those which followed (a list which includes the likes of DIAL: HELP and THE BARBARIANS) didn't have as much gore and bloodshed in them as this or the director's own graphically nasty masterpiece CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Unfortunately, in the seventeen years since it was first made, CUT AND RUN has been the victim of censorship worldwide. The American print was heavily cut, the UK print butchered of all gore and the only uncut versions were in a foreign language - French I think. Thankfully this is looking to change with the welcome recent release of an Anchor Bay DVD which presents the movie in all its widescreen, letterboxed glory. This is definitely one film which needs to be seen uncut to appreciate the full extent of the special effects crew.It's not that the gore is graphic - aside from a couple of moments, it's really no worse than any other mid '80s horror movie, complete with splattery decapitations and a brief stomach-slashing followed by some entrail pulling. There's no cannibalism here as the natives are friendlier than most, instead preferring to kill their victims by shooting them with blow darts in the neck or sticking them with knives. Yet Deodato still knows how to shock and surprise his audience when they least expect it, throwing in a couple of neck-hackings complete with spraying blood, splattery gun shot wounds, females getting nailed through their limbs, stomach impalings and a brief gutting. However, all of these (superior) effects - notable through their realism, the special effects are magnificently realistic here - are put in the shade by one graphically nasty moment which features a man getting his entire body split in two after his legs are pulled in opposite directions by being tied to two different trees. Yuck! Certainly one of the strongest gore effects I have yet to see and unforgettably sticky.Otherwise the film takes the form of a straight action-adventure, throwing about three different sides into the midst of a remote jungle location and having them blast the hell out of each other. Drug pushers are being murdered across America and a reporter and her cameraman investigate the deaths, often arriving at the crime scenes before the police. They're employed by the wealthy Bob Allo to travel into the Amazon to rescue his son, Tommy, who has been thrown into a drug mining prison camp by dealers (shades of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST here as the pair film the various atrocities they discover and broadcast it via a satellite link-up back to Allo in the US). Unfortunately a third party is also interested in the dealers, led by Colonel Brian Horne who was a close friend of Jim Jones.The setting is effective as usual for an Italian movie, lush green scenery beautifully shot, and all of the typical ingredients are here - attacks by crocodiles, blow-pipe shooting natives, a machete-wielding Michael Berryman (okay, maybe that one's unusual), jungle traps, rape, prison camps, and a voluptuous girl nude in the shower (the last one comes as no surprise seeing as this is a dyed-in-the-wool exploitation epic). In fact when the cast members arrive in the jungle about halfway through it makes you release how unnatural the scenes set in America feel - Deodato really does have some kind of spiritual connection to the jungle and makes it his own unique gory stomping ground! Also in the film's favour is the great exploitation movie cast, plenty of familiar faces putting in solid if not spectacular performances. Lisa Blount gives it her all as the stressed-out female reporter, kind of like a Heather Donahue for the '80s and is pretty as well as being sassy and assertive when the time comes. Leonard Mann, Willie Aames and Richard Bright play three male cast leads with a fair degree of skill that makes you feel for the characters vaguely. Then there's Richard Lynch as Colonel Horne whose character and acting is definitely inspired by Brando's Colonel Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW! Karen Black is on hand as Allo's ally but has absolutely nothing to do with the action whilst Eriq La Salle (more commonly known today as a doctor on ER) plays a loud - clothes-wise - street friend ala Antonio Fargas. Two Italian action stalwarts - Gabriele Tinti and the British John Steiner - are also welcome playing a pair of drug pushers who get graphically murdered. Finally we have Michael Berryman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES) once again playing a very scary chap, a white indio who jumps out of rivers and murders people in some scary shock sequences (my favourite being the opening scene in which he jumps about seven feet out of the water to gut some poor extra). The cast and the gore make CUT AND RUN the last jungle classic to come from Italy.

