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The 39 Official Nasties - Part 1 (A-C)
10th Oct 04
Starting with part one, here's the full and comprehensive guide to all of the official 39 UK Nasties deemed obscene in 1984 under the Video Recordings Act. In this section are the titles listed from A-C.
You can access each review / plot synopsis by clicking in the links below (from A-I). In the next few weeks Part 3 will be published, at which point all links will become active.
 Absurd
(1981) Italy
AKA - Rosso Sangue; Horrible; The Monster Hunter; Grim Reaper 2; Zombie 6: Monster Hunter; Antrophagus 2; Ausgeburt der Holle; Terror sin Limite
Dir. Aristide Massaccesi (Joe D’Amato as Peter Newton) - 90m 06s (Medusa)
Plot
An apparent sequel to Anthropophagus The Beast, (although the only real connection is star George Eastman played a homicidal brute in that film also), Absurd is the story of an immortal from Greece called Nikos. On the run from his mad scientist priest, he tears his guts on a spiked fence, and is admitted to a nearby hospital. His wounds heal (“…it’s absurd… Completely absurd”) and he goes on a rampage, yadda-yadda. Plenty of gore throughout (heads in ovens, death by band saw, machete and pickaxe attacks, eye-gouging) the film finally ends when Nikos receives several axe strokes to the head.
Review
This is one of D’Amato’s (known as ‘one of the top most boring Italian directors’) more entertaining efforts, and contains all the relevant ‘Nasty’ ingredients: excessive gore (pretty much every 10 minutes), dodgy dialogue, bad dubbing and a simple rolling plot with competent direction. Occasionally touching on brilliance (the eye gouge scene in particular), this film sometimes feels near the quality of Halloween or Repulsion. As in Anthropophagus, George Eastman plays a mute killer, and some scenes are especially sadistic (the head in oven scene is very lengthy and has additional scissor stabs to the neck). This was granted a theatrical release in the early 80s with 2m 32s of cuts, but Medusa released two versions of the film on video, one cut and one uncut. Both sleeves were identical, apart from the spine whereby a sticker meant the film was uncut, whereas a holographic Medusa seal meant the film was trimmed of excessive gore. Astro films in Germany released 2 different DVD's under the titles "Absurd" and "Anthropohagus 2", but these were German language only and were both cut.
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 Anthropophagus The Beast
(1980) Italy
AKA - Antrophagus; Antropofago; The Grim Reaper; Man Beast; Man-eater; The Savage Island; Antropophagous Beast; Maneater-Der Menschfresser; Gomia : Terror en el Mar Egeo
Dir. Aristide Massaccesi (as Joe D’Amato) - 88m 14s (VFP - Video Film Promotions) 87m 57s (Video Shack)
Plot
A group of tourists, including Tisa Farrow (sister of Mia), visit a small Greek island, yet find the island deserted and dotted with corpses. Unfortunately for them on the island is a shipwrecked man (George Eastman in a similar role to his lead in Absurd) who has already devoured his wife and child. Now with a taste for human flesh, he sets upon the tourists, devouring them one by one. A particularly nasty scene involves the man stamping on a pregnant girl before eating her foetus. He finally receives a pickaxe in the stomach, and he dies eating his own intestines.
Review
This film was D’Amato’s first specific horror film and it’s not all bad. George Eastman plays a mute mortal flesh-eater (acting similarly to Romero’s zombies), and although there are long moments of boredom (the tourists wander endlessly around the island, in caves and dark houses) the film is fairly technically adept. To simulate lightning in one scene the Director of Photography shot day for night and then opened the aperture to represent lightning bolts. The gore is vicious and visceral, especially with the foetus-eating scene (although mostly the gore is saved for the last reel).
Originally released uncut on VFP, Anthropophagus was re-released with self-imposed cuts and a toned-down video cover by (now hard-to-find) Video Shack. It was recently re-released (2002) in the UK as Grim Reaper (the cut US version).
