Review: Absurd (1981)

(aka Rosso Sangue, Anthropophagus 2, The Grim Reaper 2, Horrible)
Directed by: Joe D’Amato
Starring: George Eastman, Annie Belle, Edmund Purdom
Written by: George Eastman
Music by: Carlo Maria Cordio
Country: Italy
Available on: Blu-ray (Severin Films)
IMDb

Joe D’Amato and George Eastman are back for a spiritual sequel to their surprising “hit” Antropophagus (1980). D’Amato initially wanted to make a film directed related to the cannibal video nasty, but it ends up as sort of a straightforward slasher featuring a killer that’s a remix of the one from Antropophagus. Eastman is back as the maniac, this time the victim of weird experiments that give him supernatural healing capabilities but also drive him to murderous frenzy. Frequent European genre film actor Edmund Purdom also stars as the priest responsible for those experiments who’s trying to stop the killer, though he’s kind of sleepwalking without much to do or say and goes AWOL for a large portion of the movie. This one is set in America — and it’s the first film directed by D’Amato to be shot in English — though once again filmed in Italy. It was made immediately following the first film, but Absurd is quite a bit more professionally shot and acted, and the special effects, while less gruesome, look much better. However, Absurd, despite its title, is much more straightforward than Antropophagus and, as a result, significantly less satisfying. The story offers no surprises whatsoever and is terminally slow in the middle, when you’re forced to spend entirely too much time watching the crappy soap opera and football game the characters are watching and listening to the conveniently expository radio reports and telephone calls the characters are listening to. During the climax, the killer curiously disappears for a while, presumably to eat a sandwich or urinate, even though the characters and music are dialed up like he’s on the hunt. You must also witness the slowest chase in history, as the newly blinded killer meanders languidly after a character that was paralyzed for most of the movie, for whom walking isn’t a specialty. The kills are well done and amusing (you can obviously see a victim with a pickaxe through her skull breathing) but drawn out and come far too infrequently. Carlo Maria Cordio (Troll 2, Shocking Dark, Night Killer) provides a wonderfully moody score, even if it’s primarily a series of variations on the same theme. Though there are a few things to like here, Absurd sadly doesn’t come anywhere near the level of revolting, atmospheric charm of the previous D’Amato/Eastman production.

Overall rating: 5 out of 10