Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Stephen Abell What the writers Antonio Margheriti, who also directed, and Dardano Sacchetti give the viewers of Cannibal Apocalypse is a cannibalistic thriller with a twist of zombie fetish... and it works.While fighting in the Vietnam war Charlie Buckowski and Tom Thompson are captured and imprisoned in a pit with very little to eat. During a rescue by Norman Hopper a Vietcong falls into the pit; unfortunately for her, the prisoners are ravenous and start to tear her apart with their teeth as they feast. Once back in the USA all of the team are subject to psychological tests. Though it's only when Charlie is released that things start to take a darker turn. As he's trying to kill time by going to the cinema he has the urge to devour the woman in the seat in front of him. As she and her amorous boyfriend start to make out Charlie leans forward and takes a bite... Meanwhile, Hopper who was bitten by Charlie during the rescue is starting to feel the hunger too... Can the apocalypse be stopped before everybody become infected?However, it's the rest of the pieces which deter from the film. The acting, on the whole, is above average, even Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Charlie) performs better than he did in Cannibal Ferox. John Saxon does a more than passable portrayal as Hopper, a man trying to help his friend while trying to resolve the mystery. There's even a shining light in the shape of Cinzia De Carolis who is brilliant as the blossoming teenager Mary who has a crush on Hopper. Even Luca Venantini as Bobby (Mary's younger brother) gives a few good creepy kid scares. However, it's Tony King's over-the-top acting as Thompson that hinders the film, as well as the actors representing the bike gang, and most of the extra's.The direction, though above average could have been helped by adding a little more action as well as tension to the atmosphere of the film as the pace of the story is pretty regular throughout, another drawback to this type of movie. A few iconic shots and differing camera angles wouldn't have gone amiss either. However, the bad lines in the film actually help to keep the audience unintentionally entertained. I loved the scene where the cop transforms into a Cannibal and when his superior officer confronts him, while he's devouring a colleagues hand, he says in a caring tone, "My God son, put it down." Awesome scene.This is an enjoyable film and I would definitely recommend it to everyone especially if you like Zombies or Cannibals. This is, in fact, storywise, one of the strongest Cannibal movies made. Since it doesn't feel like a horror film, as there's not enough eeriness (which is harder to create due to it being shot mainly in daylight) you can enjoy it in the full daylight - no need to watch at night or in the darkness behind closed curtains. Well worth one viewing, though you may just find yourself coming back to it again... and again...

jadavix "Cannibal Apocalypse" is a tedious, pointless waste of time that offers no apocalypse and barely any cannibalism.In fact it is barely even a horror movie: there's only one scene late in the movie that registers as a possible source of tension and the violence is actually really minimal.The movie is something about a group of Vietnam vets getting a disease that makes them cannibals. The character played by John Saxon is a vet who may be going psycho himself. There is an interminable sequence early in the movie where one of these crazy veterans - named Charles Bukowski(?) - is holed up in a store he tried to rob shooting at police. So the disease makes you eat people, but also try to rob stores?The movie has this oddly distancing feeling to it. Saxon being the hero who may also be about to join the bad guys should be a source of dramatic tension, but is not explored. The movie is more like long, tedious shots of a city with the odd violent moment thrown in.

