Ahh, good ol'e Thomas Weisser is at it again. Anybody remember the messed up info in Thomas Weisser's
Asian Trash/Cult Cinema books? Obviously, none of us are perfect but the same bloody (and often obvious!) mistakes got carried along all the way to the latest
third volume!!! Uhh, and of course I can't forget the stories my friend Nils Markvardsen told me about how Weisser had reviewed films in his spaghetti western book; films
that never got made! Haha. Nils told me Weisser had written reviews based on early synopsis of films that had been planned for filming but which never actually got made!! LMAO.
I've just received the latest newsletter from his Asian Cult Cinema store and in it he writes about Bruno Mattei in order to promote that he's now selling CANNIBAL WORLD (2003). On his store page he claims that the DVD is a "A Japanese release" but funnily enough the DVD cover has the odd title "Cannibal Holocaust 2" plastered all over the Japanese title!
Lissen, Thomas, mate, If you're selling a bootleg just call it a bootleg, alright.
The film's original English title is of course CANNIBAL WORLD and the English language title on the Japanese DVD is "Cannibal Holocaust The Beginning". I believe the Japanese language title (written in Japanese characters) may very well be the same as their title for CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST but it's just adding to the confusing title HELL of alternative titles when Weisser chooses to use a title that was also used for CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 2: THE CATHERINE MILES STORY.
Also, it's pure baloney when he states CANNIBAL WORLD is a sequel to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. No, it isn't. The Japanese sequel number 2 (plus his own fake number 2) doesn't make it an official sequel. If anything it's a REMAKE of Deodato's film.
For the DVD at the Asian Cult Cinema store go
here.
From the ACC newsletter by Weisser:
Allow me to switch gears to World Cult Cinema.
I’d like to talk a bit about Bruno Mattei. Here is a filmmaker who worked behind more pseudonyms than any other director in the world. Between 1970 and 2007, he made 54 movies under 21 different names. For most fans of Euro exploitation, he will best be remembered as "Vincent Dawn," an alias he first used for HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD [aka NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES] in 1980.
Cannibal Holocaust 2 Born in 1931, Bruno Mattei grew up in Rome. He began his career as a film editor for his father’s small production house in the late fifties. As he grew more accomplished, Mattei began working with many European directors. By the late '60s, he was recognized as an "editor extraordinaire," responsible for the finishing touches on over 100 different movies. In 1970, he found himself in Spain working on COUNT DRACULA for director Jesus Franco. It was Franco who convinced Mattei to try a hand at film directing. The result was a torrid sex drama called "Armida" (1970).
During his 40 years of filmmaking, Mattei dabbled in every facet of Cult Film. He made Nazi atrocity movies (PRIVATE HOUSE OF THE SS, under the name Jordan B Matthews), nunsploitation (THE OTHER HELL as Stefan Oblowsky), and an array of Spaghetti Westerns, Women-in-Prison actioners, Sex Films, Sword-n-Sandal flicks, Monster Movies and even a Jaws rip-off (called "Cruel Jaws" under the William Snyder moniker).
In the mid-2000s, Bruno Mattei decided to revisit a peculiar Italian cult phenomenon known as the Cannibal Movie (originally popularized by Ruggerio Deodato with his masterpiece CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, 1979). Mattei directed, wrote and edited the sequel CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 2 in 2005, released under the Vincent Dawn pseudonym. Sadly, this would be among his final motion pictures.
Bruno Mattei In early 2007, his health began declining rapidly; Bruno Mattei was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Despite warnings from hospital specialists, Mattei decided on an operation to have the tumor removed. After surgery, he fell into a coma and died a few days later on May 21, 2007. He was 75.
Bruno Mattei was a radical filmmaker, responsible for many excursions into exploitation, to be seen and appreciated by all fans of extreme cult cinema. If you have not as yet experienced CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 2 don’t wait any longer. Click the cover to the right for more information. This was his last film as both editor and director.
It lives. Even in his absence.
The two different covers; on top Thomas Weisser's "Japanese" DVD with fake English title, and below the original Japanese cover. I don't mind buying bootlegs but I get ANNOYED when a seller tells me his American bootleg is a Japanese DVD.
.\_/.