Anthropophagus (1980)

 

WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS and scenes of bloody violence

 

AKA: Grim Reaper

Dir: Joe D'Amato

Starring: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Mark Bodin, George Eastman, Zora Kerova. 

A gory classic. Prolific Italian sexploitation peddler Joe D’Amato (aka Aristide Massaccesi) created a cult classic with his first attempt at an exclusively horror-minded film. Although he was no newcomer to horror, his previous efforts tended to mix porn with horror, with the former tending to dominate (e.g. Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, Love Goddess of the Cannibals and Porno Holocaust – see what I mean!) Unfortunately, Antropophagus (aka Grim Reaper) gained notoriety in Britain as it became a Video Nasty after it ended up on the DPP’s most wanted list. But that probably added to the cult surrounding the film.

The film opens with a German couple holidaying on a Mediterranean island who meet a grisly end (this scene also features a shameless rip off of Jaws). We then meet Julie, played by Tisa Farrow (Zombie Flesh Eaters [1979]) who hitches a ride to the island with a group of friends including pregnant Maggie (Vanessa Steiger aka Serena Grandi) and Clairvoyant Carol (Zora Kerova of Cannibal Ferox [1981]). On the journey, Maggie asks Carol to tell her fortune but Carol foresees something terrible in the group’s future. Once they land, the group discover that island is deserted; all the residents appear to have disappeared without a trace. As the group spend the night in the deserted town they begin to be stalked by a sadistic killer with a taste for human flesh who starts to pick them off one by one. Can any of them survive?

 

As gory as this film is – and we’ll get onto that later – it’s also very suspenseful too. The deserted island is very creepy and there are several moments to make the audience jump out of their seats. George Eastman (aka Luigi Montefiori, also the films writer) gives a great performance as the iconic cannibalistic madman stalking the island. The acting is pretty decent for this type of film and the characters are a pretty likeable bunch. D’Amato used to be a cinematographer, and he demonstrates this throughout; the scenery of the island is captured beautifully.

But now, we didn’t tune into an Italian exploitation flick for the lovely scenery though, did we? We came to see some blood and boy is there plenty on show here. Some of the most ultra-violent and disgusting gore sequences ever filmed can be found in this film. The scene that is most remembered, and probably what got the film into hot water with the censor, is where Eastman rips Maggie’s unborn foetus from her womb and proceeds to chow down. Yum!

My only flaw with this film is that it makes an attempt at a back story for Eastman’s monster, about how he was forced to eat his wife and son after being trapped out at sea in a lifeboat. My problem is that this wasn’t fleshed out more. It barely takes up three minutes of the film and it would’ve provided a bit of interesting exposition if gone into more detail. You’d have thought that, since he wrote the damn film, that Eastman (Erotic Nights of the Living Dead [1980])would want to spend a little bit more time on his own character, but sadly no.

Overall I think Anthropophagus is a very scary horror film and will interest more people than just the gore-hounds. I’ve heard others remark that the film is boring, but I disagree with this; it’s fairly short and there’s plenty going on to keep you interested. Maybe they were referring to the cut version, of which I have seen, and it’s worse than torture to sit through. Seriously, all the gore is left out; it’s like watching a musical with all the songs missing!

 

Although initially banned under the Video Recordings Act (1984) Antropophagus is now available on DVD in the UK under the Grim Reaper title after it was resubmitted to the BBFC and approved. Unfortunately, some clever sod (read: idiot) resubmitted the CUT version (see above) so if you’re looking to buy this movie be sure you get a hold of the uncut release.