Love Goddess of the Cannibals

This piece of Euro sleaze by Joe D'Amato is known pretty much everywhere as Caribbean Papaya but has one of the alternate titles as for far more catchy and exploitative Love Goddess of the Cannibals and it is under this title that Shameless Screen Entertainment have released their latest DVD.

The film is set on an unnamed Caribbean island, though all filming took place in the Dominican Republic where a nuclear reactor is being built much to the dismay of the native population. A geologist who is working for the company, Vincent, has no problem with building such an eyesore on a picture perfect beauty spot and forms a friendship with journalist Sara who is there to cover the construction and any mishaps along the way.

We first meet Papaya in the opening scene, probably the best in the film, in which she seduces a hirsute geologist and in the process of getting down to business when she unceremoniously bites of his penis and throws it, using her mouth, across the room!

Fortunately for Sara, but unfortunately for one of the nuclear technicians, after a hard day's sunbathing, lovemaking and showering, she and Vincent discover a corpse in their villa, the victim of Papaya's interesting take on fellatio. Driving around the island one day, they see a beautiful woman standing by the roadside and they decide to pick her up as, otherwise, she would melt in the intense heat. Introducing herself as Papaya, Vincent remarks what a funny name that it and, when she asks his, she responds by saying that Vincent is a funny name. Whilst they are driving to a village where Papaya intends to take part in a local religious ceremony, they begin talking about the 'ritual of the round stone' which Vincent dismisses as a bunch of hokum, but Sara seems vaguely interested.

Before they know it, Sara and Vincent are swept up in the crowd and find themselves in building where a couple of pigs are slaughtered, a native woman strips off and begins a ritualistic dance whilst everyone around her stands, wearing masks, before joining in and then, for the piece de résistance, a naked man is brought in, strapped to a table, and ritually killed. The next thing our two visitors know, they wake up in a beautiful villa in the same bed, with absolutely no knowledge of how they ended up there.


What follows is a bizarre, almost hallucinatory, trip into island politics, murder and lesbianism. What could possibly go wrong?

Love Goddess of the Cannibals is, for the want of a better word, an eye-opener. I had never come across Joe D'Amato's work before and, if this is anything to go by, I wouldn't mind seeing more of his films. The three main characters certainly acquit themselves very well and none of them appear to be at all bashful -- the roles call for a great deal of nudity and, from Sirpa Lane and Melissa Chimenti (credited here just as 'Melissa') a fair amount of girl-on-girl action. Maurice Poli lent a solid European horror presence to proceedings, having appeared in the Mario Bava films Rabid Dogs and Five Dolls for an August Moon.

It is a pretty difficult film to categorise as there is a great deal of eroticism around the place but that goes for many mainstream films. As the film progresses, it plunges deeper into horror territory, with several extremely suspenseful scenes, especially one where Sara is chased around the island by a large group of children who seem intent on doing her great harm. For a movie that could be extremely boring and tedious, I found it's anything but and was involved right until the end when there is a nicely worked twist in the tale.

The Disc

Extra Features
As this isn't a 'Shameless Fan Edition', the supplementary material is fairly sparse, so you have two theatrical trailers, the 'international' opening credits, as well as the Spanish ones and a selection of trailers for every one of Shameless' previous releases. This also comes with a reversible sleeve which shows the original artwork and there is a foldout poster, should you wish to display it along with all the other posters from Shameless and Arrow Video.


The Picture
This is a new 'build' of the film, where Shameless have integrated scenes from other versions to create the longest possible version of Love Goddess of the Cannibals/Caribbean Papaya. As such, the quality varies slightly throughout the film as there are some scenes look absolutely terrific, with lush greens and blues, vivid reds and extremely good skin tones. You did notice the occasional insert where it is clear that the film stock isn't from the same quality as the rest of the movie that his only last for a couple of seconds and don't detract from your enjoyment.

Adding to the 'authenticity' which, I suppose Joe D'Amato was seeking, are some scenes which, if they were set up by D'Amato and the other members of the crew, would have been unceremoniously cut by the BBFC. The film opens with a cock fight which must take place regularly in the Dominican Republic (or, at least, used to take place) and the scenes in which pigs are slaughtered and disembowelled must have been part of a real ritual (as with the water buffalo sacrifice in Apocalypse Now). Although these are difficult to watch, they add to the sense of alienation, so you know that Sara and Vincent are in a very different place to where they herald from.


The Sound
As an added bonus, there are two audio options (both Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) so you can choose between the original Italian soundtrack or the English dub. The English soundtrack is on the quiet side, so you really have to crank up the volume up to make out what everyone is saying. There is also a very slight synchronisation problem which I only noticed when Sara slammed a fridge door closed and the sound was about half a second after the action.

The Italian soundtrack suits the film better as you are, like the two visitors, slightly alienated from surroundings. This is also a great deal louder than the English dub, with much more bass and Stelvio Cipriani's wonderfully haunting score seem so much more resonance. The subtitles, clearly derived from the Italian screenplay which is slightly different to the English dub, are clear, easy to read and error free. If you put these on whilst watching the film with the English soundtrack, you will find that your brain begins to hurt quite quickly as it tries to decode an audio track that differs from the subtitles.


Final Thoughts
Love Goddess of the Cannibals (I much prefer this title to Caribbean Papaya, even though that does make more sense as there isn't any cannibalism to speak of, aside from someone eating the unfortunate man's heart at the voodoo ritual and Papaya's genital biting) won't be for everyone and I can understand why some people find it boring, concentrating more on the sex scenes (what's wrong with that?) than the more interesting plot involving Papaya and the other natives who are busy trying to sabotage the planned power plant by bumping off all of the workers. There are some periods where the film drags slightly, though the Sapphic love scenes are integral to the plot, as you find out later on.

However, I found this to be a very interesting and enjoyable film and, following on from, or should that be preceding Satan's Baby Doll (as this is Sham022 whereas that was Sham024, with the upcoming Beast in Space to fill in the gap), Shameless are really delivering on the Euro sleaze front. Now, when I have made a dent in that enormous pile of unwatched discs, I plan to further acquaint myself with Joe D'Amato's work.