(AKA: The Cannibals are in the Streets, Cannibals in the Street, Cannibals in the City, Cannibal Apocalipsis, Apocalypse Domani, Apocalipse Cannibal, Apocalipsis Caníbal, Cannibal Massacre, Hunter of the Apocalypse, Savage Apocalypse, The Slaughterers, Savage Slaughterers, Invasion of the Flesh Hunters, Virus.)
Tag Line : POW's in Vietnam, Starved in captivity, Released with a taste for human flesh.
Please Note. You will NOT find this film at your local video shop if you live in the UK (like me).
Somewhat differant to the other cannibal movies
produced by Italian film makers during the early 80's, this film
was actually shot in the US city of Atlanta and concerns the
antics of a few ex-army Vietnam veterans who've developed a taste
for human flesh.
Horror veteran John Saxon stars as an ex-US army officer named Norman Hopper, who'se been having a bit of trouble adjusting back to normal life after serving in the Vietnam war.
Plauged with nightmares about a rescue mission he led where some POW's caged in a bamboo trap, bit him on the arm after he found them eating a dead native. He suddenly finds himself developing a taste for raw meat himself, and keeps getting overwhelming urges to bite people. As he does when the neighbours 16 year old daughter pops round to borrow the hairdrier (oooo-eeeerrrr missus).
The real fun begins when his old ex-army friend Charlie Bukowski (played by video nasty regular John Morghen) is released from psychiatric care, only to go out and bite a great chunk out of some girls neck in a cinema. He subsequently gets chased into a nearby shopping complex by an angry mob, where he grabs a shotgun and then goes on the rampage against them.
Norman's doctor starts to run some tests on him and Charlie, and discovers that the cannibalistic urges they've been getting are the result of a rabies-like virus they contracted in Nam, and is spread by biting. But this discovery comes too late to prevent Norman from busting Charlie back out of the hospital, along with some of their other ex-combat partners, and heading off into the city on a flesh hunt!
A few hospital workers and a bike gang are amongst the first victims, along with some garage mechanics. One of which getting his arm cut up with a circular saw for them to munch on (lovely!). But by now the cops have found out what's happening and are quick to respond, chasing the cannibalistic clan into the sewers where a final shootout takes place with shotguns and flamethrowers (talk about being heavy handed). But in the end, we are left with the knowledge that this isn't the end of the contagion as we see Norman's young neighbour (who he bit earlier) now exerting signs of the cannibalistic disease.
Directed by Antonio Margheriti, this is actually quite a good action movie and is definately not your standard Italian exploitation pic. The special effects by Gainetto Di Rossi are very good, especially the scene where John Morghen gets a football sized shotgun blast hole through his chest. It's just a pity that this film was one of the many listed on the governments "Video Nasties" list back in 1984, which means it'll probably be a bloody long time before it ever gets an official re-release here in the UK and will almost certainly never be available to us uncut.
Overall Marks : 6/10
| Other Information. Director Antonio Margheriti is the son of fellow Italian filmmaker Edmondo Amati, who filmed "Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue". Margheriti is probably better known for his Italian action films, most notably "Tiger Joe" starring the late David Warbeck, and has also done uncredited work on the Andy Warhol films "Blood for Dracula" and "Flesh for Frankenstein". Special effects man Gianetto Di Rossi had also worked on the Lucio Fulci zombie pics "House by the Cemetery", "City of the Living Dead", "The Beyond" and the infamous "Zombie Flesh-Eaters". When horror veteran John Saxon first agreed to appear in the movie he apparently didn't realise the film was meant to be an exploitive cannibal pic until after he had already committed himself to appearing, and subsequently lost all further interst in the film (you'll notice he isn't present when the others are snaking on a dead garage mechanic). Even to this day he has never bothered to see the movie, and says the fact that it is banned in the UK is ok with him. John Morghen (or Giovanni Lombardo Radice as he is also known) was a regular star in Italian exploitation films during the late 70's/early 80's and has probably starred in more "Video Nasties" than any other actor. He also featured in Lucio Fulci's "City of the Living Dead" and sicko Umberto Lenzi's infamous pic "Cannibal Ferox". He has also worked with Dario Argento in "The Church" and "The Sect", although nowadays he has a more distinguished career acting in Italian theatre.. The film has never been submitted to the BBFC for classification and so is not available in the UK. The film was however available on video for a short time prior to introduction of the "Video Recordings Act". Unfortunately, this film found its way onto the governments "Video Nasties" hit list and so the distributers ("Replay") were succesfully prosecuted for obscenity. The film also holds the record for being the video nasty with the most alternate titles, 14 in total. The film is available uncut on Greek video and on Japanese laserdisc. A heavily edited "R"-rated version is available in the US under the title "Invasion of the Flesh Hunters". |
Extra Info. | |
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Pictured left is the original UK pre-VRA release from "Replay" video | |
| Video Clips. Requires RealPlayer. Theatrical trailer (879KB) |
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Pictured left, poster artwork for the US video release. | |
Other Cannibal films.
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