Making a videogame sequel to the most controversial movie of all time has proved a cursed journey
Realistic violence, torture, sexual assault. Then, to top it all off, a real turtle gets maimed, killed, and eaten on screen. Created by Italian director Ruggero Deodato, Cannibal Holocaust is often described as the most controversial movie ever made. Shot in a fake documentary movie style, the 1980 flick depicted white Americans travelling to the Amazon and being set upon by a murderous indigenous tribe—and carried a message about the media's relationship with sensationalised violence.
After Cannibal Holocaust, and the similarly violent and disturbing House on the Edge of the Park, the director’s career floundered. Ten years later, he would be back in Italy, directing cheap made-for-TV series. Deodato would mention sometimes in interviews that producers were afraid of approaching him. While six unofficial sequels exist, the director’s plans for a follow-up seemed destined to stay locked up in his desk forever.
“We decided the best thing to do, with our limited means, was to develop a visual novel that we could finish quickly,” says Valesini. But then, as soon as they started working on the game, the pandemic struck. “That made things difficult, since Ruggero was already quite old and we couldn’t risk him getting out of the house. Still, through video calls on Skype, work progressed, albeit slower”.After a few months of work, Valesini recalls that his studio colleagues were getting antsy.
“We got a letter from a bunch of lawyers, saying we did not have permission to use any images from the Cannibal Holocaust movie in our teaser. Basically, they were asking us for a lot of money”, says Valesini. While Deodato had a deal in place that he could use up to three minutes of footage from the movie, apparently the agreement was not valid for Italy. Fantastico Studio, not being able to afford paying such a large sum of money, was forced to put the whole project on hold.