Leofwine_draca Italian director Antonio Margheriti's goriest film is this, a so-called "video nasty" that was banned here in the UK back in the '80s at the height of the cannibal phase, when anything with the word "cannibal" in the title was removed from sight in the shops. Yet, while a unpleasant film - considering the subject matter, that's unavoidable - CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE isn't really that gory or, indeed, horrific. Margheriti shows his penchant for the action genre over the horror throughout, with plenty of cool fist fights, shoot-outs and siege situations which are invariably more exciting than the horror elements the film has to offer. Sure, there are half a dozen moments of graphic bloodshed which made this film a nasty, but don't be fooled: this is just as much an action flick as it is a horror.Margheriti has long been one of my favourite directors and once again he creates an above-average, always interesting, genre picture. Even during some long pauses in between the action and bloodshed the film grips us with the macabre situations thanks to the strong, realistic characterisation and a plot which is a little more original and unique than most. Instead of heading off into the South American jungle like Lenzi or Deodato, Margheriti instead brings the cannibalism to the American streets of Atlanta, Georgia, which leads to some new and interesting situations, including a city-wide battle between the police force and the cannibals themselves. Here the cannibalism is seen as a biological virus (just how it works is explained only through some theoretical garbage, a throwaway line designed to bamboozle the viewer) which is spread by being scratched or bitten by an infected victim, just like zombies or vampires.Once again Margheriti seems to be working on a relatively low budget but manages to create some impressive, stylish action sequences. There are some great set-pieces in the film including a tense scene in which genre regular Radice is held under siege at a flea market after having bitten a woman at the local cinema, butchering half a dozen security guards/police/Hell's Angels in the process. Also check out the sewer-set finale which is top-notch stuff, very exciting, and the prologue is even a mini-war film set in Vietnam, a theme which Margheriti would develop for THE LAST HUNTER. Once again the dialogue gives us some priceless and memorable lines for the cast to devour, and boy what a cast.The three main cannibals are made up by genre veterans John Saxon, John Morghen, and former blaxploitation star Tony King. Saxon takes the lead role of Norman Hopper, who is bitten whilst rescuing his comrades in Indo-China and tries to suppress his cannibalistic urges before finally taking a bite out of the Lolita-like girl next door. Saxon always seemed to be an actor above the films he was in, a real presence, and his acting as he struggles psychologically with his bodily urges is great stuff and a delight to watch. John Morghen (aka Giovanni Lombardo Radice) is often an underrated actor, playing dirty, perhaps mentally handicapped characters like the boy in CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. Well it's another nervous, twitchy on-the-edge role for the actor as the most evil of the cannibals and a surprising moving performance by the actor. Tony King (who later would pop up in loads of Margheriti films like TIGER JOE) plays his role completely over-the-top and hammy right until his death, which I greatly appreciate. There's even a police sergeant right alone the lines of Arthur Kennedy in THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE to add to the fun and spout some more insane angry dialogue ("Oh my god son - put it down!" is a particular favourite when he sees one of his officers devouring a woman's breast).To give the film that realistic look, the special effects are handled by Fulci's goremeister Giannetto De Rossi who once again excels with his work. As well as loads of people getting shot, bitten and the like, "highlights" include tongue and eyeball violence and the oft-remembered shotgun blast to Radice's stomach in the sewers at the end of a film, leaving a gaping hole which Margheriti is quick to zoom in on. Top quality stuff and it'll leave you wondering just how they achieved that effect. As per usual for the genre, Margheriti gives us a downbeat ending but what is surprising is the inherent tragedy present in it, it finishes almost like a Shakespearean tragedy. They have to go and spoil it with a silly twist but it still packs a punch in any case. An unfairly maligned action/horror crossbreed, effective in the two genres it manages to cross successfully and another feather in the hat for Margheriti.

tomgillespie2002 On a rescue mission in Vietnam, Norman Hopper (John Saxon) is bitten by two of his old drinking buddies Charlie (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and Tom (Tony King) who are trapped in a pit and are feasting on the flesh of a charred Vietnamese woman when they are discovered. Back home, Norman is haunted by his memories, and has a strange urge to bite people. Charlie calls Norman after recently being released from hospital and wants to meet up, but before Norman can act, Charlie manages to kill some people and finds himself cornered and barricaded in a mall. Soon enough, more people are infected with this strange virus that seems to cause cannibalistic urges.Another cannibal/zombie cash-in that was riding the wave caused by Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), Cannibal Apocalypse attempts to blend the two horror sub- genre's but ends up being a bit of a mess. I never thought I would say this, but there is too little cannibalism, and certainly no apocalypse. There are brief moments of horror surrounded by long moments of police procedural and our flesh-hungry heroes running through sewers. The one saving grace is John Saxon, recognisable from many B-movie turd-fests, he provides a welcome familiar American face in this mainly Italian production from horror and western 'legend' Antonio Margheriti. Yet the film is entertaining enough to waste 90 minutes of your life on, and thankfully avoids being as unpleasant as other cannibal entries such as Cannibal Ferox (1981 - also starring Radice).www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com