By the year 1984, it is clear that the popular Italian "shockumentary" genre was running on fumes. The percentage of "real" footage was getting lower and lower (mostly limited to the scenes involving animals, some of which could even be taken from other sources for all the viewer knows), most of the situations involving humans were (often clumsily) staged, sometimes even going for a comic effect (the missionary who supposedly got eaten by "reformed" cannibals), and the filmmakers had serious trouble finding much material that hadn't been covered before. "Naked and Cruel" does live up to its title, and may have some barf-inducing effects on people who've never seen a movie of this genre before, but more experienced viewers will probably be unimpressed or even bored. Watch out for that crocodile! ** out of 4.
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