8/15/2013

White Slave/Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story/Schiave Bianche - Violenza in Amazzonia/Cannibal Holocaust 2: The Catherine Miles Story (1985) - Gariazzo and Prosperi serve mediocre Amazon savagery




A lurid poster for Mario Gariazzo's White Slave, which seems like it may have been constructed by someone who hasn't seen the film. (Both the girl in the cage and the Indians carrying her - especially their skin color - is quite different in the film.)

Catherine Miles is an 18 year-old, whose parents are killed in the Amazon jungle by natives. She seeks revenge but is instead captured and falls in love.

White Slave claims to be based on a true story, which is, however, merely a marketing ploy here. The film's title in some regions as Cannibal Holocaust 2 - The Catherine Miles Story is also a dubious sales maneuver, as the film has no formal relation whatsoever to Ruggero Deodato's masterpiece Cannibal Holocaust (1980), besides the obvious of its also being an Italian cannibal exploitation movie. In contrast to that film, White Slave is a mediocre human flesh serving.
The new thing in director Mario Gariazzo's (Enter the Devil/L'Ossessa (1974)) (credited under the 'Roy Garret' alias) film is that the titular young woman, who is a lone Westerner in the Amazon jungle, falls in love with a native, which I haven't seen elsewhere.
White Slave is a decent but somewhat middle-of-the-road entry in the cannibal exploitation subgenre, which displays classic elements known from previous entries in the discipline and mediocre acting, photography and scoring. It is written by Franco Prosperi (Biancho Apache (1987)).




Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[White Slave premiered 9 August (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Little is written of its production and release. It came out in North America in October '85 and in France and West Germany in 1986. With a likely small budget, the film may have easily turned a profit.  Gariazzo returned with The Brother from Space/Fratello dello Spazio (1988). Elvire Audray (Ironmaster/La Guerra del Ferro: Ironmaster (1983)) returned in Caccia al Ladro d'Autore (1985, TV-series) and theatrically in Italian Fast Food (1986). 1,140 IMDb-users have given White Slave an average 4.5/10 rating.]


What do you think of White Slave?

No comments:

Post a Comment