Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals/Review
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
< Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals
At the opening of the film, we meet Papaya (Melissa) who is seducing a man in a small hut on a beach by rubbing papaya (what else?) on his body. The two make love and we get to witness Papaya's art of seduction. Its a great erotic, exotic scene to start the movie off with. In a town nearby, Sara (Sirpa Lane) is taking in a cockfight (yes you heard that right). While watching the roosters kill each other, an old friend, Vincent (Maurice Poli) shows up and sees her in the crowd. He says hello and asks her if she wants to go with him to a village he is visiting. As they are driving along they see none other than Papaya looking for a ride on a long stretch of road. They stop to pick her up. Martin inquires about the village's mythic festival of the round stone and Papaya explains that is what she will be going to. Vincent and Sara decide to attend the tribal festival themselves, which features the slaughter of two pigs. This is the goriest sequence in the film as the chieftains cut open the pigs' bellies and the guts spill out. After this bit of grue, a white man is brought into the main room and HE is cut open and the chieftain pulls out his liver (or some other organ) and eats it. The tribe then take off their clothes and surround Vincent and Sara. The two later wake up in one of the cabins in the village. They are unharmed, but how long will that last?
Viewers may be misled by the title of the movie which makes it sound like a true cannibal subgenre film (such as Cannibal Holocaust etc), but its really just an erotic movie. Albeit a very good one. Theres several steamy scenes featuring Papaya who seduces any outsiders including Martin and Sara. One thing that you learn while watching the film is that its environmentally conscious. The whole plot revolves around the villagers protesting the building of an atomic energy facility on their land. This is why Papaya gets revenge for the people in her own sexualized way. The film was shot in the Dominican Republic and the setting really is beautiful. The film is tightly paced with good acting, music and cinematography. If you're a fan of Joe D'Amato erotic films, you won't be dissapointed.
Peter Roberts is the co-founder/editor-in-chief of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb) and contributor to the GCDb's sister site Furious Cinema. A Massachusetts native, he is an avid film fan that has been immersed in the world of entertainment and pop culture his entire life. He is a professional digital media designer and educator.
