 |  | A video nasty??? :::spoilers ahead::: |  |
After having watched a number of movies listed on the original video nasties, I can't help but wonder why a number of those gruesome movies were even put on there. One of those are "Cannibal Man." "Cannibal Man" is a Spanish serial killer flick that has nothing to do with cannibalism and also has very little gore in it. The goriest part of the entire movie (and most interesting) is in the beginning when there is a few scenes from a slaughterhouse of a number of cows being butchered. After that, the rest of the movie is a 90-plus minute borefest in which a man who works in a slaughterhouse and lives in the slums slowly loses his grasp on reality and quickly spirals into a madness from which he cannot escape while all the while trying to pretend that all is normal. Basically, "Cannibal Man" consists of a very simple plot in which the main character accidentally kills a taxi cab driver with a rock while the driver was busy assaulting his girlfriend. Later, he reasonably fears that his girlfriend is going to turn him in to the police so violently strangles her to death. A little later, his brother threatens to turn him into the police so he kills him too, but this time he pounds his sibling's head in with a large monkey wrench. He then kills his brother's unsuspecting fiancee, her father, (the father's death is probably the most interesting throughout the entire movie), then proceeds to kill a nosy older woman after he finishes giving her the "ole in and out." Interspersed between all these scenes is some really disturbing gay erotica between the main character and his homosexual neighbor. Thats pretty much the movie, only it drags on much longer than my concise summary of it. Probably not worth renting, certainly not worth buying, I suggest checking out "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" over this "video nasty" that isn't so nasty after all any day.
November 5, 2005The movie cannibal man is not like it says. First off, he isnt a cannibal at all. As a lover of cannibal films this is far from one. Even the description on the back is misleading. He works at a meat plant where he makes soup, wow how convenient on disposing of bodies. He does kill some people, but the scenes where people die arent that graphic so that wasnt worth my time and my friends who were there with me watching it. What is with his neighbor, the homosexual inuendos were there, and well really upfront and unnecessary. I do not recommend this film to anyone that likes cannibal films, or horror films. It sucked
October 2, 2002 | | Cannibal Man (1971) d: De La Iglesia, Eloy | |
This film is one of the better-directed movies that made it onto the Video Nasties list. A gloomy and depressing Spanish movie much in the style of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1989). The movie tells the story of Marcos, a disturbed young man (Vincente Parra) who has been very desensitized by his job in a local slaughterhouse. He gets tired of butchering cows and starts killing people! One night while out on a date he goes "postal" and kills a cab driver in a heated argument. He later strangles his girlfriend (who witnessed the murder), then kills his brother for trying to convince him to turn himself in. He also cuts his brother's fiancée's throat when she discovers the bodies under the bed in his apartment. Her father comes looking for her, and in one of the gorier scenes, he is hit with a cleaver to the face. After slaughtering a woman who comes to visit his apartment things begin to literally stink, and the local dogs start hanging around. (Be sure to check out how many times dogs appear in this film, very strange indeed). The killer unsuccessfully takes his victims to work with him, and tries to turn them into hamburger. Realizing that plan was not going to work, Marcos finally turns himself in when a homosexual neighbor offers to help with the disposal of the bodies in trade for...favors. I enjoyed this one, but it left me with a weird dark feeling.
June 4, 2001| | | Anchor Bay rescues another so-so obscurity | |
Eloy De La Iglesia's "Cannibal Man" isn't about horror or even cannibalism. Instead, it's more of a parable about lower-class oppression and how the poor are deemed insignificant by the rest of society.
Marcos (Vincente Parra), a slaughterhouse worker with a beautiful young girlfriend, accidentally kills a cab driver and as a result becomes increasingly homicidal toward people over the course of one week. He's befriended by an eccentric who lives in an imposing apartment highrise nearby, and eventually Marcos becomes undone by guilt and the fact that he'll never get away with his crimes.
"Cannibal Man" is an odd title for this movie, considering there's no cannibalism (save for a brief soup-eating scene, but I don't think that qualifies) and it really comes from an era that preceded the 'cannibal/zombie boom' of the late 1970's and early 80's. The murders are relatively brief and not very inspired by today's standards (how many times have we seen a meat cleaver through the face in slasher films?), but the interaction between Marcos and his friend Nester is what really makes the movie. Morality, and--to a lesser degree--sexuality are questioned in a way that make "Cannibal Man"'s by-the-numbers bloodshed forgivable.
Recommended, but view with an open mind. This isn't the horror of Fulci or Argento, but is still worth a look. December 7, 2000
Real slaughterhouse footage and scenes of dirty urban slums set the tone for this stark and obsessive Spanish horror flick. A slaughterhouse employee named Marcos gets attacked by a cabdriver who takes objection when he and his girlfriend are making out in the back seat, and Marcos kills him. This sets in motion a week of killing, first to cover up the cabdriver's death, and afterward to keep the bodies piling up in his bedroom a secret. He tries to dispose of the body parts at the slaughterhouse, but he can't do it fast enough and soon the stench of the corpses is becoming a problem, and Marcos slips further and further into madness. Weird, pseudo-sleazy film that works even though it doesn't even attempt to live up to its title - there's *no cannibalism*. The dubbing is pretty bad and there's not much gore (most of the nastiness happens off-screen), but there's plenty of atmosphere and a sense of desperation builds in Marco's apartment. The DVD looks great except there is a little "film flicker" in a few scenes - nothing bad though. It's not big on splatter, but it's still worth a look for Eurohorror fans.
June 8, 2000More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
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