Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.
Sometimes you revisit movies from the infamous Video Nasty list and find them pretty tame, especially by today’s standards for extreme horror. Granted, some horror movies that were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act were targeted solely because of their title and VHS cover art, but some featured just enough gore that it drew the ire of the censors. Then there were the movies that flat out tested the boundaries of taste. The movies that definitively earned their spot on the list. The title of Joe D’Amato’s gory cult horror movie gives a hint of the madness within; anthropophagus is a synonym cannibal, after all. But still, if you were to go in blind, you’d probably start to wonder if maybe this was another tame horror movie undeserving of its Video Nasty status. Don’t worry. It belongs on the list.
The movie opens with a pair of German tourists enjoying a day together on a remote beach with their dog (don’t worry, the dog is smart enough to hightail it out of there when it notices something is off). They’re brutally murdered by an unseen foe. With that bloody opening kill out of the way, the movie introduces us to our core group of characters. They’re a group of friends touring the Greek islands by boat and find themselves intrigued by a remote island that seems inhabited, but upon further investigation find it to be completely empty of people save for one or two unhinged women. While there, the boat leaves them behind, and they soon discover why the island has been abandoned.
All of this takes time. D’Amato is trying to create an eerie atmosphere. We don’t see the killer for a long time, and at least a third of the film is the characters wandering the empty streets in search of answers. There’s one decapitation and a kidnapping of a pregnant woman, but again, we never see the killer and it’s fairly bloodless. But things to pick up, and the final act of the film delivers on the gore and then some; there are two particularly grisly, taboo-breaking scenes that earned this film its reputation (and Video Nasty status no doubt).
The group of friends start getting killed one by one in violent ways, and the anthropophagus finally makes his appearance known. They piece together that he’s the reason the island is empty; he’s eaten just about every living thing on it. He’s fond of gnawing on throats, eviscerating the flesh and gushing blood everywhere. But it’s nothing compared to the infamous scene that sees him tear out the pregnant woman’s fetus and devour it- umbilical cord and all. Yes, this scene was the one that no doubt turned the censors green, then red with rage. The anthropophagus’ final moments are also pretty extreme, but still doesn’t manage to revolt quite in the same way.
The anthropophagus is played by George Eastman, who also produced and wrote the screenplay based on the story idea he and D’Amato came up with. Makeup was handled by Pietro Tenoglio, an artist with a lengthy list of credits to his name, but StageFright and Castle Freak are the most recognizable titles for genre fans. D’Amato was a director that dabbled in all sorts of genres, but he was best known for his work in porn and horror. He approached shooting his horror films the same way he did his erotic films; simple and straightforward with a focus on the titillating bits. In this case, it meant a hyper-focus on slurping, munching, stabbing, and gruesome moments of gore.
Anthropophagus is a movie that’s been released under various titles; Anthropophagous: The Beast, The Grim Reaper, Man Beast, Man-Eater, and The Savage Island. That’s an important distinction here, as they indicate different cuts. For example, in the U.S., the film was initially released as The Grim Reaper, which was an abridged version of the original. As for Anthropophagus’ Video Nasty status, it finally passed uncut in 2015.
Whereas most of the notable Italian cannibal horror offerings took place in the jungle and presented a no holds barred frenzy of visceral violence, Anthropophagus takes a quieter, slasher approach to its man-eater. Like Cannibal Holocaust, many people believed it to be a snuff film at time of release. It’s not nearly as brutal, but it does offer some truly jaw-dropping moments.
