This movie is actually pretty good!

For the life of me, I don't get why people *beep* all over this movie. It's one thing to denounce it for the animal cruelty, but to just disregard it as a whole is ridiculous.

Like with other "disturbing" movies like A Serbian Film and Salo, this wasn't violence for the sake of being violent and screwed up. It has a message behind it, and it's not too hard to understand it if you pay attention; and nothing upsets me more than when people dismiss an intelligent movie because they didn't get it.

Outside that; the movie is very well-made, the score is phenomenal, and the cinematography is beautiful and stunning beyond words. I gave the movie a high rating for a reason, and seeing animals get butchered isn't why. I just wish people saw it the way myself and others do.

Our songs will all be silenced, but what of it? Go on singing. -- Orson Welles

This movie is a horror masterpiece, plain and simple!

I think this film shows a moralistic view of what happens when these young adults go to see a different way of life for the mere sake of sensationalizing it and wanting others to think these native tribes are animals. Notice how the professor is able to "communicate" with the tribes by trying to understand their ways, not mock them as the young adults did. I found this film to have a very important message for those who go to visit other tribes with a preconceived agenda rather than to learn about their lifestyle. As the Professor says in the end "I wonder who the true cannibals are".

I think this is a great movie. The violence and animal killings are brutal and shocking so many this off as "just another exploitation film." But I think that's unfair because, as you said, it has merits beyond the violence. It has good cinematography, beautiful scenery, an excellent musical score, decent acting, and an interesting, thought provoking message that makes you take a look at our society and human nature in general. If all this movie had to offer was the violence the criticisms would be fair but it is more than that whether people choose to see it or not.

Actually it was Lenzi who first popularised 'tribal cannibalism' subgenre through Men from Deep River

Yes, this gruesome movie is pretty good...and disturbing.
Just watched it, did read some reviews and some threads here on the board.

There's a scene I don't really understand, starting at min 20.
The man pulls the woman out of the boat and kills her in a ritualistic, sexually abusive way.
He then puts her back in the boat and shoves the boat to the river, only with her body.
She's "punished for adultery" and "if he have not killed her, his tribe would've killed him".
Is that the same woman who's later seen (after being raped) dead and impaled?

The killing of the animals was and is controversial.
While the amateurish way how the guy butchered the little coati was ugly, I agree to this:

The animals in this film are killed on camera and then eaten by the crew afterwards – this is shocking to a modern day audience. I just want my meat served on a plate, I don’t want to see the gory shit that happens before it gets there! But sometimes we DO need to see the gory shit. I recommend you watch Cannibal Holocaust if you’ve so far shied away, and do the film a favour and watch it on Blu-ray.
https://morbidlybeautiful.com/cannibalholocaust/

I agree. I thought it was pretty good with some artistic merit, a 7/10.