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Cannibal Apocalypse

Cannibal Apocalypse

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: oh dear!!truly corny!!
Review: back in the 80's here in england before video censorship this was one of the "video nasties" i didn't get to see:still banned in the u.k and i have to ask "why?"!!!some average acting,weak on the story dept(were you expecting one though?),and distinctly lacking in the horror dept:by todays standards the gore factor is low,hey!if you like blood,guts and horror watch private ryan,we were soldiers,band of brothers.this film,like a lot of these type of films,is only interesting if you want to re-live your youth,and catch up with what scared you way back when!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: oh dear!!truly corny!!
Review: back in the 80's here in england before video censorship this was one of the "video nasties" i didn't get to see:still banned in the u.k and i have to ask "why?"!!!some average acting,weak on the story dept(were you expecting one though?),and distinctly lacking in the horror dept:by todays standards the gore factor is low,hey!if you like blood,guts and horror watch private ryan,we were soldiers,band of brothers.this film,like a lot of these type of films,is only interesting if you want to re-live your youth,and catch up with what scared you way back when!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Funny, but that's about it.
Review: Cannibal Apocalypse (Antonio Margheriti, 1980)

Folks, I finally have the proof you need. Charles Bukowski may have been a drunk poet, but he was also... a flesh-eater!

Any film with a script by Dardano Sacchetti (Zombi 2) and directed by Antonio Margheriti (Andy Warhol's Dracula) is going to be either brilliant or brilliantly bad. While Cannibal Apocalypse does fall into the latter category, it's eminently watchable for the stupidity factor alone.

Poor John Saxon. He's made a lot of very, very bad movies over the years, but perhaps none have been so unmitigatedly awful as this. He plays an army sergeant who rescues two of his men from a Vietnamese POW camp, only to find they've turned into cannibals. Skip forward a few years. Saxon's character, Norman Hopper, is making horrible films like Atomic Cyborg and Hellmaster. No, wait; that was Saxon himself. Hopper is living in the suburbs with a trophy wife, Jane (Beyond the Door's Elizabeth Turner, in her final screen role), an even trophier girl next door, Mary, who wants to jump his bones (the stunning Cinzia de Carolis, of Virgin, Thy Name is Mary and Argento's The Cat o' Nine Tails), and a whole boxful of bad memories of Vietnam. One of the guys he rescued, Charlie Bukowski (Giovanni Radice, recently in Gangs of New York), has gotten out of the VA hospital on furlough and gives Hopper a ring to see if he wants to grab a beer. Hopper is in the midst of fending off Mary's advances, he goes into a flashback, interesting things happen that end up with Bukowski in a shootout with the cops and a biker gang in an auction house of the storefront variety. (No, folks, you can't make stuff like this up. You have to see it to believe it.)

Originally released in the US heavily cut under the title Invasion of the Flesh Hunters, Cannibal Apocalypse has finally made it to DVD in its original, uncut state. Okay, so in 1980 some of this may have been a little out there, but (still, as of 2004) banned in England? Sometimes I really have to wonder. It's not that extreme, certainly not in the same league as Cannibal Ferox. And I don't think being silly and stupid is considered a reason to ban movies yet.

And silly and stupid this thing is, but in the most fun way possible. Definitely worth it to watch John Saxon's wildly veering between overacting and underacting, and the predictable but pulled-off-with-aplomb minor plot twist in the final scene. Lots of fun, and probably a movie around which one could build a creditable drinking game. **

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Saxon+Radice+Italy+Cannibals=Good Stuff!
Review: Here's an Italian horror flick that's a cut above the rest. It's not as corny as most of the films in the genre(though it is still a bit corny), but the actors pull it off nicely. Of course we've got Giovanni Radice, who once again is great in his offbeat performance. As you probably know already, John Saxon(a fantastic actor not given his due) was lured into this one, and it's very amusing to see him in this kind of film. I think this film is hyped up to be alot gorier than it actually is(the notorious "sewer shootout", while cool and all, just isn't as gruesome as you're led to believe), though the violence is executed nicely here. As opposed to Fulci, who's violence is very slow and drawn out, this film's violence is quick, realistic and frantic. Also, the film's star isn't the gore or violence, but the strength of the performances and story, which is rare for this kind of thing. There are long stretches without any violence at all, and in my eyes, wasn't at all boring. Usually in this kind of flick, you couldn't care less about the characters and their problems.....you just want to get on with the gore man! You want the impalements and the cannibal feasts and the moldy, cruddy zombies blown to smithereens! Well, Cannibal Apocalypse is a truly standout flick that combines the best of both worlds.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Saxon+Radice+Italy+Cannibals=Good Stuff!
Review: Here's an Italian horror flick that's a cut above the rest. It's not as corny as most of the films in the genre(though it is still a bit corny), but the actors pull it off nicely. Of course we've got Giovanni Radice, who once again is great in his offbeat performance. As you probably know already, John Saxon(a fantastic actor not given his due) was lured into this one, and it's very amusing to see him in this kind of film. I think this film is hyped up to be alot gorier than it actually is(the notorious "sewer shootout", while cool and all, just isn't as gruesome as you're led to believe), though the violence is executed nicely here. As opposed to Fulci, who's violence is very slow and drawn out, this film's violence is quick, realistic and frantic. Also, the film's star isn't the gore or violence, but the strength of the performances and story, which is rare for this kind of thing. There are long stretches without any violence at all, and in my eyes, wasn't at all boring. Usually in this kind of flick, you couldn't care less about the characters and their problems.....you just want to get on with the gore man! You want the impalements and the cannibal feasts and the moldy, cruddy zombies blown to smithereens! Well, Cannibal Apocalypse is a truly standout flick that combines the best of both worlds.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spaghetti horror classic uncensored at last!
Review: I first saw this movie on video under the title Invasion Of The Flesh Hunters. It was obviously cut, but I didn't know just much was chopped off - until now!

