Cannibal Apocalypse

source: Cannibal Apocalypse

Apocalypse domani

Two US pow returns home from Vietnam with their commanding officer (John Saxon). The trio brings in a contagious disease. The film has good amt of action n solid gory kills. Ther is a tongue biting scene, a dog blow up, an eye-gouging, face smashing, neck bitings, a blowtorch, an offscreen navel biting n one of the best, the shoot up thru the abdomen. Nicely done effects. The only crib is how the biker gang catches up with the escaped asylum inmates. This movie is much better than the other cannibal movies released circa that time. I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently.

Likeable film from science fiction turned action director Margheriti. Cannibal Apocalypse features a lot of gore and violence in the fashion of Margheriti's older horror films FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and BLOOD FOR DRACULA. One of the only cannibal flicks to come out of Italy in the late 70's, early 80's which was not set in the jungle, but instead in some American city! Good camerawork at times, decent music by Alexander Blonksteiner, and a reasonably cool cast all give this its share of entertainment value. Good for gore in the last 20 minutes or so, while most of the action is confined to the short intro sequence in Viet Nam (which was decently well done). Passable, satisfying cannibal film, still does not hold a candle to Cannibal Holocaust.

Part zombie, part cannibal, part gore equals full of crap. Come on...it just doesn't work. Commando Norman Hopper(John Saxon)rescues a couple of Vietnam POWs who contracted a rare disease that compels them to consume human flesh. One of the soldiers, Charlie Bukowski(John Morghen)bites Hopper in the rescue. War hero Hopper will be plagued with cannibal instincts fighting their way to the surface. Bukowski escapes from a veteran's psychiatric hospital and immediately goes into relapse and a gory rampage begins. A gun battle with police will comprise the meat (no pun intended)of the movie. An overload of ridiculous profanity doesn't succeed in shocking anyone...just laughable. Special effects are just as hilarious. Also in the cast: Elizabeth Turner, Wallace Wilkinson, Tony King and May Heatherly.

With a title like CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE, one might go into this movie expecting an all-out war between humanity and roving bands of flesh-eaters, seeking out human snacks. Well, that would have been great. Instead, we get a few hungry people chomping on a few necks. John Saxon is serviceable as the Vietnam vet plagued by anthropophagic flashbacks about his former military comrades. Also, the idea of a viral, cannibalistic epidemic is a good one, hearkening back to Cronenberg's RABID. So, the story isn't bad, as long as you don't expect it to live up to it's overblown title...