{"id":524,"date":"2015-10-10T07:19:27","date_gmt":"2015-10-10T12:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/?p=524"},"modified":"2017-05-04T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T14:41:46","slug":"antropophagus-1980-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/?p=524","title":{"rendered":"Antropophagus (1980) – Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in the early 1980s, when home video was still a fairly new technology, there was a group of movies collectively known in the United Kingdom as \u201cvideo nasties.\u201d To make a long story short, these were violent, often gory movies that were released on home video but had managed to bypass the nation\u2019s classification and censorship board. Over 70 movies were compiled onto a list, many of which were prosecuted for violating obscenity laws. The movies on that list became the video nasties. Most of the movies were heavily edited before they could be released in the UK, but some were banned completely. Even to this day, a few video nasties have never seen an official UK release.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antropophagus<\/span><\/i> is a video nasty. It is an Italian horror movie originally released in 1980 and has been known by many different names over the years. I was most familiar with the VHS release in the United States titled <\/span>The Grim Reaper<\/span><\/i>, but I\u2019ve since learned that the version I was most familiar with was censored. I remember watching the video was younger and liking it, but now that I\u2019ve seen the uncensored version I like it even more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antropophagus <\/span><\/i>stars Tisa Farrow (whom I know best from Lucio Fulci\u2019s <\/span>Zombie<\/span><\/i>) in what would be her last acting role to date. She plays Julie, a woman who hitches a ride with a group of young travelers on a boat set for the Greek islands. Julie is supposed to meet her friends on one of the islands, but when they arrive they find the place seemingly deserted. The streets and all the houses are devoid of people. To make matters worse, their boat has drifted away from the dock. With no way off the island, the group has no choice but to spend the night, but they soon find out that they might not be as alone as they think they are. Whoever (or whatever) caused the island\u2019s inhabitants to disappear is still present, and it soon makes itself known.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The
The group finds themselves all alone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In its edited version, <\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i> plays kind of like a murder mystery more than a horror movie, especially for the first two-thirds of the film. There\u2019s something mysterious watching the group and taking them out one by one as they try to figure out what happened on the island and how to escape. Some people might find the movie a bit slow at times because it does take a while for the action to really pick up, but these quieter times do a good job of building tension and mystery. Plus, even in the quiet times there are a few good scares scattered throughout.<\/span><\/p>\n

The time taken to develop the story also allows for some decent character building, so even when certain member of the group act irrationally, you understand why they acted that way. All of the tension built in the first part of the movie serves as a good contrast to the action in the latter part which becomes somewhat frantic at times. Because of this, I think even the edited version of <\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i> is enjoyable. Still, I would suggest seeking out the uncut version of the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

The uncut version of <\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i> doesn\u2019t really change the story, but it definitely changes the tone. Most of the cuts were of additional blood and gore effects. Some of the cuts are of just a few seconds here and there when the camera lingered too long on the blood of a victim, but other effects were cut entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Scenes
Shots like this are lengthened in the uncensored version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are some pretty brutal murders in this movie, but the edited version doesn\u2019t really give the audience the full sense of the violence being perpetrated. The thing hunting the group has lost all sense of its humanity. This is downplayed somewhat in the edited version because the audience doesn\u2019t get to see all of what it\u2019s doing to people. I think that\u2019s a very important part of the story. This is especially true in the final scene where the edited version ends very abruptly and completely changes the impact of the movie\u2019s climax.<\/p>\n

As much as I think the gore is important to the story, there\u2019s really not a ton of it in the movie. Italian horror from that era was known for its gory special effects, but I\u2019ve seen way more violent and bloody movies than <\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i>, at least in terms of volume. There aren\u2019t as many gory scenes as you might expect from a movie called a video nasty, but the ones that are there make quite an impact. Such as the finale that I\u2019ve already mentioned and another specific scene that I don\u2019t want to spoil here. I\u2019ll just say that it takes place in a crypt towards the end of the movie. I probably won\u2019t forget that one any time soon. It was probably one of the main reasons why\u00a0<\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i> found itself on the video nasty list.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen some of the other video nasties, and <\/span>Antropophagus <\/span><\/i>isn\u2019t my favorite even among those, but it\u2019s a movie I\u2019ll go back to and watch again every once in a while. Like many Italian horror movies, its combination of graphic violence and tension work well to create some memorable moments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"His
His is a face that I’ll remember for a while.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RATING<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0–\u00a0Pretty Good<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/code><\/p>\n

I would suggest any fan of Italian horror movies to check out <\/span>Antropophagus<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s not the best of breed, but it\u2019s definitely worth a watch. Take the extra effort to make sure you watch the uncut version though. It\u2019s a few minutes longer and really gives the movie more of an impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER WATCHING<\/u><\/b><\/h3>\n

Absurd<\/i><\/b> (1981)
\n\"\"Absurd<\/em> is\u00a0another Italian horror that made it onto the video nasty list. It’s written and directed by the same two men as\u00a0Antropophagus\u00a0<\/em>(George Eastman and Joe D’Amato respectively) and is kind of a companion movie to it. The stories have nothing to do with each other, but the villain in\u00a0Absurd<\/em> is again played by the same man (writer George Eastman) and the two monsters share some striking similarities. As with other video nasties, there is a fair amount of blood and gore in\u00a0Absurd<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Watch the\u00a0Absurd\u00a0<\/em>trailer.
\n<\/a>(The trailer credits Peter Newton as the director, but that’s a pseudonym used by Joe D’Amato.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DETAILS<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Title: Antropophagus
\n<\/em>Some Alternate Titles: Anthropophagous<\/em>:\u00a0The Beast<\/em>, The Grim Reaper<\/em>,\u00a0The Savage<\/em> Island<\/em>, Zombie 7: Grim Reaper\u00a0<\/em>(even though it has nothing to do with the\u00a0Zombie<\/em> movies)
\nYear: 1980
\nDirector:\u00a0Joe D’Amato
\nWriter:\u00a0Joe D’Amato, George Eastman
\nFeatured Cast:\u00a0Tisa Farrow, George Eastman, Saverio Vallone, Zora Kerova, Mark Bodin, Margaret Mazzantini, Bob Larson, Serena Grandi
\nRun Time: 87 minutes (cut), 90 minutes (uncut)<\/p>\n

Availability:\u00a0Available on DVD<\/p>\n

Watch the Antropophagus<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>trailer.<\/a><\/p>\n

REFERENCES<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0082479\/<\/a> (IMDB page)<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Antropophagus, an Italian horror movie and one of the infamous video nasties, has been known by many names and seen in many different versions, but are any of them worth seeking out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442,5],"tags":[253,255,250,249,265,258,167,256,257,264,263,261,266,168,252,251,259,254,260,267,262],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-review","category-review","tag-253","tag-absurd","tag-anthropophagous","tag-antropophagus","tag-bob-larson","tag-george-eastman","tag-gore","tag-italian","tag-joe-damato","tag-margaret-mazzantini","tag-mark-bodin","tag-saverio-vallone","tag-serena-grandi","tag-splatter","tag-the-beast","tag-the-grim-reaper","tag-tisa-farrow","tag-video-nasty","tag-zombie","tag-zombie-7","tag-zora-kerova"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}