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| From http://wrongsideoftheart.com/wp-content/gallery/posters-c/cannibal_apocalypse_poster_01.jpg |
Dir. Antonio Margheriti
Italy-Spain
[Note: The following is a start of a new post type on this blog,
capsule reviews for films that need their own reviews separate from the This
Week... series, which will return soon, but do not need a longer review. I hope
these will be as of interest as every other type of post too.]
I’ve always found the pace in Antonio Margheriti films unbelievably sluggish.
About a virus, that causes people to become cannibals, which is unleashed into
an urban environment, Cannibal Apocalypse
has a potentially great idea. The infected individuals, who first spread
the plague, are Vietnam veterans, with John
Saxon’s protagonist as the commander who is bitten by one of his infected
men during the opening Vietnam scene and must deal with, years later, the
likelihood of the disease corrupting him, an interesting take on the after
effects of war from within the Italian cannibal subgenre. The Antonio Margheriti films I’ve seen as
well always had potential in their production especially since he had a talent
for action choreograph. Sadly this film feels like an impersonal film that goes
from A to B without any sense of thrill, emotional connection or, excluding a
well known gore moment, any visceral punch.
The plot is erratic as well, not
becoming a cannibal virus film, or having anything to do with cannibalism for
the most part aside some gory afterthoughts, or becoming a film fully from the
perspectives of the infected Vietnam vets who are being hunted down. There are
many plot holes in the film, but the real issue is how it never goes anywhere
truly interesting. It takes a long, needless
amount of time to get to the virus breaking out, but it never feels impactful, and
after that the characters and plot threads are too threadbare to have any
effect. It is extremely dull. The only thing of worth really from this former
Video Nasty is one of the most effective gore scenes from Italian cinema which
is, sadly, spoilt on the UK DVD cover even if the film is not good. Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who I’ve gotten
into as an actor ever since viewing the DVD extras for the Arrow Video release of City
of the Living Dead (1980), is also of interest alongside John Saxon, but the annoying thing is,
like many Video Nasties, this is just a mediocre and ultimately tedious genre
film.
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| Frpm http://www.horror-extreme.com/images/cannibal-apocalypse/cannibal-apocalypse-3.jpg |
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