Devil Hunter

R0 NTSC

Severin Films

Web: http://www.severin-films.com

Jess Franco is a prolific filmmaker, he has made some 100 films which vary in quality and content, however, a re-occurring theme is heavy eroticism tinged with exploitation. Franco always seems to have his “finger on the pulse” and quickly develops films in response to market demands ranging from Slashers to vampire erotica. In the case of Devil Hunter he saw the developing taste for cannibal films and developed his own take on the genre mixing the natural exploitation of undiscovered tribes with a wild cannibal god and his own focus on the female form.

Originally a “video nasty” and known under various titles such as Mandingo Manhunter and Sexo Cannibal, Devil Hunter is certainly an exploitative tale of dubious quality, indeed, it’s main selling point is its purely exploitative nature, it does not offer much in the way of acting or character development. But, to be honest, who watches a Jess Franco exploitation film for the deep and meaningful plot ? It is a cult classic and worth seeing on that basis alone.

The film opens with two storylines. We see a native tribe kidnapping and preparing a native girl for sacrifice, a strange, large black man with bulging eyes, rapes her and then eats her. At the same time we see a rich, well to do model buying clothes in the city. These two stories soon intertwine, as the model is kidnapped and taken by plane to an isolated island where she is kept for ransom. Ursula Buchfellner (a Playboy playmate) is cast as Laura Crawford the kidnapped model and plays the role well, she looks the part, is kept scantily clad for most of the time and has little dialogue, perhaps that is why her role works so well !

Little do the kidnappers know that this island is also home to a tribe who worships a bug eyed god who is actually a strange large man with bulging red eyes who wanders naked and aimless around the island, raping and killing at random by eating his victim’s hearts ! The two stories and cultures, as one may suspect, collide in exploitative frenzy !

Franco filled Devil Hunter with as much nudity as he could, ranging from lurid slow camera angles over naked bodies and scenes in which the only motive could be seen as to show some more flesh. I think this is what make Devil Hunter so endearing, it is unapologetically over the top, the plot is thin, the characters stereotypical and you watch for the sheer glee of seeing the gore, nudity and exploitation.

That being said, Franco is a consummate filmmaker and Devil Hunter looks great, the location allows for some great cinematography and the lush look of the film makes the eccentricities of the natives costuming and dancing look less obvious.

Severin have done a superb job on a very rare film, while the picture is a little dark and soft in parts, compared to any other release of this film it is amazing.

Devil Hunter is one of the most rare Franco titles and has never really have a high quality uncut release and hence we are very lucky to have this title made available by Severin. Devil Hunter not only includes the English audio track (which is in itself rather amusing with some very strange accents and truly bizarre dialogue) but the better French audio with English subtitles.

The extra is an extended interview with Jess Franco himself.