Buy the cut US version from Amazon.com
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 Axe
(1974) USA
AKA - Lisa, Lisa; The Axe Murders; The California Axe Massacre; The Virgin Slaughter
Dir. Frederick R. Friedel - 64m 49s (Video Network)
Plot
Three gang members (Steele, Lomax and Billy) kill one of their friends and terrorize the local townsfolk of a small community, before stumbling on an isolated farm, which is home to a young girl (Lisa) and her paralysed grandfather. Later that night, Lomax rapes Lisa, but she kills him with a cutthroat razor and hacks up his body in the bathroom. The next day Lisa ‘makes friends’ with Billy, but afterwards Steele rapes her in front of her grandfather. She manages to reach for an axe, killing her attacker. Finally, she serves the last member of the gang, Billy, a bowl of soup (containing Steele’s hand) and Billy runs from the farm only to be shot by two local cops.
Review
The central character Lisa is reportedly 13 years old in the screenplay, which is no doubt where some of the ‘nasty’ attention came from, as this film is relatively gore-free. The sound is very poor (both in music and dubbing), and a lot of the plot is (deliberately?) ambiguous. That aside, Leslie Lee as Lisa is hypnotic in her performance, troubled, but not afraid and obviously on the brink of mind collapse. Indeed, Bill Landis in Sleazoid Express describes Lisa as “one of the most haunting characters in exploitation cinema.” Two minutes fifty-four seconds of the humiliation of a shop cashier was removed for the theatrical release in 1982 (rating X) under the title The California Axe Massacre. It was passed for video release in 1999 and distributed by Exploitation in a slightly altered version (some scenes are slowed down to pad out the original running time, due to cuts).
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 The Beast in Heat
(1977) Italy
AKA - La besia in calore; Horrifing Experiments of SS Last Days; SS Hell Camp; SS Experiment Part 2; Holocauste Nazi – Armes Secrets III Reich
Dir. Luigi Batzella (as Ivan Katansky) - 85m 59s (JVI)
Plot
In an unspecified French town, Lieutenant of the Third Reich, Dr Ellen Kratsch performs medical experiments on a short, hairy naked man (The Beast), before he ravages and rapes a ‘sacrificial woman’, literally fucking her to death. Meanwhile, in the village, Nazis search for resistance group members, rounding up villagers, shooting old ladies and babies and raping the women. Back at the Nazi headquarters there is a lot of torture – electrodes to the genitals, fingernails pulled out, you know, the usual – whilst The Beast (still in his cage) tears pubic hair from his latest victim and eats it. There are a few more scenes that don’t really make that much sense, and eventually The Beast escapes and rapes Dr Ellen Kratsch, only for them both to be shot by the partisan fighters.
Review
By all accounts, this sleazy ‘Ilsa’ inspired obscurity is pretty dull. From the opening shot of the Swastika (which stays on screen for minutes) through to the unconvincing acting (Sal Boris playing The Beast is normally a comedy actor) and unnecessary dialogue to its tiresome ending, this really is too dumb to be considered offensive. The director apparently constructed most of it from one of his previous war efforts, When The Bell Rings, which probably explains its disjointed feeling.
It was never advertised, and had a very limited release from JVI, and is one of the most sought-after tapes on the DPP list because it is very hard to get hold of, although it is available in Holland on the "Video for Pleasure" label (currently OOP).
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 Blood Bath
(1971) Italy
AKA - Bay of Blood; A Bay of Blood; Bloodbath: Bay of Blood; Bloodbath: Bay of Death; Reazione A Catena; Ecologia Del Delitto; Antefatto; Twitch of Death Nerve; Carnage; Before the Fact-Ecology of a Crime; The Ecology of a Crime; Carnage; Last House on the Left Part II; The New House on the Left
Dir. Mario Bava - 80m 54s (Hokushin)
Plot
Frederia, a wheelchair-bound woman is murdered by her husband, Phillipo, who is in turn murdered by an unseen assailant on an island resort. A group of teenagers (and Frank, an architect) head for the resort as various villagers argue about the murder / suicide. One of the teenage girls is then killed with a machete after finding Phillipo’s corpse. Later, the rest of the teenagers bodies are found at Frank’s house by Rennie (Phillipo’s daughter). Frank attacks her with an axe, but she manages to stab him with a pair of scissors. There are a few more killings until it turns out it was all Frank’s plan. Rennie and her husband (Albert) eventually kill Frank only to be shot by their children the next day thinking they are taking part in a game.
