The wife thinks that George Eastman is the scariest fucker on Earth in this film. She can't even look at the cover!
I agree with your wife!
Watching Eastman in "Absurd" for the first time all alone at home gave me nightmares for a few days....when I was 17 (Oh, the shame!
)
Anyway, here's my review I posted originally over at "Shameless":
Antropophagus Revisited
WARNING! This review will contain some plot spoilers, so if you haven't seen Antro yet, don't read any further!
The hate and hysteria media ralley against "violent videos" in the 80's had different faces in different countries:
In Germany, this face clearly belonged to George Eastman munching on his own entrails with a prizeless facial expression of insanity.
It's one of those images which did the rounds in prime time news programmes to stir up the mood against the video industry in general and horror movies in particular. It's the type of scene which'll get your average Joe to subscribe to any kind of censorship you lay down his doorstep.
Unfortunately, and very much unlike the UK, Germany hasn't left those dark ages in the last 20 years and is still living with a media policy very much rooted in that repressive 80's mentality.
Anyway, that's why "Antropophagus" is THE nasty for me.
It's not the best movie on neither, the DPP's or German list of banned movies, but it embodies so perfectly the charme, the attraction and shortcomings of the profilic Italian exploitation industry, which was originally- and funnily enough- catering much of their output directely for the bloodthirsty tastes of its hungry neighbouring country, Germany, in which movies like "Zombie Flesh Eaters" had become HUGE theatrical sucesses.
Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova and , of course, George Eastman aside, this movie is populated by a mostly pretty forgettable bunch of non actors.
But although I'm aware that many regard this as a rather boring affair with nothing much happening for the first two thirds, I see a lot of nice building up of atmosphere here. You really get a sense that our protagonists are trapped on this Greek deserted island with a cannibalistic madman and even sceptics have to hand it to Joe D'Amato that the scenes in the catacombs (combined with the spartanic, but effective synth score) are the stuff of true, primal nightmares.
As far as I'm concerned, no movie takes me back to 80's unspoiled VHS magic quite like "Antro", but I guess the likes of " Spit On Your Grave", "Cannibal Holocaust" or "Driller Killer" should have the very same joyful effect on UK fans of the "nasties".
****
