Ruggero Deodato's Italian horror film “Cannibal Holocaust” is considered one of the most controversial films in history, thanks to its extreme violence and completely real animal murders. Of which it is known that there is a scene called “lost media” that involves torture with piranhas.
The horrifying sequence.
Among the film's many gruesome scenes, which involve castrations, rapes and completely explicit murders, another was written that is commonly known as the piranha scene.
The sequence would have come early in the film, after the film crew first encounters the two primitive tribes fighting. In this scene, the Yanomamo tribe warriors were going to amputate the leg of a single Shamatari warrior, wounded in battle. The tribe would then tie the Shamatari warrior to a log and lower him into piranha-infested waters, where the fearsome fish would slowly eat him alive.
Unfinished scene or lost media?
Since becoming aware of the outlandish sequence, it has been rumored that the scene was included in several obscure foreign video releases, but this turned out to be false. In turn, it has been officially shared that the scene in question began filming, but was never completed because the piranhas were difficult to control and the film crew's underwater camera was not working properly. As a result, the scene was completely deleted and only production stills exist.
In 2021, Calum Waddell, a filmmaker who has done investigative work on the film, which includes the book “Cannibal Holocaust (Devil's Advocates),” and the documentary “Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film,” has shared interesting statements about the reality of the infamous sequence.
For Dread Central, Waddell shared the following:
“I've had a real interest in the Italian cannibal film series for a while now. Because watching some of these films today you wonder, 'Wow, how the hell did this get made?' And the behind-the-scenes stories have to be exciting. Because [the filmmakers produced] “Cannibal Holocaust” in the Amazon jungle in 1979. Which is a story in itself.”
“I approached a gentleman named Ronaldo Blanca, who still lives in Leticia, Colombia. Fans of “Cannibal Holocaust” will remember Ronaldo as the young man with the leash around him in the movie. He's the guy Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) uses to find the legendary Tree People.”
“Now Ronaldo only has fond memories of starring in the film and, honestly, I was excited to contact him and find him alive. I mean, what are the odds? Anyway, he finally saw 'Cannibal Holocaust' for me, more than 40 years later, and he tells me who some of the native actors are.”
“So Ronaldo says, 'There's a problem with this movie - where's the piranha scene?' Now, as fans will know, there is a shot of that scene. Ruggero Deodato, the director, always said it was shot for publicity. That they couldn't make it work so it was never filmed. But Ronaldo tells me, 'No, no, I was there for that scene, he definitely filmed it.' He called 'Action!' and shouted 'Cut!' and a few of us had gathered to watch it and we all applauded...it was a brilliant effect.'”
“He told me how they used a local boy who had lost his leg. It's worth remembering that this was a time of war in the area. So it could have been because of this. They literally sewed live piranhas to a prosthetic. And pulled him out of the water after they were eating his leg. He says it was all set up, it took a day to film it, and he's absolutely insisting on it. So, I guess we have another puzzle in the Cannibal Holocaust legend. Will we ever find this scene in a dusty archive somewhere? I hope someone out there knows!”.
Lost.
To date, the whereabouts of the footage, if any, is unknown.
