Treasure of the Amazon

One of those stupid guilt pleasures like reading one of those old nasty and sleazy pulp magazines of good old times. This Mexican piece is not as gory and violent as the Italian "masterpieces" Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust or The Mountain of the Cannibal God, but still good and blood painted entertainment: what you get are wild beasts, native headhunter tribes, shrunken heads, a corrupt gang of treasure hunters, and death lurking behind every corner. Solid stuff - if you like such kind of movies, of course.

I came upon this 80's gem via Rifftrax, who give it a lol treatment. Where to start with how wonderfully dreadful this thing is? Stuart Whitman in a performance that varies from somnambulent to hammy, sometimes in seconds-ridiculous overmiked animal and water sounds that drown out the dialogue, static jungle sets that are comically unrealistic, laughably bad dialogue, gratuitous violence and gore clumsily ennacted, cartoonish clothing (the guy with the gay cutoffs and wife beater in the deep jungle),the "hot"native gal in an obvious gigantic wig to cover her nipples, predictable plot line, and on and on......Really, it's so bad it's freaking awesome!

This is the best Indiana Jones knockoff I have ever seen. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in stupidity. Catchy and original names for characters like Gringo and Paco. Cheesy and lame effects make for fun. The props are about as pathetic as you can get. It stars a real hard ass (Gringo) who doesn't take crap from anyone or anything. I was also pleased by the work of Donald Pleasance. Donald plays really crappy villains well, if you can check him out in the movie Puma Man, he plays the ultimate in villainy, Kobras. Anyway, some of my favorite scenes are the ones with graphic violence that is so cheesy, Kraft invested in its use on Macaroni. For example, when Gringo cuts off an indian's finger, the severed finger looks like a carrot with ketchup on it. Good laughs if you watch while drinking lots of beer.

A pretty decent adventure film from 1985 offers us several small groups of characters, each going into the wilds of the Amazon seeking different kinds of treasure. The movie is downright imaginative in the unpredictable kinds of trouble they encounter seeking out gold, diamonds or oil. The good thing about the movie is how it depends on characterization although the visuals are great too. It's much better than most of the clueless action movies of 2007. For one thing the camera holds steady instead of shaking all over creation trying to fake suspense. Most of the 2007 era cheap tricks --- such as the vim vim vim vim sound tracks weren't invented yet. Expect a disparate bunch of characters, mostly bad, a couple of girls with legs, and more fearful jungle creatures than you ever guessed existed. After the movie, buzz down to Manaus, Brazil and spend a few days seeing things first hand.

This Mexican adventure is a real treat for fans of cult movies.It has plenty of gore and violence including decapitations,throat cuttings etc.The scene where one guy has his eyes gouged out by some bloodthirsty crabs is the goriest bit and it reminds me the spiders sequence from Lucio Fulci's masterful "The Beyond"(1981).The cast is decent-a horror veteran Donald Pleasance("Halloween","Paganini Horror")shines as a Nazi adventurer.So if you are a fan of gory adventure movies like "Mountain of the Cannibal God" or "Cut and Run" give this one a look."The Treasure of the Amazon" is not easy to find though!