CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE

Italy, 1980, 96 minutes, Colour.
John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner.
Directed by Antonio Margheriti.

Cannibal Apocalypse is yet another of the myriad "spaghetti-horror" films of the late '70s and early '80s. The Italians exploited American genres by taking the plot lines, central characters and themes and inflating them to pulp narrative and ghastly special effects. This film echoes Apocalypse Now - however, the veterans are infected with a cannibalistic rabies because of their imprisonment by the Viet Cong (a la Deerhunter). On return they spread a plague of rabies in which the multiple-murder is exploited. These films often employed English or American stars. The star here is John Saxon. While there is a certain gut-wrenching interest in the basic plot line and its use of living dead/vampire parallels, the special effects and the exploitation of violence and gore would make the film unacceptable to most audiences. Once again, a strange blend of imagination and exploitation.