ANTHROPOPHAGOUS (198O)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free (4K Ultra HD), A (Blu-ray)
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 92 mins 7 Seconds (Original Italian Version), 92 Minutes 27 Seconds (Extended Italian Version), 82 Minutes 3 Seconds (U.S. Theatrical Cut)
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.66:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: English or Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles (Original Italian Version. Extended Italian Version), English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles (U.S. Theatrical Cut)
Director: Joe D'Amato
Cast: George Eastman, Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Zora Kerova
Italian video nasty Anthropophagous (1980), directed by Joe D'Amato (Beyond the Darkness), concerns a group of tourists who set sail to a tiny Greek island only to discover that the place is strangely uninhabited. Among the group we have siblings Alan (Saverio Vallone, The Devil's Game) and his psychic, tarot card reading sister Carol (Zora Kerova, Cannibal Ferox), Carol's boyfriend Daniel (Mark Bodin, Alien 2: On Earth), expectant couple Maggie (Serena Grandi, Delirium) and Arnold (Bab Larson, Angelfist), and Julie (Tisa Farrow, Zombie), whom they've only just met. Exploring the island they find no one around, everyone on the small island community seems to have disappeared, except for a mysterious woman in black who keeps her distance when spotted. As the sun sets the group settle into a mansion for the night, where they are startled to find a young blind woman named Rita (Margaret Mazzantini) who leaps from a barrel of wine with a knife, superficially slashing an unsuspecting Daniel. In a state of shock the traumatized girl tells the group of a flesh-eating madman who has been stalking the island murdering everyone in sight, saying she can tell when he's near because she can smell the blood!
The bloodthirsty madman turns out to be a disturbed maniac (George Eastman, 1990: The Bronx Warriors) who we find out through a flashback was stranded at sea with his wife and young son. Starving he turned to cannibalism to survive, a horrific act that drove him to the point of insanity. Afterward he arrived on the island and set about slaughtering everyone in sight and hiding their bodies around the island, and now he has set his sights on the newly arrived strangers!
Unfortunately after an initial killing of a tourist couple at the start of the film, which includes a meat cleaver to the skull, the film settles into a slow-burn of character build-up with the small group, becoming a real slog with only a few atmospheric moments to keep you plugged in, namely an ominous tarot card reading on the sail boat courtesy of psychic Carol. As the group continues to explore the island, lots of walking, they discover a few corpses that look to have had their faces chewed off, and soon enough they begin to fall prey to the gut-munching maniac themselves. The deaths begin with the maniac attacking and decapitating the head of a sailor, it's a sort of ridiculous set-up, with the pregnant woman freaking out when she discovers that the bucket she's been soaking her feet in also contains the sailor's very fake looking head. It's really a shit effect, but they get better. The lunatic then abducts the poor preggers Maggie, dragging her unconscious body down into a 2000 year-old catacomb on the island, where he later rips her unborn child from her womb and eats it in one of the film's more notorious scenes! While the film is a bit of a slog at times it does deliver some truly tasteless gore-gags, aside from the womb-ripping we also get a throat tear, a throat slash, a pick-ax to the guts, a suicide by hanging, and the eating of ones own intestines, all pretty memorable stuff, and gross enough to land the film on the Video Nasties list, which certainly makes the languidly pace a tad more forgivable. I also wouldn't say that it's a particularly well-shot film either, the plot is a bit of a predictable bore and the characters all make bone-headed decisions prior to their demise, so it has a lot going against it, but if you're just in it for a few outrageous gore-gags, well, it has that going for it, but if this wasn't a video nasty I doubt it would be as notorious as it has become. George Eastman does what he can with the killer maniac role, lumbering around with rotting teeth, the blistered and decaying skin peeling right off his face, but the staging and execution of the film is rather poor. Another highlight is the electronic synth score from Marcello Giombini (The Eerie Midnight Horror Show) whose sickening synths conjure up some real nausea at points, it has the gurgling upset stomach vibe that suits the film quite nicely.
Anthropophagous is a bit of a plodding Video Nasty, sure it definitely delivers the gore, but it's just too bad we don't get a more stylish presentation to deliver the skinned-rabbit fetus-eating gag and other kills. Don't get me wrong though, while it's not top-tier Italian terror, I still think it's still an essential slice of gross-out Italian splatter.
Audio/Video: Anthropophagous (1980) was previously released back in 2018 on Blu-ray by Severin which offered a 2K scan from the original 16mm camera negative. This time around we get 3 versions of the film now scanned in 4K scan of the original 16mm camera negatives, framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, with HDR10 color-grade. Both the Original Italian Version and the Extended Italian Version feature 'The Savage Island' title card, in both 1080p HD and 4K UHD, while the U.S. Theatrical Cut gets 'The Grim Reaper' title card. The new scans looks fantastic, the source is in great shape, there are a couple of blemished, but not many. The film was shot n 16mm film and had course grain throughout, as it should, though the grain structures are much better resolved than the previous Blu-ray, offering some additional depth to detail and textures. The HDR on the 4K does give colors a nice new blush, it's not a startling upgrade, but it's appreciable, the reds of Carol's sweater look terrific, blood is actually red instead of burgundy, whites are crisper, and the ugly brown leaning of previous editions is now where to be seen, and the sky actually looks blue for a chain. The HDR10 also improves the black levels, some of still limited by the source materials and the condition under which they shot, but they are quite improved and contrast is superiors as well. The accompanying Blu-ray, which are Region A-locked, offer the Original/Extended Versions of the film in 1080p, as well as The Grim Reaper U.S. Theatrical Cut of the films, which I think is the first time we in North America have gotten the shorter/gore-trimmed U.S. Theatrical Cut in HD, which is super-cool, while not my preferred cut as it's pretty neutered, it's a fun curio and has a alternate soundtrack.