Fran Hudson (Blount) is a local Miami TV reporter who never shies away from a story that is potentially dangerous. After some drug-fueled murders in the area, an informant, Fargas (La Salle) points Fran and her trusty cameraman Mark (Mann) in the direction of a mysterious man named Brian Horne (Lynch). Horne was a disgraced Army Colonel who ended up in the employment of the infamous Jim Jones. He was said to have died in the massacre at Guyana, but recent photos have surfaced featuring Horne. Fran and Mark want to go deep into the jungles of Venezuela where they believe he is hiding out in order to interview him. This coincides perfectly with the wishes of their station manager, Bob (Bright) as well as Karin (Black). Bob's son Tommy (Aames) has been missing and thought to be in the same area. So Fran and Mark have their work "cut" out for them, as they must report on the drug killings, find and interview Brian Horne, and rescue Tommy - all the while dodging the many pitfalls of the jungle, not the least of which is the violent and frightening killer Quecho (Berryman). Can they do it? Out of all the jungle movies released in the 80's, Cut and Run has to rank as one of the best. While it sits comfortably with other items on video store shelves at the time such as Cocaine Wars (1985), Cut and Run has a lot more going for it. Namely the strong cast, and equally strong direction by Ruggero Deodato, who most people would associate with Cannibal Holocaust (1980) - but here at Comeuppance we associate him with Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976), Raiders of Atlantis (1983) and The Barbarians (1987). Though, truth be told, Cut and Run shares more of the themes of Cannibal Holocaust than any of the other movies we mentioned - jungles, white people entering them and facing hostile Indios, and gore a-plenty. So while lesser filmmakers were off making nondescript El Presidente movies or Jungle Slogs (as we call them), Deodato corralled an impressive cast and raised the bar on all films of this type. He set the standard for the 80's video store-era jungle movie, and it has yet to be surpassed.Lisa Blount makes an appealing lead, and she's an actress we don't often get a chance to talk about. Eriq La Salle - much like his co-stars John Steiner, Gabriele Tinti and even Karen Black - puts in a colorful and worthwhile, but brief, role. Fan favorite Michael Berryman is on board doing what he does best, as is fellow fan favorite Richard Lynch. Both Berryman and Lynch have loinclothed goons - presumably no jungle movie would be complete without them. It's hard to say exactly what's going on with Willie Aames (or is it Willie Bibleman; not really sure) what with his curly mullet and Mickey Mouse tanktop over a red sweatshirt, but like Blount, we don't get to talk about Willie too much on this site, so we were happy to see him in a non-Charles in Charge role. But seeing as how the movie was directed with energy by Deodato, and has typically-excellent Claudio Simonetti music, you can't really lose...or can you? Actually, you CAN lose if you view the New World VHS. The Anchor Bay DVD is uncut so make sure that is the version you see/buy. The moments of well-executed gore are one of the main ingredients that set this movie apart from its jungle-based competitors. So make sure you see it all on the DVD. Corman and New World have a tendency to cut movies and make sure they don't go "too far", and Cut and Run was sadly a victim of that back in the day. But it's been rectified now, so there's nothing to fear. Except maybe Quecho.Cut and Run is a solid movie, and the DVD is a solid addition to anyone's collection.

Well, he was in this anyways. But, he was awful in a over-the-top cheesy way, so some of you may find it funny. I did a little, but it was pretty awful.My second venture into Deodato territory was an equally as entertaining movie as Cannibal Holocaust. Not as good or as important as CH, but it moved at a action movie pace, had plenty of violence and some nice gore. The story revolves around a tag team news reporter and camera man who are set on finding a so-called dead man who is supposedly in charge of some big time cocaine action. A side story involves a young Willie Aames who is attempting to get out of Rio Negro aka Cocaine Central aka where the bad guys are, all the while his Daddy, who is the boss of the New Tag Team, is stressing to no ends and wants his boy back and out of harm's way. Not sure if they were both initially connected, but it seemed to workout pretty smoothly.After watching Cannibal Holocaust I immediately realized that Deodato isn't just some exploitative bum who just films disturbing imagery and wants to shock the audience. I noticed in CH that he shows a fine eye in making a scene more compelling, powerful or just plain more attractive. Maybe I'm only saying this because I've only seen two lush-looking jungle movies made by him, but when he shows a corpse on scene, it just seems a little more "dead". Anyways, what I mean to say is that he's turning into one of my favorite directors and I can't wait to see another Ruggero Deodato film. To back up Deodato you've also got a pretty nice supporting cast including the beautiful Valentina Forte, a hammy Willie Aames, and a rambo-esquire Michael Berryman.From the dangers of the jungle, to the dart-blowing tribesmen, to a couple different lead baddies, this movie seriously brings a plethora of violent entertainment to the table. Cut and Run really surprised me in the end, and it should really be a cult-classic among the masses, but unfortunately it probably won't be anytime soon. Here's hoping.

CUT AND RUN has one thing going for it: it moves. This movie may be a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them. It held my attention from beginning to end, end even shocked me a couple of times.A drug king (Richard Lynch) in South America and his partners have recruited a tribe of cannibals to aid them in their business, which is stealing other drug dealers' product and shipping it throughout the world as their own. A rich executive's son (Willie Aames) has fallen in with these people, and a female reporter (Lisa Blount) and her cameraman travel to the Amazon to investigate Lynch's business and hopefully locate Aames. Their transmissions are sent back for TV executive Karen Black to approve for network airing. Eric Lasalle (of ER) has a small part as a pimp who points Blount in the right direction.You'd think with a (somewhat) higher-scale cast than director Ruggero Deodatto had ever worked with before, he'd have managed to gain some level of respectability with this movie. However, with the exception of Lynch (who's great) and Lasalle, the performances are pretty terrible. Aames's performance is so hilariously awful, it's a miracle that he ever had any kind of career in show business. However, the great Michael Berryman plays a psychotic mute henchman with great enthusiasm.There's no on screen cannibalism to speak of, but there are a few moments of violence at which even jaded viewers may be taken aback. In one scene, a pair of women are raped, but first have their legs spread and nailed to the floor! In another, a man is caught in a trap, where his legs are pulled apart until he is ripped in half from the groin up. It's pretty disgusting.Overall, CUT AND RUN is a passable time-waster. It's more of an action movie than horror, but has its share of horrific moments. Other than the above mentioned scenes of violence, it's one of Deodatto's tamer movies. The fact that it started out as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST II is hard to believe.