There's maybe no more maligned genre in horror - or even cinema itself - than the cannibal film that rose to prominence in 1970s Italy, most popularly exemplified by Ruggero Deodato's infamous Cannibal Holocaust. But right there in the mix, and arguably the genre's founder, was Umberto Lenzi with 1972's The Man From Deep River.
Lenzi would have a contentious relationship with the genre - both hating it, but being brought back into the fold with 1980's Eaten Alive, due to financial incentives. . It's this film that my guest Eugenio Ercolani - film historian and writer/editor of this years definitive dive into genre, Cannibal Worlds - and I, use as the catalyst to discuss not only the titled film of this episode, but the culture that gave birth to this most blackened genre and the state of Italian cinema in the 1970s - a landscape that caused the likes of Lenzi to return to a genre he despised.
So stay tuned, and get your notepad ready, as Eugenio gives In Film We Trust a thorough tour of the genre cinema of mid-late 20th century Italy.
you can find Eugenio on Instagram @Ercolanieugenio
Artwork for this episode by Chris Babalis. You can find his graphic work on Instagram @chriswitchystuff
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