“blood. he smells of blood. blood!”
one of the most notorious video nasties of all time, due to its infamous transgressive gore. is anthropophagous a good film? probably not. it’s runtime is often filled up with tedious walking around or unneeded prolonged conversations. it’s a real slow-burn, and is often criticised for just not being interesting until like the last 20 minutes. and while i understand all the hate this movie gets, but somehow i still kinda enjoyed it: coming in with an idea that it wasn’t going to be a bloodbath from the beginning really helped my expectations from getting too high. it’s probably not a crowd-pleaser, or very pleasing for contemporary or mainstream audiences, i still had a real soft spot for it. while yes nothing happens for like an hour, i really enjoy when slashers actually build some atmosphere up. the characters - while not particularly getting much or any development, they’re all relatively likeable. its sort of scary, because of how well it creates dread through the idea of these people being stuck on a remote greek island as a crazed cannibalistic beast stalks them, as the sun-soaked streets seem to be the only hope these tourists have. it’s basically like an underwhelming giallo, and i actually just don’t hate the idea of that. it’s not super interesting, but it just kinda works. the setting is incredible, and this mixed with the ominous, electronic score create a genuinely frightening feeling. with the first third of this film kinda dissected, the last like 20 minutes are easily the best chunk of the film. from george eastwoods chaotic, over-the-top performance as this once normal man turned animalistic creature who digests human flesh - and unlike many horror villains, his backstory of him being stuck on the island and him having to eat his family to survive is tragic. the gore in this movie is infamous for a reason - as it is super depraved and some of the most excess gore in any film (even though i think people’s reactions were kinda exaggerated). scenes include embryos being pulled out of the womb - using a skinned rabbit, but remaining as one of the most memorable scenes in exploitation cinema. this is super gritty, raw and a super refreshing slasher that has surprisingly a decent atmosphere and cinematography - mixed with insane portrayals of bloodshed.
“blood. he smells of blood. blood!”
one of the most notorious video nasties of all time, due to its infamous transgressive gore. is anthropophagous a good film? probably not. it’s runtime is often filled up with tedious walking around or unneeded prolonged conversations. it’s a real slow-burn, and is often criticised for just not being interesting until like the last 20 minutes. and while i understand all the hate this movie gets, but somehow i still kinda enjoyed it: coming in with an idea that it wasn’t going to be a bloodbath from the beginning really helped my expectations from getting too high. it’s probably not a crowd-pleaser, or very pleasing for contemporary or mainstream audiences, i still had a real soft spot for it. while yes nothing happens for like an hour, i really enjoy when slashers actually build some atmosphere up. the characters - while not particularly getting much or any development, they’re all relatively likeable. its sort of scary, because of how well it creates dread through the idea of these people being stuck on a remote greek island as a crazed cannibalistic beast stalks them, as the sun-soaked streets seem to be the only hope these tourists have. it’s basically like an underwhelming giallo, and i actually just don’t hate the idea of that. it’s not super interesting, but it just kinda works. the setting is incredible, and this mixed with the ominous, electronic score create a genuinely frightening feeling. with the first third of this film kinda dissected, the last like 20 minutes are easily the best chunk of the film. from george eastwoods chaotic, over-the-top performance as this once normal man turned animalistic creature who digests human flesh - and unlike many horror villains, his backstory of him being stuck on the island and him having to eat his family to survive is tragic. the gore in this movie is infamous for a reason - as it is super depraved and some of the most excess gore in any film (even though i think people’s reactions were kinda exaggerated). scenes include embryos being pulled out of the womb - using a skinned rabbit, but remaining as one of the most memorable scenes in exploitation cinema. this is super gritty, raw and a super refreshing slasher that has surprisingly a decent atmosphere and cinematography - mixed with insane portrayals of bloodshed.
