The Grim Reaper

A lot has been said about Anthrophagus' excellent special effects and for good reason. The film comes to life when it's showcasing decapitated heads in buckets or scalps being ripped off. When it's just following around our cardboard characters, it suffers and can't muster any suspense or even decent character drama to keep us invested until the next inevitably gruesome death sequence. The silly music score doesn't help much in conjuring a mood or sense of dread and, in fact, the U.S. version (under the title The Grim Reaper) has a much more effective score that uses various library cues. I'd recommend on the U.S. cut if it weren't for a lot of the special effects being trimmed (including the infamous fetus eating scene). If you're only here for the guts, Anthrophagus is worth your time, but if you want a little more substance, look elsewhere.

Going into Antropophagus aka Man-Eater (man i have a tough time, pronouncing that) I knew a couple things about it. I knew it was a classic of euro horror and I knew that it was supposed to be pretty gory. And I would say both are true. While watching the opening credits I also found out that it was directed by Joe D'Amato, big time sleaze/horror director. After seeing Buio Omega and this one really gets to know his style of directing. Antrophoghagahasus....Man-Eater is about a few wealthy people taking a vacation and visiting an island. What they don't know is that the island people have all vanished, thanks to one of the coolest villains in horror history. No joke. So obviously they arrive to the island, and bad things start to happen. Simple but fun. I hear people find this movie dull, and I can totally see where they're coming from. In the beginning especially there were a few instances I caught myself not even paying attention. But these day-dream episodes didn't happen again and I was pretty happy with the following results. The movie (uncut) isn't full of gore, but it has it's fair share, especially the ending which was funny as hell. It's one of those moments where you're telling yourself - He's not gonna...he's not...Awesome! - Actually there are two moments in this film that gage that type of reaction. If you're into euro horror, you've most likely already checked this out, but if you're just a horror fan looking for something different, this is one flick I would definitely recommend. It has D'Amato directing, pretty girls, cool gore, some nice suspense and a pretty badass villain. 8 outta 10

The thing about D'Amato, is he can take the most straight-forward film and make it over-the-top and sleazy...and that's why he's one of my favorite directors. He always goes just a little "too far" and I commend him for that. In ANTHROPOPHAGOUS - ol' Joe is up to his old tricks - but this time, he saves his over-the-top elements til the end for maximum impact, and otherwise weaves a pretty atmospheric (yet admittedly slow-paced) horror film. Not the constant shock-fest of BUIO OMEGA, nor the all-out sleazy exploitation of EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD - ANTHROPOPHAGOUS is more of a serious horror film with some "shocking" scenes thrown in for good measure. This one starts with a group of vacationers who decide to head to a secluded island for some R&R. Turns out the island is nearly uninhabited, and when the vacationers get stranded there - they start to piece together what happened to the original inhabitants of the island. Turns out a cannibalistic weirdo still roams the island, just waiting to pick off anyone who crosses his path. And soon enough, the vacationers will get to meet him face-to-face... A lot of people down ANTHROPOPHAGOUS for it's slow pace - which I can't really argue - but overall, the film is handled competently. The story is drawn out slowly and the island sets and backdrops are simultaneously beautiful and yet still creepy and atmospheric at the same time. The "bad-guy" is also suitable creepy and bugged-out looking - and the gore scenes at the end make up for the slow pace as the last 20 minutes or so are pretty fast-paced. There are some decent throat-bitings with tons of blood - a decent intestines-eating, and of course, the notorious fetus-eating scene which is the reason that the un-cut version of this film is so sought after. That scene is pretty cool - but is very short and still appears to be cut down. Overall, not my favorite D'Amato film - I'll still stick with BUIO OMEGA or EMANNUELLE IN America - but ANTHROPOPHAGOUS is worth a look too, if you go into it knowing that you'll have to wait a while for the "pay-off"... 8/10

Anthropophagus - The Grim Reaper ? Its grim alright. What a disaster this film is. This is a prime example of hype gone mad. I waited for this so called video nasty gem for ages in its uncut form but what a waste of time & money. Its awful. Not awful in an old bad acting video nasty way but plain awful in every way. I'm a massive horror fan, especially the nasties and this doesn't come into either category. One bit of gore at the beginning when a dozy guy gets a meat cleaver in his head (how exactly his brains start coming out I'll never know) then (a big mistake) the director puts a long winded 'plot' into his film ?? 45 mins of nothing. The acting to be fair isn't that bad but the dubbing is as usual awful. The actual monster when you finally see him looks like he feel asleep into his bowl of porridge and didn't bother wiping it off... I thought the film would be saved with the ending gore but nope, afraid not. The bit where he kills a pregnant woman and eats her foetus is over hyped. You hardly see anything. Sticks his hand up her dress while she lays on the ground and pulls out a red bag and puts it to his mouth. This was probably shocking 15 years ago but i've seen worse being served up in my local kebab takeaway. Actually, the owner looks like the monster too. A girl gets pulled through a roof with plenty of blood but again, doesn't look real because its too close up. The monster finally gets stabbed and begins eating his own intestines. Believe me I know how he feels as I felt like doing it also after watching this. The actual print of the film is quite good but the sound is very bad. I kept having to turn it up just to hear what they're saying. You know the films in trouble when the extras are better than the film, right ?!! A long documentary (65 mins) about the director which I thought was very fascinating & the usual Trailers then a Zora Kerova & George Eastman (he played the monster) public appearance thing (11 mins), which was quite good also. As you can probably tell I wouldn't recommend the film.

