Review: Antropophagus (1980)

(aka Antropophagus: The Beast, Anthropophagous, The Grim Reaper)
Directed by: Joe D’Amato
Starring: George Eastman, Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova
Written by: Joe D’Amato, George Eastman
Music by: Marcello Giombini
Country: Italy
Available on: Blu-ray (Severin Films)
IMDb

Joe D’Amato, one of Italy’s most notorious and prolific directors and producers, helped usher in the era of extreme gore in Italian cinema with this nasty bit of cannibal horror, in which a group of vacationers visiting the Greek Isles find themselves hunted by a disfigured cannibal. Although D’Amato is often derided as an artless profit-sniffer, he’s made his fair share of fairly well-regarded genre films, including Beyond the Darkness (1979), the Black Emanuelle series, and this. Although Antropophagus isn’t exactly a classic, and is filled with cheap special effects, stilted acting, and scenes designed solely for shock value (such as the fetus-munching scene for which it’s most infamous), it’s also a satisfying and somewhat chilling horror film. It works primarily because of its exotic setting (although set in Greece, it was actually filmed mostly in Italy; however, its desolate oceanside locales, decaying underground tunnels, and abandoned, lifeless buildings are convincing regardless), its manic and psychedelic synth score that is very influenced by Wendy Carlos’ work on A Clockwork Orange (1971), and George Eastman’s imposing, crazed flesh-eater. D’Amato is kind of humorless as a filmmaker, particularly compared to many of his compatriots, and without the weirdness and unintentional humor often found in these types of productions, his worst films can be a godawful chore to finish. But when he applies himself, as he does here, the results are surprisingly thrilling. Like so many low-budget horror films, the second act does crawl while D’Amato seems to be essentially eating screen time until feature length is achieved. You’re not going to find yourself invested in any of these characters and the setup to events is flimsy as hell, but the movie does enough things just well enough.

Overall rating: 6.5 out of 10