aka Nudo e selvaggio, Cannibal Ferox II, Stranded in Dinosaur Valley
When bringing up Italian cannibal movies, MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY is not a title that gets brought up very often—for several reasons. If pitted against films like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and EATEN ALIVE, it doesn’t fair that well—though to be honest, MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY should not be looked at as a “cannibal movie”, along the lines of said films (though it doesn’t help that the film is also known as CANNIBAL FEROX II)—actually the film is way more of an adventure movie along the line of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK—not that I’m comparing the two films as far as quality. MIDV is most definitely a b-movie tried and true, but calling MIDV a “cannibal movie" is like calling RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK a Nazisploitation movie.
MIDV stars the one and only—Michael Sopkiw, one of the most underrated b-movie actors of all time. Sopkiw only has 4 movie roles to his credit; The excellent (for what it is) 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK, directed by Sergio Martino; Lamberto Bava’s DEVILFISH (boo!), and BLASTFIGHTER (yay!), and Michele Massimo Tarantini's MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY—he was the star of each one of those films—and though they may be some cheesy ass flicks—he gives top notch performances in all of them. This role was his last, but when checking out the stats of the cast from the film on IMDb, not many careers took off after MIDV. Could there be a Massacre In Dinosaur Valley curse? Probably not, but Sopkiw for one should have went on to bigger and better things. Sopkiw does provide commentary and an intro to the DVD—and I must say, the guy still has his looks.
While this film is not the greatest, it holds up well. It has a great pace throughout, as cheesy as it is, it’s still very entertaining. It’s also a total sleazefest with loads of gratuitous T & A, with some scenes dipping into softcore porn territory. There’s a decent amount of gore—not by cannibal movie standards (yet another separation from the genre), but the gore it does feature is pretty well done. We get to see a hearts ripped out, as well as a guy that gets his leg chewed down to the bone by piranha (one of the better looking effects).
The story starts with Sopkiw’s character, Kevin Hall, an archeologist/dinosaur hunter, searching for fossils in Brazil. In a hotel lounge he overhears a pilot talking about a place called Dinosaur Valley—a place deep in the rain forest that is a hotbed for dinosaur bones. The pilot’s flight is making a quick stop there and Kevin cons his way onto the flight (that was already booked full). The other people on the flight include an annoying married couple consisting of a creepy Vietnam vet and his drunk bitch of a wife; a smut photographer and his two “models”; another archeologist (who just happens to be Sopkiw’s character’s idol) and his hot daughter. The creep ‘Nam vet has a secret motive for going to Dinosaur Valley, and needless to say it has nothing to do with dino bones.
The plane ends up crashing before they get to their designation, and it becomes survival of the fittest with the survivors of the crash. Things get all Lord of the Flies when the passengers start turning on each other as panic sets in. Soon creepy vet’ dude and Kevin butt heads over leadership, and shit gets heavy. Of course—to make things worse, they are surrounded by flesh craving cannibals—of the chee-hees-iest kind. While not as bad as the cannibals from Jess Franco’s CANNIBALS, they come awfuly close. The cannibals here—and maybe I’ve been spoiled by other Italian cannibal flicks, but these cannibals are just too…clean? Sorry, when I want idol worshipping, femur bone munchin’ cannibals –I want the grungy kind from CANNIBAL FEROX or CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST—not cannibals that look like they bought their attire at the local costume shop. That’s just me.
So Sopkiw and crew fight their way through cannibals until it’s down to just a few survivors (Kevin, the hot daughter, and the hotter nudie model—perfect!). The twist is—that’s not even close to the end of the film! Next, an even nastier villain than the cannibals; China--no, not the manly female wrestler, an evil slave-trader, and diamond smuggler. China captures our three last survivors and holds them prisoner on his slave workcamp. Once again in peril, it’s up to Sopkiw’s badassery to save the day, and yeah, get the girl.
So lets see, with MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY we get a cannibal movie, a jungle prison movie, a survival movie—its just b-movie greatness, that's what the fuck it is! Loaded with violence and titties—it’s just a silly fun adventure movie, I can’t help but love it.
What also helps the film is—as corny as it is—it looks incredible, which I’m sure is because of the director, Michele Massimo Tarantini. From a technical standpoint, the film has a look of quality to it. It’s not a poorly dubbed and poorly edited nightmare, and Massimo Tarantini certainly was not a bad director; he was just trying to shine a turd—and dammit if he didn’t get that ass nugget to shine just a little bit. All praise for the director aside, make no mistake about it—Michael Sopkiw is what makes this movie. Period. He is excellent, and why-oh-why he didn’t become famous…or at the very least some more roles, is beyond me.
MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY trailer