A group of young adults go to a Greek island, where things go from bad to worse when they find that everyone on the island -- with the exception of a blind girl -- has been killed. Clearly, they didn't see the exploitation film "Island of Death" to learn why Greek islands are bad. What they encounter is a man who is more beast than anything, with an insatiable thirst for human blood and flesh. This film has floated around under various names -- "Grim Repaer", "Man Eater" and the misspelled "Antropophagus" to name a few -- for quite some time, gaining notoriety for its banned status in England and two scenes which had to be cut when it was finally released (one involving a man eating his own intestines and the other with a baby being ripped from a womb and devoured). The hype is more than enough to get people to see the film, though it's tame by today's standards. (I hate to reference "Island of Death" yet again... but if you want to be shocked, the goat scene in that one easily outdoes anything shown here). I enjoyed this one. There's something about older horror films, even those with poor film quality, that have a value to them modern films lack. And the cannibal, played by George Eastman, is a disgusting creature in his own right. Even without the publicity or the previously cut scenes (now restored in many versions) Eastman is convincing and works well. (For what it's worth, the blind girl is also pretty cool -- on par with the blind girl in "Castle Freak" -- and I'm very glad they scripted her in to this one.) Decent plot, decent characters, decent blood and gore. Unless you're impatient with older films, this is one that is worth your time and I can see myself seeing it again and again if the opportunity presents itself. Make sure you get an uncut copy. You don't need those extra scenes to enjoy this film, but if you're going to view it, you may as well get the full effect and see what lead to the banning in the first place. You'd be surprised what gets people riled up.

Joe D'Amato's "Antropophagus" is a classic piece of Italian splatter.It boasts no less than three major veteran genre actors like Tisa Farrow("Zombi 2"-1979),George Eastman("Absurd"-1982)and Zora Kerova("Cannibal Ferox"-1981,"The New York Ripper"-1982).D'Amato manages to create some moments of genuine tension,including a deadly encounter in cannibal's macabre lair.There is also a nice amount of gruesome gore,including a legendary scene where George Eastman rips out woman's fetus.To sum up if you consider yourself a fan of Eurohorror you can't miss this film.Highly recommended.

How anyone can say this is better than its sequal "Absurd" goes beyond me. I saw this film (uncut) straight after Absurd and kept wondering when it was actually going to start - there is one initial scene where a guy on a beach gets a meat cleaver through his head (extremely unrealistic effects) and then the next "excuse of gore" is a head in a bucket which is so pathetically unreal I nearly split my sides with laughter !!!! The so called famous fetus eating scene is about the only thing that could atract anyone to watch this film and even that is poorly done. The whole concept behind the idea is definatly sick if you sit there and think about it but the effects really are poor and as for everyone talking about suspense and quality music - oh dear, I don't think you watched the same film as me. There is far too much cheesy greek "plate smashing" music, too many scenes done in the dark - to the extent where you can't actually see half of the film - and just no need to watch it - not even out of curiosity !!!! Trust me, do not waste 90 mins of your life watching this one - it is dire !!!!

First of all, don't sit down and watch Antropophagus expecting a five-star classic on par with The Godfather. If you do, you will be disappointed. However, if you're stuck in on a rainy day, this film may be what you need. There's no real story to speak of. Basically, some people end up on an island where some ugly looking guy is going around killing people. The people themselves are trapped on the island where the guy (who I shall call Mr. Killer for the sake of simplicity) stalks them, breathing heavily as he does. There are quite a few scares in this film. Not big scares but a few minor scares. The scary thing is that Mr. Killer is just killing for the sake of it. At least some screen villains try and provide justification for their actions; Mr Killer just kills for the fun of it. And you never really find out why he is the way he is or why he is killing. There is one vague flashback which tells us nothing at all so it's up to the audience to draw conclusions on Mr. Killer. The film is slow in parts but overall, it's not too bad and Mr. Killer is genuinely creepy. You don't always see him but you can hear his breathing as he gets close to his victims. As I said, don't expect a brilliant top-notch film but it's the perfect movie for when you're really bored.

Well, I FINALLY got to see this infamous shocker after hearing about it for years. 'Antropophagus' a.k.a. 'The Grim Reaper' is one of the most despised and loathed of all the so-called "video nasties", and director Joe D'Amato seems to be regarded as little more than a figure of fun for many. The people who hate this movie usually call it "boring", "dull", "too slow", and so on for the most part, and then complain about the bad taste of the two infamous gore scenes towards the end. One involving a pregnant woman, the other the killer. I won't go into any detail regarding either scene so as to not lessen their shock value. Now, the strange thing is I inadvertently watched the DVD of 'The Grim Reaper' which cut both of these scenes out, and while I was sorely disappointed not seeing them, I didn't find the rest of the movie dull at all. In fact I thought the movie managed to create quite an effective feeling of dread and suspense throughout. While I don't think the movie is as strong as Fulci's 'Zombie' (which also starred Tisa Farrow), I enjoyed it a lot more than say, 'Zombie Holocaust', which is generally rated higher by many hard core horror fans. So make of that what you will. My advice though is try and see the original uncut 'Antropophagus' for maximum effect.

What gets me the most is the great reviews this pile of junk gets, this is one of the most boring films I have ever seen. Wasting about 1 hour just to introduce us to the bland characters, who are free-loving hippies sailing on some yacht near the Turkish islands of Yalepha, we quickly learn to not care about them at all. Once they land on the island, the suspense should begin, but all we are shown is vignettes that are run-of-the-mill typical, the "sex starved guy", the "screaming girl", etc, etc. This was boring as heck, and once the crazy monster, played by some half-bald idiot in awful make-up comes on the screen, I had to laugh. The supposedly "wicked scene", was nothing but a plastic baby being devoured by the monster; yeah, that's really gruesome! Of course, the end is also routine, instead of attempting to kill the monster, he comes to the survivors of the slaughter and gets a small spike in his head; why didn't they just shoot him in the first place, instead of dragging this worthless film even longer? Grade F.