Review

  • Sometimes known as 'Cannibal Mercenary', sometimes known as 'The Jaguar Project' and at other times known as 'Jungle Killers', this Thai horror movie is certainly not the 'Cannibal Holocaust' or 'Cannibal Ferox' clone that one might expect from its most common title. The first forty minutes are devoid of horror and have more in common with 'Casualties of War' as a group of soldiers accept a mission as mercenaries during the Vietnam War and contend with a local woman who tags along. The middle section of the movie is more gruesome as the mercenaries encounter vicious traps as they approach the drug lord's territory, but it is only in the final twenty minutes that we see any cannibal action as the drug lord's minions torture the captured mercenaries, eating them upon death. As one can probably guess from such a description, this film by any title is a real a mixed bag, but there are enough memorable images throughout to keep things chugging along, including a wrestle with a large snake, multiple scenes in which the mercenaries are made to swallow urine, plus detailed, grisly cannibalistic action near the end. The editing design (which includes a lot of rapid fire cuts) is sometimes distracting, but there are some neat graphic match rapid fire cuts in the mix, and the unusual editing ensures that the film seldom bores for all its weaknesses.