Ruggero Deodato, who pioneered the “found footage” genre with his infamous 1980 horror film “Cannibal Holocaust,” has died. He was 83.
Born in Potenza, Italy, on May 7, 1929, Deodato began his career as an assistant director for filmmakers like Sergio Corbucci in the 1960s, per The Guardian. However, Deodato soon made a lasting name for himself with the 1980 release of his magnum opus.
“Cannibal Holocaust,” which centered on a fictional documentary crew scouring the Amazon only to be butchered and eaten by a group of natives, was so realistic that Deodato was arrested on murder and obscenity charges by Italian police after it opened.
“I hired the actors in New York because I wanted young actors who hadn’t been in films and were unknown,” he told Starburst Magazine in 2011. “I had them sign a contract that said they must disappear for a year after the film was finished. ‘To me, you are dead.’”
It didn’t help that the “Holocaust” film purported to be real footage recovered from the film crew’s fatal expedition. Shot on location in the rainforest of Colombia, it also starred an actual indigenous group — and depicted their killings of real animals that they ate to survive.
“When the court case happened, they genuinely accused me of having killed the actors!” Deodato told Starburst Magazine. “I hired the best lawyers in Italy, and I screened the film. They watched the film, and I thought, ‘that’s it, I’m going to jail.’”
The murder charges were dropped when Deodato presented his supposedly dead cast of actors in court, leaving him with a relatively more manageable obscenity charge to deal with. He was ultimately fined “millions of lira” and given a suspended four-month sentence.
While his film, whose beautiful main theme song by Riz Ortolani contrasted the onscreen violence, was banned in 50 countries — it also inspired directors like Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone, per Variety.
Deodato went on to make other horror films like “Body Count” and “Phantom of Death.” His magnum opus was never topped but inspired Roth to cast Deodato in his gruesome 2007 “Hostel” sequel — in which Deodato played a sophisticated cannibal.
In the end, Deodato’s entire career had been inspired by the real-life horrors on TV. The German Red Brigades terrorism group initially influenced him. He told The Guardian in 2011 that “very strong images of people being killed or maimed” flooded his TV as a child.
He also said that the “sensationalism” of the news inspired his films just as much.
As for the animal killings depicted in “Cannibal Holocaust” — which include turtles, snakes, pigs and monkeys — they had “always happened in order to feed the film’s characters or the crew, both in the story and in reality” Deodato told The Guardian.
While many relegate “Cannibal Holocaust” as one the most detestable films of all time, Deodato’s fans, peers and colleagues — who’ve taken to social media to share heartfelt tributes — remain inspired by the guerrilla filmmaker. In that sense, his legacy is intact.