Massacre in Dinosaur Valley

release year: 1985
genre: action/adventure
viewing setting: home DVD, 5/10/10

synopsis: A group of assorted people (most of them idiots) take a plane trip over a remote area of South American jungle, and their plane crashes, pitting the survivors against all the dangers of the wilderness.

impressions: This was a distant cheese cousin to cannibal exploitation movies. It had all the key elements: crocodiles, piranha, snakes, leeches, clothes that gradually rot away, struggles for leadership, and of course, wild savage cannibals who kill the men and kidnap the women. The characters were mostly too stupid to be believed; they fought among themselves, made fire and noise to draw the natives' attention, and worried about things like high heels and purses. Huge gripe: this movie contained no dinosaurs, just some dinosaur bones and a few footprints. There was also an odd direction that the plot took about two-thirds of the way through that didn't really fit. I would like to point out that this movie had a great 1980s style pop/synthesizer theme which was pretty catchy.

something this movie has that no other movie has: The eating of leeches as a valid food source.

acting: Not really; it was almost entirely dubbed. The main hero, played by Michael Sopkiw, at least tried to do a decent job.

final word: Standard but entertaining cannibal/jungle fare.

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