Cannibal Apocalypse offers a neat twist on the classic zombie flick. The cannibals are not zombies, but Vietnam veterans infected with a disease they acquired during that war - a rabies-like disease that results in an insane hunger for human flesh.

John Saxon is the veteran whose quiet civilian life is disrupted by a visit from his war buddy, who is wanted for murder and infected with the flesh hunger. While trying to help him, Saxon and his friends become infected themselves and go on a rampage of murder and cannibalism, depicted in extremely graphic detail. Close-up flesh-eating, plenty of murders, and of course, gore galore made this film a Eurohorror classic.

When Cannibal Apocalypse came to the U.S., distributors edited out a sizeable amount of gore scenes in an attempt to avoid an X rating. Yes kiddies, there was a time when a movie could be rated X just for violence. These days, the MPAA only slaps the dreaded NC-17 on movies with explicit sexual content. If Cannibal Apocalypse were made today, its uncut version would have gotten an R. That really tells you something about the MPAA, doesn't it?

Anyway, thanks to DVD, horror fans can enjoy this classic film in its entirety. The widescreen transfer is much better than one would expect, but then, this release is geared to buffs like me who demand nothing less! The disc also features a documentary on the making and censoring of Cannibal Apocalypse.

So throw away your expensive VHS rip of the poor quality import laserdisc print and buy this DVD! But don't watch it right after you eat. :o)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ACTION/SPLATTER CLASSIC!
Review: Lot's of people will tell you that this movie is mediocre, if not terrible, but I bought this movie on DVD with high hopes and man was I suprised. This movie is great if your looking for a cannibal movie that isn't terribly disturbing, yet has lot's of action and some gore scenes that you would think would be cult classics! Like Bukowski's demise... I've had this DVD for five days and I already watched it three times, from beginning to end!
I definetly reccomend this for splatter/action fans and horror completists.

A bonus is that laughable funk music in some action scenes-ITS GREAT!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ACTION/SPLATTER CLASSIC!
Review: Lot's of people will tell you that this movie is mediocre, if not terrible, but I bought this movie on DVD with high hopes and man was I suprised. This movie is great if your looking for a cannibal movie that isn't terribly disturbing, yet has lot's of action and some gore scenes that you would think would be cult classics! Like Bukowski's demise... I've had this DVD for five days and I already watched it three times, from beginning to end!
I definetly reccomend this for splatter/action fans and horror completists.

A bonus is that laughable funk music in some action scenes-ITS GREAT!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Finally...
Review: Okay, folks...you can finally toss out your 18 dollar Cannibal Apocalypse dubbed copy you got on from the hazy looking Japanese laserdisc. Or you can keep it for nostalgia's sake. Whatever the case may be, Cannibal Apocalypse is a definite must-buy. Starring B-movie legend John Saxon and Italian horror boy Giovani Radice aka John Morghen, C.A. tells the tale of a Vietvet (Saxon) who during his stint killing is bitten by ol' Johnny who is trapped in a tiger trap gnawing on some poor fool. Flash foward to Atlanta, Saxon returns to his normal life after the war and just as luck would have it, Morghen shows up and the two embark on a cannabalistic murder spree. As one could guess, this film was heavily edited, released under a number of different titles and was a Video Nasty favorite for years. Now you can find out why!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Print. Great Special Features.
Review: The print is fantastic. The behind the scenes documentary with John Saxon and the others is very insightful and occasionally humorous. A must for all fans of John Saxon.


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