Gow the Headhunter
Poster
Directed by	Edward A. Salisbury
Language	English

Gow the Headhunter (or Gow, the Headhunter, with a comma) is a 1931 exploration film. The footage, from the 1920s was originally released as 4 different films before being released as a 63-minute feature film in 1931. The film was released in the 1950s under the title Cannibal Island.^[1] The film is also known as Gow the Head Hunter, or simply Gow,^[2] and Gow the Terror and Gow the Killer.

The film consists of genuine documentary footage but an attempt at creating a plot may be perceptible in the end.^[3]

Footage originates from a two-year expedition led by Edward A. Salisbury, a wealthy British adventurer, in the Western Pacific.^[3] The aim of the filming was to document the life of cannibals in the South Seas islands (Western Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides and the Eastern Solomons),^[1] including the practice of headhunting.^[4]

In 2012 Flicker Alley released a Blu-ray edition^[5] of The Most Dangerous Game including Gow presenting the film as an Exploration classic^[1]

According to the company, the film "is not only a true curiosity but also in many ways a key influence of later Cooper and Schoedsack productions including King Kong."^[1]

• Gow the Headhunter at IMDb