Audio on the Original/Extended Italian Versions comes by way of English and Italian DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Either option sounds about the same as as fidelity goes, the English track is slightly more robust, everything sounds well-balanced and clean. The score from Marcello Giombini (The Eerie Midnight Horror Show) benefits the most from the uncompressed audio bump, with those sickening synth sounds pushed all the right buttons for this sort of film. The U.S. Theatrical Cut gets an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Notably, this cut also gets it's own alternate soundtrack, which if memory serves is actually the score from tarantula-attack flick Kingdom of the Spiders.
Severin do not skimp on the extras for the new UHD/Blu-ray combo, and we get new stuff by way of the 9-min Speaking Of Man-Eaters – Interview With Director Joe D'Amato. This was not included on the previous Blu-ray, talks about shooting in the two-thousand year-old Roman catacombs, dressing it up to look more macabre, and accidentally taking real bones, which he buried on his own property, so now there's an ossuary on his property! He also talks about how actress Serena Grandi was forced on him by a producer, how the fetus was a skinned rabbits from the local butcher, casting Tisa Farrow who was dating his brother Nando, Saverio Vallone, shooting on Greece and Sperlonga, how it was poorly relieved in Italy, as we're most of his films, but successful abroad. Also new is the 40-min They Eat Their Own: Antisocial Cannibalism In Italian Cinema Of The '70s And '80s – Video Essay By Aaron AuBuchon Of Discover The Horror And S.A. Bradley Of Hellbent For Horror is a look back at the Italian cannibal cycle of film, the different sub-genre's of gut-munchers.
Archival extras carried over from the 2018 Severin Blu-ray include the thirteen-minute Don't Fear The Man-Eater – Interview With Writer/Star Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman), who discusses how he came to work with D'Amato and why he enjoyed working with him, his sarcasm and humor, discussing their career together, admitting he thinks that this film is shit, and was poorly executed, only agreeing to play the Cannibal monster if he could rewrite the script, and commenting on why D'Amato never went on to do more mainstream movies. The catacombs shoot, the mix-up with the real bones versus the fake bobes, the fetus eating scene, and a fun story about Trending a screening where an elderly woman was disgusted by the fetus scene,
The Man Who Killed The Anthropophagus – Interview With Actor Saverio Vallone runs 13-minutes, Vallone discusses his leading role in the film, working with D'Amato, how he began his career working behind the camera. How he ended up in Anthropophagus, liking the magical and mysterious qualities, his thoughts on D'Amato and his relationship with the cast, shooting difficulties, memories of specific scenes, working with Farrow, Grandi, Mark Bodin, Luigi Montefiori, and the score. Next, the 6-min Cannibal Frenzy – Interview With FX Artist Pietro Tenoglio, in which he discusses his collaborations with D'Amato, and how some of the gruesome gore was achieved using skinned rabbits and pig skin.
In the 6-min Brother And Sister In Editing – Interview With Editor Bruno Micheli gives a brief recounting of his father's career as well as his own career working with D'Amato, getting his start co-editing with his sister, and touching on why he stopped working with D'Amato, describing him as a gifted man, though saying not quite as gifted a Fulci, lol.
We also get a vintage 10-min Inside Zora's Mouth – Interview With Actress Zora Kerova, not sure when this was filmed but she was still looking real good! She speaks about her early career in music and modeling, her work with D'Amato on this film, and her friendship with Tisa Farrow and George Eastman, and memories of the cast. All of the interviews are in Italian with English subtitling, with the exception of the They Eat Their Own: Antisocial Cannibalism In Italian Cinema Of The '70s And '80s video essay, which is in English.
The 2-disc arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, we get the familiar illustration of George Eastman's maniac chowing down on his own intestines. The discs themselves all feature the different, unique artworks. There no new Slipcover for this edition, just FYI, so I will be gifting the 2018 Severin Blu-ray to someone and keeping the slip from that release to adorn this one with.
Special Features:
Disc 1 UHD (Original Italian Version/Extended Italian Version + Special Feature):
Trailer
Disc 2: Blu-ray (Original Italian Version/Extended Italian Version + Special Features):
- NEW! Speaking Of Man-Eaters – Interview With Director Joe D'Amato (9:16)
- Don't Fear The Man-Eater – Interview With Writer/Star Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman) (11:26)
- The Man Who Killed The Anthropophagus – Interview With Actor Saverio Vallone (13:55)
- Inside Zora's Mouth – Interview With Actress Zora Kerova (10:01)
- Brother And Sister In Editing – Interview With Editor Bruno Micheli (12:50)
- Cannibal Frenzy – Interview With FX Artist Pietro Tenoglio (6:01)
- NEW! They Eat Their Own: Antisocial Cannibalism In Italian Cinema Of The '70s And '80s – Video Essay By Aaron AuBuchon Of Discover The Horror And S.A. Bradley Of Hellbent For Horror (39:50)
- Trailer (1:36)
Disc 3: THE GRIM REAPER (U.S. Theatrical Cut) Blu-ray
Screenshot Comparison:
Top: Severin Blu-ray (2018)
Bottom: Severin Blu-ray (2026)
More Screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray (2026)
Extras:
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