Massacre In Dinosaur Valley — Massacre In Dinosaur Valley(Blu Ray)
Massacre In Dinosaur Valley( aka Nudo e selvaggio , Cannibal Ferox 2), came out in 1985 and was an Italian production. It was the 26th film helmed by Rome based director/ writer Michele Massimo Tarantin( as Michael E. Lemick) - who started directing in the early ’70s, going from hitman focused action crime, coming-of-age comedy, cheap euro-crime, Circus based drama, and musical fantasy- so he was certainly a versatile filmmaker. And Massacre In Dinosaur Valley very much highlights this point- as it nicely shifts between action, sly comedy, gruelling gore, and leering flesh-ness.
The film focus in a selection of characters crash landing in Brazilian jungle near the notorious Dinosaur Valley,which as its titles suggest is full of fossil & related dino fare- but there's also a cannibal tribe nearby. The plane's passengers taking in cheeky ‘n’ charming palaeontologist Kevin Hall(Michael Sopkiw), a bearded scientist & his daughter, an older & sweaty Vietnam vet and his blond ‘n’ bitchy wife, a photographer & his two models. The group set out to find civilisation- along the way coming across limb gnaw fish, a tribe that uses a severed dino claw for rituals, and sleazy ‘n’ sweaty criminal who’s getting slaves to mine his unofficial diamond mine. The whole thing rolls along at a fairly pacey & eventful manner- sure it’s very trashy, but by exploitation standards it's a decidedly enjoyable & easy-to-watch romp- with the blend of sleaze, low-rent action, and gore been fairly evenly mixed.
The film features some of the most glaring & at points amusing English dubbing I have seen in a while- with a largely buoyant & bobbing soundtrack that blends together easy listening ethnic music, simmering synth craft, and general 80’s sonic campiness. Sopkiw is a good enough as a lo-budget action hero- with his blend of one-liners, sexists quips & saving the day heroism. The rest of the cast are passable-to-amusing euro fare, but don’t get too comfy with certain characters as they are often fairly bluntly and at times brutal done away with. All in all Massacre In Dinosaur Valley was a wholly enjoyable exploitation romp of a film.
Moving onto this new region free Blu Ray- and the new 4k print looks great, with really nice blond & clear colouring taking in lush greens, spurting reds, and balanced/ leering flesh tones. You get the option to listen to the film either with English or Italian dialogue- I went for the first, which as mentioned early is decidedly amusing in its own right. On the extras front, we get two interviews- the first is with lead man Michael Sopkiw, and runs at around the twenty-four minutes- here he discusses how he was on probation in the US and had to get a job- he chose acting. In time he landed up going to Italian for acting & modelling- here he succeeds four-movie deal and the last of these where Massacre In Dinosaur Valley. He briefly talks about the other three films, before going on into focus on the picture to hand- and he’s full of great and amusing stories relating to the film- so this is a most entertaining interview. Next, we get an around a fourteen-minute interview with Co-Writer Dardano Sacchetti- this sadly didn’t grab me, as it seemed to be focusing in on the slightly duller side of the film's production. We get around nine minutes of cut scenes- one version in English & the other in Italian. Lastly, we get English and Italian trailers.
All in all Massacre In Dinosaur Valley is a hell-of-a-lot of exploitation fun- with it’s an enjoyable and campy blend of action, cannibal, and sleaze genres. Another great rediscovery & reissue from Severin- and if you enjoy trashy euro- exploitation this is a must purchase!.