Review
Mario Bava’s stalk and slash shocker is a fairly classy affair, stylish and full of plot-twists. The element of mystery is maintained throughout the film, and although the violence is graphic, it is not the film’s raison d’etre. Although sometimes described as a perverse reworking of "La Ronde", Blood Bath has often been cited as the main inspiration for stalk’n’slash movies such as Friday the 13th. The film often plays as a bizarre black comedy, with some great murders (including a throat-chopping of a young, a young man who receives a machete to the face and a couple speared whilst having sex – again see Friday the 13th.) Even Martin Scorsese has gone on record to say he is a fan of this film.
Initially refused a cinema certificate, the pre-VRA video release was uncut. It was re-released after 7 cuts (43 seconds) enforced by the BBFC on the "Redemption Video" label in 1994 as "A Bay of Blood". It is also available uncut in the US on Gorgon video, and on Image Entertainment DVD under the title "Twitch of Death Nerve". It was passed again in the UK in 2001 with 23s of cuts.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 Blood Feast
(1963) USA
Dir. Herschell Gordon Lewis - 64m 10s (Astra)
Plot
A knife-wielding maniac dismembers a girl in the bath and then takes her leg from the scene. The murderer is an Egyptian caterer, Fuad Ramses who is arranging to cook an ‘unusual’ ancient banquet for local woman Dorothy Fremont. At the back of Ramses’ shop is an altar to the Egyptian goddess, Ishtar. Ramses means to bring Ishtar back to life through a ceremonial (human) blood feast. Ramses then kills a girl on the beach and rips the tongue out of another girl’s mouth. Two Detectives stumble upon clues of Ishtar via a book club that a disfigured survivor belongs to. It turns out Ramses runs the book club, and it is how he selects his victims. He kills another victim and almost kills one of the Detectives (the last sacrifice needed) but they chase him into a garbage truck where he is ground to a pulp.
Review
Blood Feast is the oldest of the nasties. It was made in 1963 by Herschell Gordon Lewis (his first film) and has often been described as the first true gore film. It took one week to film, and it certainly looks like it as Blood Feast looks clumsy and semi-professional with bad sets and actors obviously reading lines. (Former Playboy model Connie Mason stars in one of the leading roles, but obviously wasn’t hired for her acting abilities). But that’s not really the point, as this film is purely about excessive graphic violence – a new concept in ’63. Amidst the carnage we are treated to a knife in the eye, the hacking off of a leg, and most famously the tongue removal where the killer holds a dripping sheep’s tongue, roots’n’all, above the red-sauced mouth of the victim. Audiences lapped it up, and it launched HG Lewis on a profitable cult career with such other films as 2000 Maniacs and The Gore Gore Girls, although Mr Lewis retired after this film to write books on mass-communication amongst other things.
Originally distributed in the UK on the Astra label, it was finally passed for UK video in 2001 after 23 seconds of BBFC cuts to remove a whipping scene.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 Blood Rites
(1967) USA
AKA - The Ghastly Ones
Dir. Andy Milligan - 67m 22s (Scorpio)
Plot
After an early attack in which a hunchback (Colin) kills a man and a woman on an island, three sisters (Victoria, Elizabeth and Veronica) receive a letter from their late father’s lawyer instructing them to stay three nights in their father’s house on the island. After this, they will be read the terms of the will. The sisters arrive with their husbands and are met by two maids (Ruth and Martha) and the Colin. Later that night Victoria’s husband is killed and Victoria faints. The next day, Elizabeth’s husband is killed whilst collecting wood. Gagged and tied to a workbench he is disembowelled and sawn in two. At dinner, Elizabeth’s head is served and Veronica’s husband is then killed (impaled on a pitchfork). Martha the maid and Colin the hunchback are also killed as Victoria and Veronica confront the murderer – Ruth the maid – who explains she is the fourth eldest sister and had planned to kill them all and blame it on Colin. Finally, Colin reappears, killing Ruth as Veronica and Victoria look on in disbelief.
