Primitives, also known as Savage Terror and Death Cry of the Cannibals (this title is used in the film’s opening) is an Indonesian film based on Italian styles and versions cannibal films. In fact, based on some scenes, one would think Primitives was inspired by them.  

The story is about three anthropology students Robert (Barry Prima, The Warrior), Rita (Enny Haryono), and Tommy (Johann Mardjono) and who get into a raft accident in the jungle. They pay a local guide Bisma (Rukman Herman) to have them see an actual local jungle tribe. Not satisfied seeing the tribe, they want to find some real savage tribes and bribe the guide to take them to legendary cannibal tribe supposedly living in an area past a river. They get much more than they bargained for and find themselves in a life-threatening situation, as two of them are captured. And it gets worse! They are forced to watch them eat foods that are nauseating, they watch animal get butchered among the delights.

Primitives is a repulsive film with bloody rituals, animals being sliced open and eaten, a new mother cannibal chomping on an umbilical cord of her newborn. There is an abundance of bloody animal killings that some may find offensive. This will certainly entertain fans of the genre and will remind those of some of those great Italian gorefests such as Cannibal Holocaust. There are at least two scenes in Primitives which will remind some of Cannibal Holocaust. Those who tend to be squeamish or not into animal killings might want to steer clear of this film.

Primitives gets a Blu-ray release from Severin Films. As mentioned by them, the film was scanned in HD from the Jakarta vault negative. Overall, the image quality is good, not spectacular. It is certainly more than viewable than not.  There are lots of print damages, and flickers along the way. The colors tend to be somewhat dull and soft as well, lacking a well-polished vibrant appearance. Considering how obscure the film is, it probably should come as no surprise, but still, all things considered I felt Primitives in 1080p is a satisfactory grindhouse in appearance type of image.

Primitives has two audio tracks, English DTS-HD master audio English 2.0 and Indonesian 2.0. The English track sounded fine, with dialog and other action noises sounding clear. There was one audio drop-off detected. I found the English track more to my liking because the dubbing does sound like something from an Italian horror flick. English subtitles are offered for both audio tracks.

Severin was able to provide a  few supplements for this release.

“Producing Primitives” is an interview with Producer Gope T. Samtani who reflects on how difficult it was to shoot the film in the jungle. “Way Down in the Jungle Deep” is a featurette with screenwriter Imam Tantowi who also talks about the film and shares a few stories during its ten-minute run

A trailer and an alternate title sequence round out the extras.

This release of Primitives by Severin should satisfy fans of the film. The audio and video quality for the release, despite some shortcomings is still the best presentation for the film, along with a couple of featurettes make this a recommended release!

Primitives

Director- Sisworo Gautama Putra

Cast- Enny Haryono, Barry Prima, Johann Mardjono

Country of Origin- Indonesia

Distributor – Severin Films

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 10/10/20