Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals

Joe D’Amato’s Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals is a quintessential example of the maverick Director’s exploitative filmmaking, combining his signature blend of nudity, eroticism, and here, violent cannibalistic horror. Starring the captivating Sirpa Lane, the muse of Walerian Borowczyk and lead of his erotic art-house sensation The Beast, sex-siren Lane portrays a journalist seeking a story on a remote Caribbean Island where Western business is destroying sacred land to build a nuclear reactor. While investigating, her allure entangles her with Papaya, a deadly temptress (played by a wild Melissa) who leads the resistance against the destructive interlopers. Papaya avenges her people by seducing and killing the plant engineers while gratifying her own perverse ecstasy. The mutual sapphic attraction between Sirpa Lane’s journalist and the Goddess of the Cannibals ignites a vortex of lust and blood. D'Amato's audacious vision delivers a Caribbean sex-and-gore fest underpinned with ecological and social commentary. Known for his hands-on approach, D'Amato here also serves as cinematographer capturing the lush island landscape and its, literally, to-die-for goddesses. (Shameless Films)