Antropophagus

Antropophagus
Directed by Joe D’Amato
Italy 1980

PLOT

A group of friends travels to an island in Greece to accompany Julie to visit a couple of friends. Upon arrival, they discover that the island appears deserted, seemingly held hostage by a mysterious and terrifying presence.

CONSIDERATIONS

This is the second foray into horror for the prolific Joe D’Amato (real name Aristide Massaccesi), following Buio Omega from 1979.
Antropophagus has earned cult status over time, although it falls within the popular Cannibal Movie genre of the era, with several nuances and facets that set it apart.

Technically, it’s a 100% D’Amato film, but what’s surprising is how the screenplay unfolds. The beginning is explosive: a couple stops on a beach, the woman is killed while swimming in the sea in a scene reminiscent of Jaws (!!!), while the man has his skull cleaved with a single, precise blow from a cleaver.
With this intro, we are immersed in the geographical beauty of Greece, and it’s the island and its village that dominate the first half of the film.
The group of friends moves through the streets and alleys of the town, evoking an atmosphere and mystery more reminiscent of the rural spirit of Pupi Avati than D’Amato himself. Surprisingly, with very few elements and an inspired cinematography, the tension remains constant, despite few actual shocks.

The monster, hinted at throughout the film, doesn’t appear until the last half hour when it reveals itself behind a door. From that moment on, Antropophagus changes dramatically, shifting to pure horror: violent and, at times, extremely splatter.
It’s in these death scenes that the film becomes a cult classic, with the memorable moment featuring a very young Serena Grandi in the role of the beautiful and pregnant Maggie.

Fetish actor George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori) delivers another memorable performance: the cannibalistic monster is a terrifying villain, with brutal strength, who devours, kills, dismembers, and eats his victims.
Before the unforgettable final scene (where he holds his own entrails in his hands), the film reveals the tragic origin of the creature.
Eastman’s physical presence and wild gaze would, in my opinion, find total consecration the following year in Rosso Sangue (Absurd), where he plays a ferocious serial killer.

While it’s an imperfect film, with its biggest weaknesses in the acting and dialogue, it’s still worth watching—both to understand the importance of a director who made significant contributions to the genre and to appreciate a product from a specific era where Italian horror set trends across Europe.
In 2022, Antropophagus 2 was released, inspired by the first film and directed by Dario Germani, though it is not recognized as an official sequel.

PANDEMONIUM MOMENT

The monster, after capturing Maggie from the boat, takes her to a cave and kills her by ripping out her fetus. Holding it in his hands, he bites into it and eats it.

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