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Director: Antonio Margheriti (Anthony M. Dawson)
Starring: John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Cinzia De Carolis, Tony King, Wallace Wilkinson
Screenplay: Antonio Margheretti, Dardano Sarchetti (as Jimmy Gould)
Music: Alexander Blonksteiner
AKA: Apocalipse Cannibal, Apocalipsis caníbal; Apocalisse domani, Cannibal Apocalipsis, Apocalypse domani, Cannibal Massacre |
Antonio Margheriti's (directing as Anthony
M. Dawson) Vietnam cannibal flick finally makes
it onto DVD courtesy of Image Entertainment as
part of their Euroshock Collection. Forget your
Hollywood Blockbusters - this is the kind of film
that DVD was invented for!
The film opens with US soldiers invading a Vietcong
village and freeing two POW's, Charlie Bukowski
(John Morghen/Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and Tom
Thompson (Tony King). Here we get to see the wondrous
sight of John Saxon as Norman Hopper wearing a
beret, firing off a machine-gun and generally
trying to look fearsome. As Hopper pulls the POW's
out of the pit, which has served as a makeshift
prison, one of them bites him. Now this is an
important thing to note and integral to the story.
Back in the good old US of A sometime later,
Charlie comes in search of his old pal Hopper
for a cannibalistic reunion. Hopper himself had
begun to exhibit signs of strange behaviour, including
biting the adolescent girl from next door when
she makes a pass at him. This obviously causes
Hopper a great deal of concern and he becomes
increasingly worried when he receives a call from
Bukowski.
Bukowski is soon on a cannibal rampage and Hopper
arrives at a scene of carnage wreaked by his old
friend and attempts to calm the situation and
manages to bring him into police detention. But
this is only the beginning as Hopper increasingly
gives in to his flesh-eating urges which leads
to him freeing his old mates Tom and Charlie and
together, as a flesh-hungry trio, they go on the
rampage across the city devouring whoever they
happen upon. They are, however, hotly pursued
by the authorities which leads to a literally
gut-wrenching showdown in the sewers beneath the
city of Atlanta.
Margeheriti's direction is solid and he has a
reliable cast who are all too familiar with films
of this nature. Saxon, King and Morghen play their
roles to the hilt, hamming up their performances
to the max. Saxon reminds this reviewer of an
American version of Hugo Stiglitz, his expressions
rarely change, except for maybe the occasional
lilt of those fabulous eyebrows. Morghen is dependable
as ever, chewing the scenery whenever he is onscreen
and dying a suitably gruesome death. What Italian
caper would be the same without a spectacular
Morghen demise?
Margheriti's film is hugely enjoyable, packed
full of memorable moments and rounded off with
a super-groovy soundtrack. Italian exploitation
flicks don't come much better than this. But don't
expect high production values or stunning dialogue.
This is simply Italian cheese at its finest -
nothing more, nothing less. |
