Cannibal Apocalypse

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.

Cannibal Apocalypse was a great Italian gore flick and I think its one of my favorites, I love these cannibal films and even though this film didn't exactly take place in the jungles I still think that it worked and the idea behind this film was different and definitely worth watching. The film was directed by Antonio Margheriti who previously did some giallo films, the film had a different setting this time instead of the usual jungle it takes place in the city. The film was about a Vietnam vet named Hopper played by b-movie actor John Saxon who was a commanding officer trying to rescue some captured soldiers who are held in a pit the two soldiers are Charles played by Giovanni Radice and another guy, they are soon rescued but then their commanding officer discovers something quite shocking as the guys are found eating a charred Vietnamese girl and soon one of them bites Hopper in the arm. We soon discover that Hopper years later has returned home and is now married and is leading a n... Read more

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 s... Read more

Ok, I must admit that I was a bit let down by this movie. I mean, with a title like CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE, I was expecting an all-out war between the flesh-eating hordes and their prey. Instead, we get a few hungry folks chomping on a few necks. John Saxon (A Nightmare On Elm Street, Black Christmas) is good enough as the Vietnam vet, plagued by flashbacks / nightmares about his anthropophagic military cohorts. The idea of a viral cannibalism, spreading like rabies (sort of like in Cronenberg's movie, Rabid) is creepy. I just wanted the promised apocalypse! Oh well, I did like the story, and will watch it again, now that I know what to expect...

I'm a huge fan of Italian director Antonio Margheriti, aka Anthony M. Dawson, even though I haven't seen very many of his films. How can this be? Because the ones I have seen revel in low budget schlocky glory. Margheriti is responsible for such classics as "Alien From the Deep," "Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye," and "Killer Fish." He's also the man who brought us several highly entertaining shoot 'em up action/war films, films like "Indio," "Indio 2," "Tiger Joe," "The Last Hunter," "The Hunters of the Golden Cobra," and "Ark of the Sun God." If you need any additional evidence pointing to Dawson's relevancy in the realm of low budget cult classics, he directed the catastrophic "Yor, the Hunter from the Future." If you've seen this disaster, you know how important Margheriti is to lovers of cheese cinema! I'm dying to see all of these films--and a few others--arrive on DVD. Until then, I'm contenting myself with the precious few of this director's earlier movies that have come out, or ... Read more