Review
Yes it’s amateur, has a bad soundtrack, inaudible dialogue and a familiar ‘red-herring’ plot (spoiled by showing Colin to ‘be the murderer’ in the opening scene!), but this film is just about watchable thanks to its enthusiasm and gory (although obviously fake) effects. Milligan himself created the effects for the film, the most memorable being the murder of Donald (played by Richard Romanus who later secured a role in Scorsese’s Mean Streets). Secured to a bench, the killer exposes bare stomach before plunging in a knife and pulling out handfuls of intestine. The reckless camerawork makes it feel ‘almost’ like a snuff movie, especially when he is then sawn in half. Milligan later remade this film as Legacy of Blood in 1972.
Initially released on Scorpio video uncut with a reversible sleeve (one had bloody stills, one had an inoffensive knife), Blood Rites is still unavailable in the UK, but is available in the US under the title The Ghastly Ones on a double-edition DVD with Seeds of Sin.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 Bloody Moon
(1981) W Germany
AKA - Die Sage des Todes; Colegialis Violadas; Pro Fonde Tenebre
Dir. Jesus Franco 81m 35s (Inter-light)
Plot
Miguel, a facially disfigured man, kills a young girl with a pair of scissors and is detained in a psychiatric hospital for five years. Upon his release he is put under the custody of his sister Manuela at the resort / school where she works. The Countess then tells Manuela in front of Alvaro the principal that she has been written out of the will, with Miguel now the sole beneficiary. Manuela encourages Miguel to kill the others and he stabs one of the students (Eva). Angela, another student, finds Eva’s bloody jumper and asks Antonio to help her find Eva. More students are killed and Angela discovers several body parts before being attacked. Miguel comes to her assistance, and all manner of twists and deaths bring the film to a climax. (Manuela drugs Angela, Angela stabs Miguel, the Countess is killed, Alvaro grabs Angela, Manuela kills Alvaro, Miguel kills Manuela, then Miguel dies).
Review
Although this is one of Jess Franco’s better efforts, it still remains pretty unwatchable thanks to shoddy camerawork and an amateurish script. Using a similar plot strand to Blood Rites it even begins the film with a red-herring ‘murderous character’ – Miguel (with terrible disfigured face makeup) – who later becomes the saviour. Hackneyed plotting aside, the gore is surprisingly convincing, especially the opening murder and the stabbing of Eva, but no doubt it is the connection between bare breast, blood and knives, which caused the BBFC so many problems. A later decapitation is also fairly well handled, but ultimately Bloody Moon is overly lurid, derivative and on the whole pretty awful.
Passed in a cut ‘X’ rated version in January 1982, the uncut video from Interlight Video was available from November 1981. It was then replaced with the ‘X’ rated cut version, cuts totalling 1m 20s. It was recently re-released (heavily cut) on the resurrected Vipco label. An uncut version was released in Denmark (Vipco) and Greece (Delta).
