A gory return to the jungle for Ruggero Deodato and perhaps his last really gruesome film - certainly those which followed (a list which includes the likes of DIAL: HELP and THE BARBARIANS) didn't have as much gore and bloodshed in them as this or the director's own graphically nasty masterpiece CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Unfortunately, in the seventeen years since it was first made, CUT AND RUN has been the victim of censorship worldwide. The American print was heavily cut, the UK print butchered of all gore and the only uncut versions were in a foreign language - French I think. Thankfully this is looking to change with the welcome recent release of an Anchor Bay DVD which presents the movie in all its widescreen, letterboxed glory. This is definitely one film which needs to be seen uncut to appreciate the full extent of the special effects crew.

It's not that the gore is graphic - aside from a couple of moments, it's really no worse than any other mid '80s horror movie, complete with splattery decapitations and a brief stomach-slashing followed by some entrail pulling. There's no cannibalism here as the natives are friendlier than most, instead preferring to kill their victims by shooting them with blow darts in the neck or sticking them with knives. Yet Deodato still knows how to shock and surprise his audience when they least expect it, throwing in a couple of neck-hackings complete with spraying blood, splattery gun shot wounds, females getting nailed through their limbs, stomach impalings and a brief gutting. However, all of these (superior) effects - notable through their realism, the special effects are magnificently realistic here - are put in the shade by one graphically nasty moment which features a man getting his entire body split in two after his legs are pulled in opposite directions by being tied to two different trees. Yuck! Certainly one of the strongest gore effects I have yet to see and unforgettably sticky.

Otherwise the film takes the form of a straight action-adventure, throwing about three different sides into the midst of a remote jungle location and having them blast the hell out of each other. Drug pushers are being murdered across America and a reporter and her cameraman investigate the deaths, often arriving at the crime scenes before the police. They're employed by the wealthy Bob Allo to travel into the Amazon to rescue his son, Tommy, who has been thrown into a drug mining prison camp by dealers (shades of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST here as the pair film the various atrocities they discover and broadcast it via a satellite link-up back to Allo in the US). Unfortunately a third party is also interested in the dealers, led by Colonel Brian Horne who was a close friend of Jim Jones.

The setting is effective as usual for an Italian movie, lush green scenery beautifully shot, and all of the typical ingredients are here - attacks by crocodiles, blow-pipe shooting natives, a machete-wielding Michael Berryman (okay, maybe that one's unusual),jungle traps, rape, prison camps, and a voluptuous girl nude in the shower (the last one comes as no surprise seeing as this is a dyed-in-the-wool exploitation epic). In fact when the cast members arrive in the jungle about halfway through it makes you release how unnatural the scenes set in America feel - Deodato really does have some kind of spiritual connection to the jungle and makes it his own unique gory stomping ground! Also in the film's favour is the great exploitation movie cast, plenty of familiar faces putting in solid if not spectacular performances. Lisa Blount gives it her all as the stressed-out female reporter, kind of like a Heather Donahue for the '80s and is pretty as well as being sassy and assertive when the time comes. Leonard Mann, Willie Aames and Richard Bright play three male cast leads with a fair degree of skill that makes you feel for the characters vaguely. Then there's Richard Lynch as Colonel Horne whose character and acting is definitely inspired by Brando's Colonel Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW!

Karen Black is on hand as Allo's ally but has absolutely nothing to do with the action whilst Eriq La Salle (more commonly known today as a doctor on ER) plays a loud - clothes-wise - street friend ala Antonio Fargas. Two Italian action stalwarts - Gabriele Tinti and the British John Steiner - are also welcome playing a pair of drug pushers who get graphically murdered. Finally we have Michael Berryman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES) once again playing a very scary chap, a white indio who jumps out of rivers and murders people in some scary shock sequences (my favourite being the opening scene in which he jumps about seven feet out of the water to gut some poor extra). The cast and the gore make CUT AND RUN the last jungle classic to come from Italy.

