Video Nasty #13
Anthropophagus The Beast
1980
IT'S NOT FEAR THAT TEARS YOU APART...IT'S HIM!
WATCH IT, IF YOU DARE!
NTSC Running Time: 90:54
Actual Italian title: Antropophagus.
Also known as The Grim Reaper.
Directed by Aristide Massaccesi (as Joe D'Amato)
Written by Joe D'Amato and Luigi Montefiore (as George Eastman)
Produced by Joe D'Amato, George Eastman, Edward L. Montoro and Oscar Santaniello
Starring: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi (as Vanessa Steiger), Margaret Mazzantini (as Margaret Donnelly), Mark Bodin, Bob Larsen with George Eastman and Zora Kerova
Body Count: 12
Availability: Uncut version on Region 1 2-Disc DVD from Shriek Show
BBFC Status
Why it's a Nasty: Cannibalism!
What was cut: Nothing...sort of.
Current UK Status: Antropophagus was submitted to the BBFC in its' American R-rated cut, under the title The Grim Reaper, which was passed uncut and awarded an 18 certificate on January 30, 2002. This version shears the extreme violence, and some early plot exposition as well.
Availability: Cut version on Region 2 DVD from Hollywood DVD as The Grim Reaper.
Anthropophagus The Beast was successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, making it one of the DPP39.
For anyone wondering about the odd title (which I had lots of fun saying when first learning how to pronounce it) and what it might mean, I refer you to the Science & Nature category question from this Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition card:
And the answer, of course is:
There you have it, Antropophagus means CANNIBAL!
The opening credits play over a happy German couple traversing through a small, bustling village with their little dog. They reach the beach. The girl goes for a swim, while her beau relaxes on the beach with some oversized headphones blasting awful music. Investigating an abandoned dinghy, the girl discovers it to be covered in bloodstains. Just as she screams, she is dragged under and becomes nothing but a cloud of murky red, Jaws-style. We are now treated to a POV shot of something advancing on the boyfriend, his girl's blood dripping onto the sand. The dog hightails it, the boy gets a hatchet to the head.
In true exploitation style, this gritty shock opening has little to nothing to do with the rest of the film. I love that.
On a cable car high above (a forest? a canyon?) we meet Carol (Zora Kerova), her pseudo-boyfriend Daniel (Mark Bodin), Arnold (Bob Larsen), and his pregnant (wife? girlfriend?) Maggie (a young Serena Grandi). Their talk of an island-hopping vacation catches the attention of Julie (Tisa Farrow, in her final screen appearance [She's not dead, she left acting to become a nurse]), who asks to hitch a ride to her destination, a small island that is never named. They arrive in Athens (sharp-eyed viewers will notice Joe D'Amato himself as the bearded man who exits the cable car behind the main cast) and meet up with Alan (Saverio Vallone), who takes them to the charter boat and off they go. Daniel is smitten with Julie, much to Carol's chagrin, while Julie is much more interested in Alan. To pass the time, Carol tries reading Maggie's fortune with Tarot cards...but sees no future, which disturbs her to the point that she tosses the cards into the Mediterranean. Upon their arrival at Julie's island, Maggie twists her ankle and stays on the boat with the skipper (an uncredited actor). The rest explore the island, the one the German couple was enjoying in the prologue, only now there doesn't seem to be a soul around...then Maggie and the skipper go missing and the boat drifts out to sea...
So begins the descent into madness and death as our heroes struggle to solve the mystery of the deserted village, find a way off the island, and survive whatever has befallen this idyllic place...
It is impossible to discuss why Antropophagus is not just a cult favorite but one of the most notorious and reviled of the Video Nasties without dropping some spoilers. You have been warned.
The island has been set upon by a creature that was once a man, but has become a monster (George Eastman). A vicious, silent cannibal, the Anthropophagus Beast is an imposing figure whose presence pervades the picture despite his small (ten minutes, if that) amount of screen time. To my mind, this equates him with Anthony Hopkins' performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs: not in the film much, but felt in every frame.
There are two sequences that have guaranteed the films' infamy. They are both brief and occur in the final reel. The first is the consumption of a fetus torn from its' mother's womb (while the gullible were convinced the effect was not an effect at all, but done for real, the reality is that Eastman was chowing down on a skinned rabbit purchased at an Italian butcher shop). The second is the film's final scene: The Beast is stabbed in the gut with a pickaxe...and he proceeds to feast upon his own entrails before collapsing. Though both sequences are brief, there is no buildup to them and the nonchalance with which they are handled only add to how effective they are.
And there are familiar faces here: Eastman was a D'Amato regular who appeared in Erotic Nights Of The Living Dead (which I mentioned in a previous piece) and he appears as the heavy in D'Amato's other entry on the Nasty list, Absurd, a companion piece to Antropophagus that some call a sequel (because it was made afterwards), some a prequel (D'Amato's opinion). Tisa Farrow (yes, she is Mia's little sister) stars in another Nasty, Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2, known as Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK. Zora Kerova also worked with Fulci on his brutal 1982 giallo The New York Ripper, a film so filled with sexuality and violence that it will probably never see an uncut release in the UK. It took 20 years to earn a BBFC certificate, debuting on DVD in 2002. [As it is a favorite of mine and was rejected by the BBFC at the height of the Nasty hysteria, we will be covering The New York Ripper in a later column.]
While it was a box-office failure, Antropophagus has become a touchstone for lovers of golden-age Italian horror. It is long on atmosphere and short on plot. The violence explodes in quick, untelegraphed bursts. The music is at times annoying, but unique. The cinematography is exceptional (D'Amato made his name as a cameraman long before becoming a director). Unusually for a D'Amato film, there is no sex or nudity, an oddity for a man whose career was mostly spent making pornography.
In the documentary Totally Uncut 2: The Horror Experience, D'Amato relates how, while filming in real Roman catacombs for the fetus eating sequence, the crew rented fake bones to augment the real bones. When shooting ended for the day, the crew packed up EVERYTHING. The rental house was horrified, and returned the real bones to D'Amato, who apparently still had them at the time of his death. His quote: "Maybe someday someone will want to make a pilgrimage to my house!"
I sure do, boss, but not for the bones. Just because you were cool.
Aristide Massaccesi: December 15, 1936 - January 23, 1999. Rest in peace. You are still admired and sorely missed.
I heartily recommend Antropophagus to anyone who wants to understand why Italian horror is so special. You may not like it, but you won't regret seeing it. We'll be covering Absurd in a little while. Until then, stay away from deserted Greek islands. I will do the same. Because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
