Somehow, we live in a world where not only Joe “Aristide Massaccesi” D’Amato’s Anthrophophagus has been remade but also received a “sequel” (after his “spiritual sequel”, Absurd). How lucky are we?
Yep, indeed, the infamous gore flick that had George Eastman as an amphibious cannibal going around a deserted and isolated Greek island, in this occasion stumbling upon a pregnant women, his equivalent of a double combo fast food menù, but after all, it’s called Anthrophophagus, the latin term for “cannibal”… unless it’s the theatherical US release, called Savage Island.
Or the very cut down UK home video release as “The Grim Reaper”, which also contains a different score, using music from Kingdom Of The Spiders.
I’d recommend looking for the Severin Blu-Ray release of the film, as it has a lot of extras, it’s a 2K restoration that improves the video quality from previous releases notably, a previously unseen deleted scenes, if you can/want.
FIY, I based this review on the 2022 italian DVD release of the movie by DYNIT, which has good but not great video quality (definitely looks better than previous italian re-releases of the film or the VHS rips that were floating about before online), chapter selection, trailers for other DYNIT upcoming releases.. and thats it.
Sure, it’s relatively cheap and easily available in many copies as of now, it’s serviceable, but honestly i’d prefer spending a bit more for an import english/worlwide release of the film that has actual extras, actual subtitles and audio options, previously unreleased material, offering overall a lot more for less, instead of asking 10 bucks for the bare minimum.
Nothing new for us italian horror cinema buffs, the same old, disappointing shit treatment.
The plot concerns a group of friends going on vacation in Greece, meeting a girl that needs a ride to a remote island, go there to drop her only to find the island completely devoid of any life, minus a spooky lady that keeps running away from them, and a cannibal that dwells on the island, ready to pounce on the unexpected drop of fresh meat…
It might sound odd to say that going to see this movie for the gore is “doing it wrong”… when the movie in question has this cult status thanks to something like fetus eating as its distinguishing feature, because it’s odd since this is undeniably exploitation film that banked on the graphic contents, one of the few “video nasties” where the term actually applies, that ultimately benefitted from the controversies, as this kind of extreme horror films naturally do.
Still, i say don’t go see for the gore, because aside from the “fetus eating scene” and the final scene, the gore effects ain’t that great (the rubber head in the bucket is the worst one, just laughable), or that many in the first place, and it’s actually more effective in terms of atmosphere, as the setting is quite haunting, with this faux deserted greek city.. or so it would be, if D’Amato was able to sustain anything in terms of suspence, and if the music wasn’t – mostly – silly sounding than haunting, more goofy than scary, weirdly varying in tone.
An interesting score by Marcello Giombini, but it doesn’t help at all to sustain the atmosphere, shame because at times – despite all these issues – some ambiancè survives, thanks to the good cinematography, and the movie has its moments, but the poor pacing kills any chance at it working properly, with many stretches of “nothing” that are not so much done to create suspence, and even if they are often it just feels like the movie it’s taking its time more to pad out the runtime than to establish a jumpscare or anything that matters.
Just too many scenes of nothing happening, then cutting to something overly convenient for them to discover, and the subplots kinda go nowhere, or being ancillary or misused at best, like the “mystery lady in the windows”, to say nothing of some goofy shit like the “spountaneously falling over mummified lady in a rocking chair” that is so obviously pushed over by an unseen stage hand, so obviously staged it feels like you’re triggering an event in a videogame.
I do like the fake cat on a piano jumpscare, that was funny and a good set up for the actual other shock moment of that scene (which is stupid on its own right when you think about it for more than 1 minute), but a lot of the time is spent on these boring character, stupid ass characters speaking garbage dialogues, acting is ok overall, i wouldn’t call it good but i’ve seen so much worse.
Speaking of characters, the cannibal (called Klaus) has actually some good make up effects, i understand why some might find him kinda laughable, but i think the look is about right for what was intended, and he’s given some backstory explaining why he became a cannibal, not much but oddly more than i can say about the other characters, which aren’t really worth discussing, honestly.
While it’s far from completely awful and it has its place in the history of horror movie gore, a cult status that will never be taken away (the fetus munching still is worthy of note), i don’t find Anthrophophagus to be quite a “good” movie, as i said it has its moments and some strenghts, it’s nice to see some variation on the cannibal flick by having it set up more as a slasher and most importantly taking place in Greece, which at the time was a magnet for shooting some of the more outrageous/graphics exploitation films we still talk about, i only need mention Island Of Death to get instant repulsion or curiosity. And vomit.
(and since i did mention that one before i figure i have to do it sooner or later)
But the awful pacing (and the goofy ass music that is all over the place) almost destroys any semblance of atmosphere, as there are too many stretches of nothing of substance happening, subplots going nowhere interesting or having payoffs, editing that has the viewer sitting through some quite bad dialogues or padding only to then spring an expected, almost confusing time cut on the audience or brashly skipping to some overly convenient revelations, with logic often taking a backseat for the shock factor (which was to be expected, in all honesty), giving the entire film a very stoppy/starty quality, and making it feel kinda dull and boring.
Not entirely so, there’s some fun to be had, the highlight it’s definitely the infamous fetus eating scene (followed by the demented final resolution), it is still something else to witness, but i can’t really say it’s totally worth it sitting through all the movie instead of just seeing some select clips on Youtube. It’s not good, but it’s also far from the worst movie ever.
It’s also not the best effort from Joe D’Amato, arguably, but it still has some value, aside from his historical relevance for gore and horror films, as it’s kind of a necessary/mandatory viewing for fans of horror and-or exploitation films, especially those with interest in old Italia genre cinema, even more so if you have a penchant for the cannibal flick.
It’s a fringe movie for a fringe subset of cinema buffs, go figure.
George Eastman and Joe D’Amato would team up again the next year for Rosso Sangue, better known internationally as Absurd, planned to be a direct continuation of Anthrophagus, but changed in order to capitalize on the success of the original 1978’s Halloween. As you do.
In anno domini 1999 Andrea Schnaas would remake it as “Antrophophagus 2000”, and lastly in 2022 an unofficial sequel, Anthrophophagus 2, directed by Dario Germani, would release in Italy.
So overall not a bad run for Klaus The Cannibal, i’d say.
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