Offsetting the globetrotting shock of this film - watch a woman bite off a reindeer's scrotum with her bare teeth! - is the voice of George Sanders, perhaps way too sophisticated a man for such an endeavor. That said, money is money, and it's time for Gianni Proia to take us all around This Shocking World (the other title for this mondo).

Beyond the expected lesbians and strippers - show me a mondo that doesn't have those and it's amazing that I am seeing them as commonplace at this point - you also get a trip to the original Grand Guignol and get to watch a man repeatedly impale himself.

The US version - re-edited with a new commentary by absolute maniac Bob Cresse and with an Italian title that means "look here" - adds scenes from World by Night No. 2, another Proia mondo, with bodybuilding showgirls, Roller Derby and some vacation footage. Consider it like watching snaps from holiday, except the vacation goers have no compunction showing you absolute filth.

This lively and eventful mondo documentary classic covers assorted bizarre customs, rituals, and practices by different cultures from all over the world in a brisk and entertaining way. German students in Berlin engage in an illegal sword duel. Japanese karate experts train by breaking concrete blocks with their fists and young Japanese men participate in the crazy ritual of Saidachi. Paris, France proves to be an especially wild and swinging city: We witness the final gruesome performance of the Grand Guignol Theatre, gorgeous gals participating in a best buttocks contest, luscious brunette Rita Renoir doing a sizzling hot striptease, homeless folks holding a back alley ball, and another sexy striptease at an exclusive all-lesbian club. In Lapland lovely lasses castrate male reindeer with their teeth (ouch!) while male hunters lasso them so the girls can become their brides. Rowdy distaff roller derby players let it all hang out on the track in Los Angeles. Circus performers do a dangerous high-wire act in the French Alps. Satanists hold a black mass in Britain; a naked woman has chicken blood poured over her writing body. A scrawny man pierces himself with a needle through his neck and a rapier through his waist without drawing blood. Portegeuse men hunt whales the old-fashioned way armed solely with harpoons. Swedish playboys pick up girls on street corners and party hearty with complete abandon. Muscular men put on a tasty beefcake show for bored housewives in Reno, Nevada. Brazilians happily celebrate Mardi Gras. George Sanders' marvelously dry, plummy, and sardonic narration gives this picture a huge lift; his deep, dulcet tones and smugly condescending manner are a total snarky treat to hear. Riz Ortolani supplies an exquisitely lush, sweeping, and melodic score. The sumptuous cinematography by Emanuele Di Cola and Giorgio Garibaldi makes striking use of the widescreen format. Well worth a look for mondo doc fans.

Before TV and video bringing us the strangeness of the world there was the travel film which brought the sites into local theaters. Then in the 1960's we had the travel film spawn the Mondo movie where all of the weird things in the world were brought to your local theater. Most of the films were an odd mix of real and staged events (many mid-cycle films were all staged). Most have dry witty or pithy commentary by a well known star.

The films were mostly of the sort of thing where "if you've seen one you've seen them all". Ecco rises some how above the standard rut of the Mondo movies. Yes, there are things to turn your stomach and others to make you question if its real or not, as all of these films do, but Ecco has one thing the others don't and that is George Saunders doing the narration.

Saunders was a master of dry wit and his delivery works wonders with the material. In all of the other mondo movies you remember the momentary bits that shocked you, but here you remember Saunders voice, with his inflections revealing infinitely more than the words do. You want to hear his narration which seems to rise above the material.

For the life of me I couldn't tell you one thing that happens in this movie, but I remember the voice. Its the voice that makes me want to watch this every now and again while almost every other mondo movie I've seen could disappear and I wouldn't care.

If you must see one mondo movie in your life see this one. If you want to see one that doesn't suck see this one.

8 out of 10.