An group of tourists offer to give an American, Julie(Tisa Farrow), a ride to an island village where pals of hers(..a French couple we see killed at the opening of the film)were supposed to be waiting for her. Deciding to remain on the island for a spell, the group find the village without people, providing quite an ominous suspicion that something's amiss. When the sailboat they were riding is sent away mysteriously into the sea adrift, the group ponder why, holing up in the home of Julie's friends, awaiting for the night to fall, hoping that the boat would return to shore. The remaining members of the group do find a person in the village, but she remains elusive warning for them to leave the village. They then find the French couple's blind daughter who is deeply traumatized. But, what none of the visitors plan on is encountering a dangerous, psychopathic cannibal(George Eastman, in hideous make-up, with unhinged eyes..his build works to enhance how scary he looks as he approaches victims)without an ounce of humanity. He seems devoid of anything remotely civilized and there's a reason revealed later involving his son and wife in a raft isolated in the middle of the ocean.
Aristide Massaccesi(Joe D'Amato)and George Eastman craft quite a sickening tale which has given "Antropophagus-The Grim Reaper" an assured following. "Antropophagus" is the very definition of a slow-burner as it idles along showing the tourists walking throughout the village(..modeled after the Greek Islands and looking eerily similar to Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's "Island of the Damned")attempting to find any citizens. I love horror films which show visiting outsiders finding a complete village abandoned like a ghost town as if they just vanished off the face of the Earth, and seeing our cast moving throughout and finding no one certainly worked for me. I think this beautifully sets up just how monstrous the film's predator really is..such a menace that he empties a city of it's people. I think Massaccesi's decision to not show the killer until 50 minutes in will test the patience of many, but I felt that the director was building the dread of his arrival. I mean, we know that someone is on this island somewhere and I felt that Massaccesi wishes to keep him hidden for as long as possible. His impact to the film, when he does arrive, is immediately felt when Eastman's fiend bites a plug of skin from the neck of a victim. He'll also bite a chunk of flesh from a throat later in the film when he pulls a victim's face through the hole of a mansion's ceiling. The most infamous death concerns the removal of a fetus from a pregnant victim's womb(..Massaccesi said it was a rabbit)taking a bite out of it. You also see the aftermath of a cleaver stabbed into a victim's face. Massaccesi even pays homage to Spielberg with an underwater attack at the very beginning reminiscent of Jaws. There's even the eating of intestines that will leave many jaws dropping to the floor in dismay. Massaccesi has shown(..as Buio Omega will prove)that he isn't afraid of making films with disturbing subject matter and scenes with (in)human behavior that shock. I think the film's finest moments occur when Massaccesi shoots the use of candle-light at night through the darkened rooms of the French couple's home with Julie and Bodin's Daniel encountering a frightened innocent hiding from Eastman's monster, and specifically the Roman catacombs where Eastman's lair of eaten bodies is located(..this is very akin to the work of Lucio Fulci with the presence of remains, corpses, skulls, bones & red-eyed rats running about). The film also has a nifty sequence where Julie finds a hidden room where Eastman's sister kept many of his first victims through the breaking of a mirror, in the mansion of a family who worked for the village. Also, cool is a suicide where a woman decides to hang herself, and Julie, at one point, is trapped in a gated graveyard by a jealous Carol(Zora Kerova; who was upset because Daniel preferred Julie over her). A young Serena Grandi has an early role as the pregnant victim, Maggie, who is found by her husband in the catacombs. I think "Antropophagus" is very similar to Fulci's works at the time(..from "Zombie Flesh Eaters" into his more sadistic 80's gore flicks)and just as willing to push buttons, repelling weak-hearted audiences. To those of us who have seen a bunch of these movies, though, the impact isn't as severe, but I find his unflinching ability to shock rather amusing. But, I think it can be sensed, here, that when inspired, Massaccesi can create a sense of atmosphere. With the amazing setting, Marcello Giombini's often haunting music score, and Enrico Biribicchi's lush cinematography, Massaccesi had all the tools to make quite an impression. Unlike many, I didn't have any problem with the pace because my eyes were taking in the location and how it was brought to the screen. And, Eastman is quite an impressive beast.
Aristide Massaccesi(Joe D'Amato)and George Eastman craft quite a sickening tale which has given "Antropophagus-The Grim Reaper" an assured following. "Antropophagus" is the very definition of a slow-burner as it idles along showing the tourists walking throughout the village(..modeled after the Greek Islands and looking eerily similar to Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's "Island of the Damned")attempting to find any citizens. I love horror films which show visiting outsiders finding a complete village abandoned like a ghost town as if they just vanished off the face of the Earth, and seeing our cast moving throughout and finding no one certainly worked for me. I think this beautifully sets up just how monstrous the film's predator really is..such a menace that he empties a city of it's people. I think Massaccesi's decision to not show the killer until 50 minutes in will test the patience of many, but I felt that the director was building the dread of his arrival. I mean, we know that someone is on this island somewhere and I felt that Massaccesi wishes to keep him hidden for as long as possible. His impact to the film, when he does arrive, is immediately felt when Eastman's fiend bites a plug of skin from the neck of a victim. He'll also bite a chunk of flesh from a throat later in the film when he pulls a victim's face through the hole of a mansion's ceiling. The most infamous death concerns the removal of a fetus from a pregnant victim's womb(..Massaccesi said it was a rabbit)taking a bite out of it. You also see the aftermath of a cleaver stabbed into a victim's face. Massaccesi even pays homage to Spielberg with an underwater attack at the very beginning reminiscent of Jaws. There's even the eating of intestines that will leave many jaws dropping to the floor in dismay. Massaccesi has shown(..as Buio Omega will prove)that he isn't afraid of making films with disturbing subject matter and scenes with (in)human behavior that shock. I think the film's finest moments occur when Massaccesi shoots the use of candle-light at night through the darkened rooms of the French couple's home with Julie and Bodin's Daniel encountering a frightened innocent hiding from Eastman's monster, and specifically the Roman catacombs where Eastman's lair of eaten bodies is located(..this is very akin to the work of Lucio Fulci with the presence of remains, corpses, skulls, bones & red-eyed rats running about). The film also has a nifty sequence where Julie finds a hidden room where Eastman's sister kept many of his first victims through the breaking of a mirror, in the mansion of a family who worked for the village. Also, cool is a suicide where a woman decides to hang herself, and Julie, at one point, is trapped in a gated graveyard by a jealous Carol(Zora Kerova; who was upset because Daniel preferred Julie over her). A young Serena Grandi has an early role as the pregnant victim, Maggie, who is found by her husband in the catacombs. I think "Antropophagus" is very similar to Fulci's works at the time(..from "Zombie Flesh Eaters" into his more sadistic 80's gore flicks)and just as willing to push buttons, repelling weak-hearted audiences. To those of us who have seen a bunch of these movies, though, the impact isn't as severe, but I find his unflinching ability to shock rather amusing. But, I think it can be sensed, here, that when inspired, Massaccesi can create a sense of atmosphere. With the amazing setting, Marcello Giombini's often haunting music score, and Enrico Biribicchi's lush cinematography, Massaccesi had all the tools to make quite an impression. Unlike many, I didn't have any problem with the pace because my eyes were taking in the location and how it was brought to the screen. And, Eastman is quite an impressive beast.