Antropophagus (1980)

Director: Joe D'Amato

Writer: Joe D'Amato, George Eastman

Tagline: ...He's coming for you

Actors: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini, Mark Bodin, Bob Larsen, Rubina Rey, Simone Baker, Mark Logan, George Eastman, Zora Kerova

Runtime: 1h 30m

Category: Slasher

Synopsis: A group of tourists find themselves stranded on an uninhabited island being stalked by a deranged killer. He has already killed the entire island town and is lying in wait for some stupid tourists to come bumbling along. Oh look…there’s some now!

Review: The reason the synopsis is so short for this review is not because I didn’t like the movie…even though I really didn’t. But it does have its moments and I have to give some credit along the way. But the actual reason for the simplicity of the synopsis is because of the simplicity of the story. One thing our predecessors of the horror genre knew how to do was develop a simple story that everyone can follow. You start to get too complex and the viewer gets lost, and eventually gets bored because they have no idea what’s happening. This simple story is definitely one of those ones that knew what it was doing; gross, creepy, shock value.

The story essentially follows this friend-group of tourists while some deranged madman picks them off one by one. And just as a side note, this movie would be a great opportunity to practice trying to figure out who the hero/survivors are. We get only a short, almost meaningless, forty-five second clip of the killer’s past that shows him, his wife and son lost at sea on a raft. After their son apparently dies, he tries to convince her to eat him. A struggle ensues leaving his wife dead…that’s it. I think that it was probably my least favorite part of the story because you get people’s hopes up thinking they’re gonna get a flashback explaining WHY this guy feels the need to kill and entire island town, and then some, and WHY he can’t be stopped. The plot holes and concept just threw me for a loop and made my head hurt.

The acting was pretty good except for the character of the killer. I don’t understand why they decided to make the killer look like and a bulimic hillbilly had a homo-love child with Don King and Freddy Krueger…with thyroid problems, poor oral hygiene, and the worst people skills I’ve ever seen since Naomi Campbell. I just thought that the character, NOT the actor, was too boring and lifeless. But all of the other actors did a good job…people back in the day, which, according to Mr. Dane Cook, was a Wednesday, knew how to act. You actually had to know how to act to star in a movie. Now-a-days, all you have to do is either know somebody, or put out for a director or producer. It’s sad how far we’ve fallen…hail to the olden days!

The gore and effects were not as bad as I thought they were gonna be. I was expecting some mediocre catsup-blood and some one-inch, catsup-blood covered rope. But the gore was pretty decent and have to give mad props to one scene that shocked me in Dark Corners (2006). They could have easily taken the scene right out of the movie it was so dead on. I’m talking about the scene where the killer takes the baby out of the pregnant chick…I will say no more. Major props for that scene, even by today’s standards that’s pretty messed up.

Rating: 16. Even though this is considered somewhat of a classic, I must be fair and say that yes, there were scary parts that got to you, and yes, there were parts that by all rights of the day should have been banned but, when your nemesis has no depth or dimension at all to speak of…it gets a little shallow. I must say that this movie was very well done with the obvious exception of the aforementioned. So please, if it’s a rainy day, and it’s late, and it’s on TV…watch it. (16of25).