A journalist and an anthropologist, who happen to also be an estranged husband and wife, set off on an expedition to the Amazon along with their crew (which conveniently includes our man’s new love interest), where they hope to track down a valuable idol belonging to the Mali, an ancient tribe of headhunters. Sounds like a recipe for trouble if ever there was one, but it gets even worse – the Mali are on the warpath after government troops raided their land and built a hotel on top of their sacred burial ground. See if you can guess where the team are staying!
Shot in 1990, Jungle Trap remained unfinished and unreleased until 2016 when the folks at Bleeding Skull obtained the original footage and re-cut and re-scored the film with assistance from the original director, James Bryan (Don’t Go Into The Woods). Now seeing its first official European release thanks to the collaboration between 101 Films and the American Genre Film Archive, the full glory of this fever dream is unlikely to appeal to a wide audience but is an absolute treat for fans of what could politely be described as “the arse end of cinema”. Awkwardly-worded dialogue is delivered with little to no urgency or emotion by a cast whose acting abilities are amateur at best, the ultra-low budget results in such pleasures as jungle scenes which were definitely filmed indoors being cut with stock footage in a failed attempt to create the illusion of being outside, and the story itself, written by iconic Z-grade auteur Rene Harmon, makes very little sense whatsoever. Having said that, there are shining lights in the form of Obie, the borderline barmy bellhop, who steals the few scenes he’s in, as does the drunken pilot whose manic enthusiasm causes the cast to visibly corpse on camera.
The main feature’s commentary track with James Bryan, actress Heidi Ahn and some of the Bleeding Skull team goes into great detail about how the film was found, restored and completed, providing an interesting insight into what went on behind the scenes. We also get to visit James Bryan’s “film farm” in a short 10-minute featurette, marvel at a few minutes’ worth of outtakes, and are treated to 25 minutes of surviving footage (albeit with no audio) from “Horror Con”, another one of Bryan’s unfinished films from 1989. On top of all this, another full-length Harmon / Bryan effort is included on the disc – Run Coyote Run (1987) is a 70-minute mess of a movie which follows a psychic cop on a mission to track down her missing sister. If you’re the sort of deviant who’s able to overlook the rough edges and relish in the enthusiasm of those involved and appreciate the fact that such ridiculous films are being kept alive for future generations to be appalled by, then Jungle Trap‘s haunted hotel fever dream will be right up your alley. A treasure trove of forgotten footage from the very edge of sanity!
Jungle Trap + Run Coyote Run is available now on Blu-ray from 101 Films
