Cannibal Man

Rating:
Summary: Anchor Bay rescues another so-so obscurity
Review: Eloy De La Iglesia's "Cannibal Man" isn't about horror or even cannibalism. Instead, it's more of a parable about lower-class oppression and how the poor are deemed insignificant by the rest of society.

Marcos (Vincente Parra), a slaughterhouse worker with a beautiful young girlfriend, accidentally kills a cab driver and as a result becomes increasingly homicidal toward people over the course of one week. He's befriended by an eccentric who lives in an imposing apartment highrise nearby, and eventually Marcos becomes undone by guilt and the fact that he'll never get away with his crimes.

"Cannibal Man" is an odd title for this movie, considering there's no cannibalism (save for a brief soup-eating scene, but I don't think that qualifies) and it really comes from an era that preceded the 'cannibal/zombie boom' of the late 1970's and early 80's. The murders are relatively brief and not very inspired by today's standards (how many times have we seen a meat cleaver through the face in slasher films?), but the interaction between Marcos and his friend Nester is what really makes the movie. Morality, and--to a lesser degree--sexuality are questioned in a way that make "Cannibal Man"'s by-the-numbers bloodshed forgivable.

Recommended, but view with an open mind. This isn't the horror of Fulci or Argento, but is still worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: Anchor Bay rescues another so-so obscurity
Review: Eloy De La Iglesia's "Cannibal Man" isn't about horror or even cannibalism. Instead, it's more of a parable about lower-class oppression and how the poor are deemed insignificant by the rest of society.

Marcos (Vincente Parra), a slaughterhouse worker with a beautiful young girlfriend, accidentally kills a cab driver and as a result becomes increasingly homicidal toward people over the course of one week. He's befriended by an eccentric who lives in an imposing apartment highrise nearby, and eventually Marcos becomes undone by guilt and the fact that he'll never get away with his crimes.

"Cannibal Man" is an odd title for this movie, considering there's no cannibalism (save for a brief soup-eating scene, but I don't think that qualifies) and it really comes from an era that preceded the 'cannibal/zombie boom' of the late 1970's and early 80's. The murders are relatively brief and not very inspired by today's standards (how many times have we seen a meat cleaver through the face in slasher films?), but the interaction between Marcos and his friend Nester is what really makes the movie. Morality, and--to a lesser degree--sexuality are questioned in a way that make "Cannibal Man"'s by-the-numbers bloodshed forgivable.

Recommended, but view with an open mind. This isn't the horror of Fulci or Argento, but is still worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: things that make you go hmmmm
Review: I read about Cannibal Man in a recent installment of the Catalogue of Carnage, which compared it to Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer and Polanski's Repulsion. The Henry similarities are superficially there, but this was no masterpiece of psychological disintegration as in the case of the latter. It's kind of about madness and economical oppression but ultimately leaves you kind of wondering what you just watched. Wondering also why it's called Cannibal Man. He doesn't eat anybody! He merely puts parts of his victims bodies into the meat grinder at the soup factory where he works. Not exactly a horror movie, though it did resemble certain stylistic elements of the great Italian films and featured a Rosemary's Baby-derived lullaby that played repeatedly throughout, Cannibal Man tells the tale of a man who is unable to face the reality of his actions and ends up with a body count as a result. There is a fair amount of gore, which apparently got it banned in several countries, but somehow I don't think this would upset anyone seeking out a film called Cannibal Man - the slaughterhouse footage is far more disturbing. The weirdest (and most potentially interesting) element in the mix was Nester, Cannibal Man's would-be gay lover with whom he goes for an intimate swim. It was hardly suggested that Marcos kills because of repressed homosexual desires, so this scene and the tension between the two men just seemed extremely odd. If this theme had been developped, it might not have seemed so misplaced within the context of the rest of the film. Nester was fabulous though and I looked forward to seeing him again after every scene and watching Cannibal Man's expressions in contemplation of this strange new friendship. The dubbing is laughable.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the beef?
Review: Real slaughterhouse footage and scenes of dirty urban slums set the tone for this stark and obsessive Spanish horror flick. A slaughterhouse employee named Marcos gets attacked by a cabdriver who takes objection when he and his girlfriend are making out in the back seat, and Marcos kills him. This sets in motion a week of killing, first to cover up the cabdriver's death, and afterward to keep the bodies piling up in his bedroom a secret. He tries to dispose of the body parts at the slaughterhouse, but he can't do it fast enough and soon the stench of the corpses is becoming a problem, and Marcos slips further and further into madness. Weird, pseudo-sleazy film that works even though it doesn't even attempt to live up to its title - there's *no cannibalism*. The dubbing is pretty bad and there's not much gore (most of the nastiness happens off-screen), but there's plenty of atmosphere and a sense of desperation builds in Marco's apartment. The DVD looks great except there is a little "film flicker" in a few scenes - nothing bad though. It's not big on splatter, but it's still worth a look for Eurohorror fans.

Rating:
Summary: I lost 98 min of my life
Review: The movie cannibal man is not like it says. First off, he isnt a cannibal at all. As a lover of cannibal films this is far from one. Even the description on the back is misleading. He works at a meat plant where he makes soup, wow how convenient on disposing of bodies. He does kill some people, but the scenes where people die arent that graphic so that wasnt worth my time and my friends who were there with me watching it. What is with his neighbor, the homosexual inuendos were there, and well really upfront and unnecessary. I do not recommend this film to anyone that likes cannibal films, or horror films. It sucked

Rating:
Summary: I lost 98 min of my life
Review: The movie cannibal man is not like it says. First off, he isnt a cannibal at all. As a lover of cannibal films this is far from one. Even the description on the back is misleading. He works at a meat plant where he makes soup, wow how convenient on disposing of bodies. He does kill some people, but the scenes where people die arent that graphic so that wasnt worth my time and my friends who were there with me watching it. What is with his neighbor, the homosexual inuendos were there, and well really upfront and unnecessary. I do not recommend this film to anyone that likes cannibal films, or horror films. It sucked

Rating:
Summary: Cannibal Man (1971) d: De La Iglesia, Eloy
Review: This film is one of the better-directed movies that made it onto the Video Nasties list. A gloomy and depressing Spanish movie much in the style of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1989). The movie tells the story of Marcos, a disturbed young man (Vincente Parra) who has been very desensitized by his job in a local slaughterhouse. He gets tired of butchering cows and starts killing people! One night while out on a date he goes "postal" and kills a cab driver in a heated argument. He later strangles his girlfriend (who witnessed the murder), then kills his brother for trying to convince him to turn himself in. He also cuts his brother's fiancée's throat when she discovers the bodies under the bed in his apartment. Her father comes looking for her, and in one of the gorier scenes, he is hit with a cleaver to the face. After slaughtering a woman who comes to visit his apartment things begin to literally stink, and the local dogs start hanging around. (Be sure to check out how many times dogs appear in this film, very strange indeed). The killer unsuccessfully takes his victims to work with him, and tries to turn them into hamburger. Realizing that plan was not going to work, Marcos finally turns himself in when a homosexual neighbor offers to help with the disposal of the bodies in trade for...favors. I enjoyed this one, but it left me with a weird dark feeling.