The Cannibal in the Jungle was a 2015
Found Footage Mockumentary by
Animal Planet about an alleged cannibalism case from Flores in 1977, where an ornithologist who was accused of killing and eating his American colleague and Indonesian guide but maintained his innocence to the modern day by insisting they were killed by an unknown species resembling the Ebu Gogo. A fossil discovery in 2004 of a new species of hominid that once lived in Flores of similar description and recovered tapes from the 1977 expedition begin to show he was telling the truth.
This film provides examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Whilst not villainous per se, Dr. Hoernbeck off-handedly speculates the Ebu Gogo may be dying out due to habitat loss, making their fate semi-tragic.
- Artistic License – Physics: Square cube law means a Homo sapiens twice the height of a Homo floresiensis will have eight times the stride, lung capacity, heart volume, and muscle mass; meaning they'd be much faster overland. As such it be very hard for the latter to chase down the former.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: The Ebu Gogo zig-zag this. They're the right height, in the right location, and use the right tools to be Homo floresiensis. They also have traits most think Homo floresiensis had, such as speech and fire use. However, Homo floresiensis was not half covered in fur, couldn't swing through the trees, and almost certainly wouldn't consider a much larger, adult Homo sapiens as food. H. floresiensis in life would have looked like a very short caveman with slightly distorted facial builds such as larger eyes and lacking chins. The Ebu Gogo in this look more like furry, short orcs who strangely look green tinted in some shots.
- Bittersweet Ending: Tim died in prison nine months before his camera was discovered. However, the discovery would clear his name posthumously, resulting in him being credited for discovering a believed extinct species of owl was still alive and his sister finding peace.
- Cannibal Tribe: Subverted. Not the natives in Flores but the Ebu Gogo, which are Homo floresiensis and thus a different species of human.
- Cassandra Truth: Tim's story about his friends being killed by the Ebu Gogo wasn't believed, resulting in him being convicted of murdering and cannibalizing his friends. It's implied the Indonesian government were so certain he was guilty and so corrupt (this was in the 70s, when Suharto was in power, and thus for all intents and purposes a dictatorship) they didn't even bother looking very hard into it. It turns out had anyone bothered to look at his camera recording, they'd have found he was telling the truth.
- Government Conspiracy: It's subtly implied, given Timothy Darrow's Kangaroo Court trial and the fact his camera footage and sound recordings weren't used as evidence, the Indonesian authorities knew about the Ebu Gogo.
- Killer Rabbit: Think the Ebu Gogo being only a meter tall means they wouldn't be much threat to a healthy adult man? You'd be dead wrong.
- Human Subspecies: The Ebu Gogo are explained as surviving Homo floresiensis.
- Kangaroo Court: Tim was implied to be subjected to one. While his story was unbelievable, he was also being tried in Indonesia in the 70s, under a military dictatorship. It's shown the Indonesian officials were convinced from the outset he was guilty and didn't even bother looking at the film in his camera they'd found. It's subtly implied they knew about the Ebu Gogo.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Tim's lawyer feels this way about not believing him after his camera is found, proving his story...too late to actually save him.
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Spiritual Successor: To Mermaids: The Body Found which aired on the same network years prior and in the same marathon. It's format is also very similar to Lost Tapes, also Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives - Voice Changeling: Those instances someone hears a slight distorted voice yelling or whispering "Run"? It's the Egu Gogo mimicking the last thing one of their victims shouted to try and attract or confuse more humans.
- Zerg Rush: It's heavily implied this is how the Ebu Gogo killed several people, as the whole tribe shows up right before they attack.