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 The Burning
(1980) USA
Dir. Tony Maylam - 87m 26s (Thorn EMI)
Plot
A group of male campers at Camp Blackfoot play a prank on the caretaker (Cropsy), which goes terribly wrong when Cropsy is engulfed in flame. He survives (just) but is horribly disfigured and spends five years in hospital. On his release he kills a prostitute and head towards Camp Blackfoot. At the camp several teenagers set off on a canoe trip to Devil’s Creek. Cropsy kills the first (Karen) by slitting her throat, before hiding in a canoe and murdering a few more. Back at the camp, Sally and Glazer retreat into the woods to have sex and are despatched by Cropsy (witnessed by Alfred). Alfred warns the remaining group before stumbling on Cropsy’s hideout, a derelict building in the woods. Cropsy sees him and pins him to the wall as Todd comes to Alfred’s aid with an axe. It turns out Todd was one of the group responsible for the prank on Cropsy all those years ago. As a police helicopter arrives, Todd and Alfred manage to kill Cropsy by setting him on fire with a flame-thrower.
Review
The Burning is pretty much a straight rip-off of Friday the 13th (teenagers at Summer Camp are murdered one-by-one) but still manages to be fairly entertaining, largely thanks to two young actors making their film debuts – namely Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame and Holly Hunter. The other big plus for the film is the clever effects work from Tom Savini (who turned down Friday the 13th Part 2 to work on The Burning) with many gruesome decapitations, limb-lopping and a finger-flying raft massacre. However, the plot is pretty pedestrian and the film’s attempts at humour largely fall flat. Overlook the terrible dialogue though, and The Burning still rewards. Director Tony Maylem later went on to direct the Rutger Hauer sci-fi film Split Second.
When Thorn EMI initially submitted The Burning to the BBFC, 15 seconds of cuts were requested. Unfortunately the company had (accidentally?) distributed copies of the uncut master and were subsequently raided by the police. The uncut version was quickly withdrawn and they appealed to dealers to return the uncut copies in exchange for the BBFC-approved tapes, although most dealers kept the uncut versions. The cut version had a date-stamp on a two-colour label, whereas the uncut version was date-free in a single-colour label. Vipco finally managed to release the uncut version in 2002.
Buy the UNCUT UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk
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 Cannibal Apocalypse
(1980) Italy
AKA - Apocalipse domain; The Cannibals are in the Streets; Cannibals in the Street; Cannibals in the City; Cannibal Apocalipsis; Apocalipse Cannibal; Apocalipsis Caníbal; Cannibal Massacre; Hunter of the Apocalypse; Savage Apocalypse; The Slaughterers; Savage Slaughterers; Invasion of the Flesh Hunters; Virus
Dir. Antonio Margheriti - 92m 06s (Replay)
Plot
During a Vietnam rescue mission, Hopper finds two POW soldiers (Bukowski and Thompson) who proceed to bite into Hopper’s arm. He wakes from his flashback as his wife (Jane) expresses concern about his mental health. Later, while Jane is at work, Mary calls on Hopper and makes a pass at him, but Hopper seemingly bites her stomach. At a cinema, the recently-released Bukowski takes a bite of flesh from a woman before running away and killing a biker and a security guard at a shopping mall. Hopper convinces Bukowski to give himself up and at the hospital he meets Thompson. Together they attack a nurse (Helen). Helen ‘turns cannibal’ and releases Bukowski and Thompson. Hopper kills an orderly and the together the four steal an ambulance. They kill a mechanic and some bikers before escaping into the sewer system. Helen and Bukowski are shot, and Thompson is burned alive with a flamethrower, but Hopper escapes only to see his wife killed by an infected doctor. He is then killed himself, but the virus is now spreading thanks to neighbour Mary.
Review
Although initially this film comes across as a cross between the Italian cannibal movies and Vietnam flicks, it’s main inspiration seems to come from the Vampire myth, in so far as the characters are bitten and infected with a virus that causes the victims to develop a taste for human blood. It’s actually not a bad attempt, made credible by the appearance of such genre names as John Saxon, John Morghen and Tony King from Shaft. It was allegedly made to cash in on the trend of the zombie and cannibal movies at the producers request as both Saxon and director Margheriti have since claimed that they were against including an extensive amount of gore. The gore is extreme, but not particularly well done (by Giannetto De Rossi of Zombie Flesh Eaters fame), featuring severed legs, heaps of flesh tearing, eyeball gouging and a great gaping abdomen hole caused by a shotgun blast.
