TERROR IN THE JUNGLE (directors: Andy Janzack/Tom DeSimone;/Alex Graton; screenwriters: Enrique Torres Tudela/Richard Ogilvie; cinematographers: Lewis Guinn/Mario Tosi/Andy Janzack; editors: Alberto Soria/Tom Mosca; music: Les Baxter/Stan Hofman; cast: Jimmy Angle (Henry Clayton Jr.), Fawn Silver (Marion); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: PG; producer: Enrique Torres Tudela; Sinister Cinema; 1968)
“For those who love bad films that are unintentionally a hoot, this one stands out.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

For those who love bad films that are unintentionally a hoot, this one stands out. It was filmed in the Jivaros Region in the Amazon Jungle of Peru. The cheesy script by Enrique Torres Tudela is terrible, the dialogue is goofy and the acting is just bad.

The father of 4-year-old Henry Clayton Jr. (Jimmy Angle) puts him alone on a plane in Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro to see his estranged mother. The passengers includes two nuns taking back to Rio in a coffin their Mother Superior, three rock musicians sporting guitars and silly wigs, a murderess cleared of murdering her bank robber hubby and leaving the country with the loot in a suitcase, a mogul and a starlet. The musicians sing their hit song “Soft Lips”on the plane and the sexy starlet dances in the aisles. When the plane runs out of fuel due to a tech malfunction, it crashes in the Amazon River of Peru. One nun falls out of the plane, most are killed when the plane explodes and some are eaten in the swamps by crocodiles. The only survivor is the bratty kid, who navigates the river in a coffin. This segment was directed by Tom DeSimone (Reform School Girls), in his directorial debut. He has written that he’s ashamed he got roped into doing such a bad film.

Andy Janzack directs the sequence in the jungle, where the kid is captured by the cannibal tribe of Jivaro Indians, descendants of the Incas. They believe the little blonde boy is the son of their god INTI. However, their chief Riolama doesn’t trust the kid and plans to sacrifice him to the gods. But the kid clutches his stuffed leopard, which suddenly becomes a real tiger and kills the chief.

News of the accident reaches his parents, who come to Lima, where dad organizes a search party. Catholic missionaries join the search in the jungle. The search party soon finds the boy safe in a bed of quicksand, crying out for Daddy.

Alex Graton directed the colorful segment of the Incan temple dance, with the kid seated on a throne.

REVIEWED ON 2/12/2016 GRADE: C+

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

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