Customer Reviews

Cannibal Apocalypse

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Norman Hopper ( John Saxton from "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Enter the Dragon")is a former Vietnam vet living a normal life in Altanta Georgia with a wife. He still has painful memories with his times in Vietnam involving slaughtering some enemies and seeing cannibalism there, his war friend Charlie Bukowski ( John Morghen a.k.a. Giovanni Lombardo Radice from "City of the Living Dead" and " Cannibal Ferox")has been in the mental hospital for long and has been released. Charlie does have some kind of curse or virus in him still from Vietnam for a taste of human flesh as he unexpectedly takes a bite of flesh out of a person, now he is running from the authorities but suddenly the cannibalistic curse or virus also hits Hopper and another former vietnam vet named Tom are now on a campaign for cannibalism in the city to spread their disease.

Interesting and disgusting mix of horror and action from the director of Castle of Blood Antonio Margheriti. What makes it work is that there is some nasty gore scenes like the infamous shotgun wound scene and eating chunks out of human flesh, a cool if cheesy funk soundtrack with a war theme that almost sounds like the theme to "G.I. Joe", a grisly twist in the end and the film is also a metaphore on how the horrors of vietnam can affect a soldier and this is one of Quentin Taratino's personal faves.

The DVD has some very good extras like a documentary with the cast and director discussing about the film, two trailers, a video tour on the locations in Atlanta where the movie was filmed, cast and crew filmographies, a booklet, poster and still gallery and a text essay on the censorship of this movie when it came out here in the U.S. plus there is a hidden easter egg in the extras menu if you hit left on the word menu to see a trailer to the notorious cannibal epic "Cannibal Holocaust" which should come on R1 DVD sometime this year.

Also recommended: " Cannibal Ferox" ( a.k.a. Make Them Die Slowly), " Demons", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Dawn of the Dead" ( 1978 and 2004 versions), " Day of the Dead", " Jungle Holocaust", " Deep River Savages", " Caligula", " House By The Cemetery", "Rambo Trilogy", "Black Hawk Down", " Saving Private Ryan", " Platoon", " Apocalypse Now", "Nightmare City" ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead)", " Eaten Alive!", " Bad Boys 1 & 2", " Die Hard Trilogy", " The New York Ripper", "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky", "Rabid Grannies", " The Toxic Avenger", " Maniac ( 1980)", "Scanners", "Videodrome", " The Crazies", "Outbreak", " Stephen King's The Stand", " Re-Animator", " Resident Evil", "Resident Evil Apocalypse", "Hell of the Living Dead" ( a.k.a. Night of the Zombies), and " The Beyond" ( a.k.a. 7 Doors of Death).

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!

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.

Key lime pie. Spinach. Tofu. Goat cheese. Caviar. My mom's meatloaf. Human flesh.
Some things are acquired tastes. A few soldiers develop an appetite for cannibalism while fighting in Vietnam. Not sure how, they just contracted the urge to eat people. A war disease, of sorts. War changes a man, but this metamorphosis was quite unexpected.

Tarantino fave Antonio Margheriti jumps on the cannibal bandwagon of the late 70's-early 80's. He steers it a different direction though, instead of bloody bedlam in the jungle, these vampiresque savage chompers wreck havoc back in the city. This stars some great horror regulars, most notably John Saxon(Black Christmas, Elm Street)

This has some nice stylized murders, plus a great gory scene with a circular saw. But the death rate never gets to apocalyptic levels, I'm a little sad to say. As far as cannibal films go, this is pretty tame. Still, it's a worthy addition to a cannibal lovers film library.

A former vietnam vet named Hopper (Played by John Saxton) has reoccuring nightmares about his times in vietnam as for now he's a married man and living a normal life like any other person. Two of his former soldier friends become infected by some strange virus that makes them hunger for flesh and go berserk in the city causing some mayhem even at a movie theater, Hopper even finds himself infected with the virus joining up with the cannibalistic soldiers to go on a spree of eating people..

Gory and violent Italian/Spanish action horror thriller that also co-stars John Morghen whom is best known for roles in movies like "House on The Edge of the Park", "City of the Living Dead" and "Cannibal Ferox". The film came here to the United States in a cut version called "Invasion of the Flesh-Hunters" but now on DVD it's fully uncut and uncensored with the gore restored, sure there's not much in the plot but there is some good action sequences and some nasty gore effects like the buzz-saw slicing of someone's leg. Considered to be a personal favorite of Quentin Tarantino, the movie has grown to become a cult fave and is one of the better European horror flicks of the early 80's.

Most recommended.

When I first got Cannibal Apocalypse on DVD, I did not know what to expect because I only saw reviews about it. But when I saw it for the first time, I thought it was a good movie, but why name it Cannibal Apocalypse? There were a few scenes that showed the infected soldiers bite people, but they mostly used their hands or weapons to kill people. Other than that, it was a good movie. Also, it is worth it checking the extras that come along with the movie, especially Cannibal Apocalypse Redux. It interviews two of the stars and the director about how the movie was handled and so forth, especially the part that Quentin Tarantino thinks of this as one of his favorite movies ever. Also, it shows an alternate version of the movie that was edited on video here in the US. However, if you want the check out the Butchering of Cannibal Apocalypse option, you might want to come closer to read the text because of its small print. Other than that, good movie to see.

If you're looking for non-stop cannibalism gore munching, I don't think this will satisfy your appetite. There were only a few actual eating human parts and as for gore in general the two stand outs were a ridiculously huge shotgun blast right through a guy (yep, you see a bloody hole in him in all its gory detail, haha) and the other being a limb of a guy at a gas station getting sawed up into lots of meaty red pieces. Overall, the fantastic story about a disease from Vietnam compelling people to bite others, which infects others and results in an epidemic in the city, is cheese galore for guys that know how to appreciate b-movie madness. The acting is surprisingly good too, one of the dudes in the movie did an equally excellent job in House of the Edge of the Park a year later. He actually got a big gig this year too in the Omean re-make. Don't let all the negative reviews for this movie get to you if you're a b-movie fan, it's usually by someone expecting every movie to be as gory as Dead Alive. Ebola Syndrome is another good "cheese disease" movie, check that out too. I live for this stuff.

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.

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. **

This is a great horror movie that has withstood the test of time. The print is in great condition and the commentary provides interesting information about this movie. Such as John Saxon not realizing that this was a Cannibal Movie before signing the contract and then being a little baby when it came time to put the "BITE" on somebody. This movie has always held my favorite gore scene. See this movie just for that scene. It's well worth it.