It was released uncut in the UK in August 1982, but has never been re-issued, even though it would probably have little trouble passing uncut these days. An uncut US DVD by Image Entertainment is available, but beware of a heavily censored US ‘R’ rated video going under the name of Invasion of the Flesh Hunters.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 Cannibal Ferox
(1981) Italy
AKA - Make Them Die Slowly; Let Them Die Slowly; Woman From Deep River; Die Rache der Kannibalen; Canibal Feroz
Dir. Umberto Lenzi - 89m 08s (Replay)
Plot
Mike rips off a drug gang to the tune of $100,00 and disappears from New York. Meanwhile, Patricia, Gloria and Rudy are in the Sth American jungle looking for cannibals (in an effort to disprove cannibalism exists). When their jeep gets stuck, they continue on foot, and happen across Mike and an injured Joe, screaming about cannibals, informing the group they were captured but then escaped. After a few incidental animal killings, the group find the village, but it is now deserted save for a few old men. Gloria wants to leave but Joe becomes more ill, so they decide to stay. Mike and Patricia have sex and Mike then kills a young native girl. Joe dies, but not before telling the group that Mike is psychotic. Mike does a runner with Pat, but the cannibals return, feasting on Joe’s body and capturing Mike and Pat. Rudy is killed, and Mike is castrated - his genitals eaten before his own eyes. He then has his hand chopped off, and the top of his head taken off with a machete. Pat is suspended by hooks through her breasts and killed. Gloria escapes, and three months later receives a Doctor’s Degree for her dissertation, “Cannibalism: The End of a Myth.”
Review
Prompted by the success of Cannibal Holocaust, Umberto Lenzi returned to the jungle (after Deep River Savages in 1972) for financial reasons. How we all wish he had never bothered. This is a real nasty, vicious and without any redeeming features whatsoever. Copying Deodato’s template for Holocaust almost scene-for-scene, but without any of the style, Lenzi bombards us with real animal mutilations, limb hacking, eye gouging, castration and hooks through breasts. Acting is below poor, direction non-existent and it seems Lenzi was only really concerned with cramming the film with as many shocking moments as possible. Repugnant filmmaking – avoid.
In the UK, Replay released two versions in October 1982 – an uncut release with a ‘self-imposed XX’ certificate, and one cut version (about 7 minutes was excised) with an unofficial BBFC 18 certificate. The cut version was eventually passed in 2000 on the Vipco label, with an extra 6 seconds removed for animal cruelty.
It has been released uncut in Denmark by Vipco, in Germany by Astro, on Austrian DVD by Sazuma and across Europe on the Cosa Nostra video label. There is also an uncut special edition US DVD and laserdisc by Grindhouse.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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 Cannibal Holocaust
(1979) Italy
AKA - Cannibal Massaker; Holocausto Cannibal; Nackt und Zerfeischt
Dir. Ruggero Deodato - 85m 14s (Go)
Plot
A search party is dispatched to the Sth American jungle to find a missing documentary film crew. Eventually, with the co-operation of the Yamamono tribe, they find the skeletal remains of the expedition and several undeveloped rolls of film. Back in New York, Professor Monroe is given the task of assembling the footage to create a documentary. From here on in, the focus of the film is the footage that was found (a la Blair Witch). We watch the footage of the crew (Alan, Faye, Jack and Mark) as they enter the jungle with guide, Felipe. They kill a turtle and eat it. Felipe is bitten by a snake and has his leg amputated, but he still dies. They come across the village of the Yacumo tribe and terrorise the village, burning the huts (and several of the tribe) to the ground – ‘for the sake of the documentary’. The men then capture and rape a young girl from the Yamamono tribe, before discovering a woman’s body impaled on a stake. Suddenly they find themselves surrounded by the Yamamono tribe who attack. A spear hits Jack and Alan shoots him dead. The tribe hack Jack’s body to pieces, feeding on his intestines. Faye is then captured, raped and bludgeoned to death. Alan and Mark are also killed on camera in the last frames of the footage. Back in New York, a shocked executive calls for the material to be destroyed.