Intriguing and violent Italian movie about two journalists follow a lead to the former South American home of Jim Jones but they are instantly pursued by local guerrillas and natives . These journalists are the following ones : a reporter woman , Lisa Blount, and her cameraman Leonard Mann, both of whom go to South America to find clues of the son : Willie Aames, of a wealthy man : Richard Bright, and to connect a surviving Jonestown leader : Richard Lynch . There they become involved with drug smugglers, kidnappers and bloody native tribes led by Michael Berryman, being finally captured. This is the one story you won't be seeing on the 6 o'clock news. Assignment : survival.

A strange mix of noisy action, adventures, jungle fights, grisly killings and gory scenes. Dealing with an expedition searching for a missing son when they are caught up in a drug war and violent natives that threaten to take their own lives. It is a mediocre but passable film and full of blood and gore. Main cast and support cast are acceptable. Lisa Blount plays an intrepid journalist, the Italian Leonard Mann is her camera helper, Willie Aames an abducted young, Richard Bright as his father, Karen Black as an Tv manager, Michael Berryman as an ominous, creepy native chief, being special mention for Richard Lynch as a nasty, mean preacher, Jim Jones-lookalike and brief appearance by Eriq La Salle.

It contains an atmospheric and glimmer cinematography by Alberto Spagnoli. As well as an anticlimatic musical score composed by Syntesizer by Claudio Simonetti of Goblin, usual musician to Dario Argento's films. Being shot on location in Venezuela and Miami, Florida. The motion picture was regularly directed by Ruggero Deodato. He is a notorious Italian director especially known for today considered classic "Cannibal Holocaust". He has directed all kinds of genres with particular penchant for terror, violence, and adventure movies, such as Jungle holocaust, House on the edge of the park, Bodycount, Dial help, Phantom of death, The washing machine, The raiders of Atlantis, Concorde affair, Live like a cop die like a man, Lone runner, The barbarians, among others . Rating 5/10. Average

Five years after he shocked the world with his controversial gut-muncher Cannibal Holocaust, director Ruggero Deodato returned to the jungle to deliver another dose of nastiness in the form of brutal adventure Cut and Run.

In this entertaining slice of gory, exploitative action, Lisa Blount plays Fran, a TV reporter who, along with her cameraman Mark (Leonard Mann),travels to the Amazon where she hopes to interview Colonel Brian Horne (Richard Lynch),the supposedly dead right-hand-man of infamous cult leader Jim Jones, whilst also attempting to locate her boss's missing son Tommy (Willy Aames),who is being held in the jungle against his will by evil drug traffickers.

Despite once again dealing with the themes of reportage and the media, Deodato stays clear of any attempts at a Cannibal Holocaust-style social commentary, preferring instead to concentrate on giving viewers a bloody good time (and I mean bloody!). Large amounts of graphic violence (which includes numerous decapitations and impalements, a disembowelment, and a guy being completely torn in half); frequent scenes of rape and female nudity (including welcome nekkidness from the gorgeous Valentina Forte); and a whole lot of nonsense involving a tribe of bloodthirsty natives (led by bald genre favourite Michael Berryman): all of this takes precedence over narrative cohesion, but it matters not a jot, 'cos you'll be having way too much fun to care.

In addition to all the gory mayhem, we are also treated to a dreadful cameo performance from Karen Black, a nifty turn from ER's Eriq La Salle as a fedora wearing informant, an effective synth score from Goblin's Claudio Simonetti, lush cinematography by Alberto Spagnoli, and, perhaps best of all, a chance to see Willy Aames display his complete lack of emotional range in some unintentionally hilarious dramatic scenes.

Nowhere near as horrific as Holocaust, nor quite as gruelling as Deodato's Jungle Holocaust, Cut and Run is still a worthwhile example of the jungle adventure/survival horror sub genre—just make sure that you watch the uncut version for full effect!