Horrify Me, the award-winning UK studio famous for producing photography of grim horror and scary portraits, has launched a series of images to pay tribute to Cannibal Holocaust. The infamous scene which depicts a young girl impaled on a stake was highly controversial at the time, resulting in the arrest of the director Ruggero Deodato on suspicion of murder. He was of course able to prove his innocence and the film became notorious.
To pay tribute to this ground breaking film and to mark the 35th anniversary of it’s release, HORRIFY ME recreated the “impaled girl” scene using the exact same technique as Ruggero Deodato. HORRIFY ME’s creative photographer and artist Rick Jones constructed a prop using well-seasoned timber capable of holding far more weight than it needed, and commissioned an engineer to build a custom bolt which could safely hold a small seat for the model to sit on. The model Harley Rose was briefed on safety and then covered in disgusting makeup ready for her shoot.
HORRIFY ME uses a lot of makeup and various digital tricks to create stunning images but on this one, it had to be completely authentic. Very little Photoshop work was done to the images, which were shot from a set-up that resembled the original as closely as possible. It wasn’t an easy shoot and took a lot of preparation but the team are happy with the outcome.
“The images have had immense feedback. Cannibal Holocaust fans (and there are a LOT of those) absolutely love my photos and they’ve been a real success. They’ve also attracted some fierce criticism too for their depiction of graphic horror and gore, but that’s kind of the whole point,” said Rick.
Happy birthday Cannibal Holocaust from HORRIFY ME!
https://www.horrify.me.uk/HorrifyMe/gallery