Review
This is more like it! Cannibal Holocaust remains one of the most (if not THE most) powerful and expertly made films on the VRA list. With a fantastic score and an impressive film-within-a-film technique that utilises some remarkably ‘real’ hand-held footage CH grabs you by the throat from th outset and refuses to let go. Indeed, the film has consistently – and quite ridiculously – been labelled as a genuine snuff movie over the years, largely due to its unrelenting faux-documentary style that directly inspired The Blair Witch Project. Several prints exist around the world including the original UK release, trimmed by 6m 24s of excessive animal mutilations and sexual violence, which in fact makes it a far superior film than the original Director’s Cut. Deodato is still immensely proud of the film, calling it a “splendid film. I still can’t understand how I managed to direct it with such finesse and expertise”. If you only ever see one Cannibal film, make sure it’s this definitive movie – the ne plus ultra of the cannibal genre.
The original release first appeared in April 1982 and the full uncut version was submitted to the BBFC in 2001 by Vipco. It was eventually passed after 5m 44s of cuts, which removed all the animal cruelty and heavily toned down the rape scenes. The film is available on Japanese Laserdisc, uncut but optically censored. Cult Epics released an uncut laserdisc and video in Holland, and the Vipco and Cosa Nostra labels released uncut videos across Europe. EC Entertainment released an uncut DVD across Europe.
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 The Cannibal Man
(1972) Spain
AKA - La Semana del Asesino; The Apartment on the 13th Floor; Week of the Killer
Dir. Eloy De La Iglesia - 94m 13s (Intervision)
Plot
Marcos works in a poorly paid job at the local Flory soup factory and lives in a run-down shack in the middle of a wasteland. He is regularly watched by a voyeur, Nestor, who lives in a nearby tower block. One night Marcos meets his fiancée (Paola) but Marcos accidentally kills a taxi driver when they are kicked out of the cab for being to amorous. When Paola suggest they should go the police the following evening, Marcos strangles her and dumps her body. When his brother (Steve) calls the following evening Marcos kills him. The following evening Carmen (Steve’s fiancée) arrives, and Marcos kills her too. Carmen’s father is the next victim, and Marcos begins cutting up the bodies to dump in the soup-making machine. After a brief dalliance with Ruth the waitress, Marcos is confronted by Nestor, who tells Marcos he knows about the murders. Marcos threatens him, but Nestor shows no fear, not caring whether he lives or dies. Overcome with guilt, Marcos then confesses to the police, whilst being watched by Nestor.
Review
The Cannibal Man was made in Spain while the country was still under the rule of General Franco, and is really more of a psychological study of a man’s breakdown than a horror film. There is a general theme of being observing and being observed running throughout the film. It obviously has art-house aspirations, and the gore is infrequent, although reasonably effective (although the scene with the meat cleaver in the face – reminiscent of Friday the 13th part 2 - is obviously a plastic toy). It’s not a great film, but by no means catastrophic, and it seems a shame that it ended up on the VRA banned list, largely due to the word Cannibal in its title.
The film was re-released on the Redemption label in the nineties (with an 18 certificate) with one second of cuts. An uncut DVD is available in the US from Anchor Bay.
Buy the UNCUT US DVD from Amazon.com
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More Information
This article was compiled with the help of various sources including;
Books
See No Evil : Banned Films and Video Controversy
by David Kerekes and David Slater
Nightmare Movies
by Kim Newman
The Art of the Nasty
by Nigel Wingrove and Marc Morris
Shock Express - The Essential guide to exploitation cinema
by Stefan Jaworzyan
Websites
www.angelfire.com/darkside/
www.itsonlyamovie.co.uk/coverscans.htm
www.melonfarmers.co.uk/nasties.htm
Posted by
Rawshark
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