Bottom of the Barrel Movie Reviews: Cannibal Apocalypse
Here we are with another Bottom of the Barrel Movie Review. Today’s film is Antonio Margheriti’s Cannibal Apocalypse
The film starts out with Norman Hopper (played by horror film veteran John Saxon) having flashbacks to when he was a captain in Vietnam, and one mission in particular, complete with stock footage of soldier’s jumping out of helicopters, grossly over-acted deaths, and a funky 70’s porn soundtrack (and if all that isn’t enough to give you flashbacks, nothing will)
On this mission, they discovered two POWs in cage. They were in the process of eating a local girl who had fallen into their pit. And as Hopper reached into the pit to help them climb out, one of the men bit him on the arm.
Cut to the present day. .
Hopper has gotten off pretty lightly. While he has been having flashbacks, the other two have been in a nut house. But things are about to take a turn for the worse.
He is developing a taste for human flesh and when the neighbour’s skanky 16 year old daughter pops round to borrow the hairdryer (and crack on to him) he takes a little love bite out of her stomach.
That same day, one of the POW’s in the cage is released from psychiatric care. He goes to see a movie (of primarily stock footage of war) where he decides to take a chunk out of some girl’s neck. He gets chased into a nearby market where he grabs a shotgun holes up.
The police captain asks “Do we know who he is” and he’s given a name.
“I don’t mean his name dumbass. I’m talking about his background. Is he a subversive, a queer, a black, a commie or a muslim fanatic?”
Yep, even back then they knew what fuckwits muslims are.
Anyway, a cop is bitten, a nurse is attacked when the POW is brought back to the hospital, and the stage is set for the cannibal apocalypse.
(Now that's what I call eye gouging)
And then all hell breaks loose. The cop snaps, shoots one of his partners, and starts eating the other. The nurse at the hospital chows down on a doctor, and frees the two POW’s. As they go to make their escape they come face to face with….. Hopper, who has now given in to his cannibalistic urges. He takes the lead and they escape.
Off they head through the city where they are eventually forced into the sewers by the police who go after them with flame throwers and shotguns. (Btw – you watch how quick the crime rate drops were we to allow cops to go after criminal shitbags with flame throwers and shotguns)
(That is why they tell you to take some medicines with food...)
At the climax, Capt O’rielly proclaims that “this fucking nightmare is over”, but of course there has to be a surprise ending to show that it isn’t over. It turns out Hopper’s young skanky neighbour has cut up her aunt and stored her in the fridge.
Of all the Bottom of the Barrel Movie Reviews I have done so far, this seems like the least exploitative of them. Yeah there is some gore here, (and most of it is well done), but it never seems like the gore is the focus. Some might argue that this is an examination of the Vietnam War, but again, it hardly seems like that is the focus. To me, it seems like the director pitched it as a cannibal film, then decided to film it as an action piece around these characters.
This actually could have been a top notch film, unfortunately the script is not up to scratch. Most disappointing is the promise it shows but never delivers. A bit more effort into the other the two POW’s and the triangle between, Hopper, his wife, and the head shrink and we could have had a really interesting movie about these characters and their battles with their cannibalistic urges, and why Hopper was able to resist it so long. What was his special quality that enabled him to hold it off so long?
So rather than being a bad film, this is more of a “what might have been” film. However, extra credit must be given for the attempt at a halfway logical explanation of how cannibalism can be transmitted like a disease. When one character struggles to understand “How a social phenomenon such as cannibalism can become a contagious disease?” the reply is short and to the point:
“By means of some sort of biological mutation due to a psychic alteration.”
Yeah. Full marks for trying, anyway
This disc itself is pretty good. There is a great retrospective “making of” documentary featuring cast and director interviews, and a very interesting text essay – The Butchering of Cannibal Apocalypse.
Definitely worth checking out.
Stay tuned for more Bottom of the Barrel Movie Reviews.....
© by Tiberius Alatheus 2006