Cannibal Apocalypse (Antonio Margheriti, 1980)

Cannibal Apocalypse aka Cannibal Massacre aka Cannibals in the Streets aka The Cannibals Are in the Streets aka Virus aka Invasion of the Fleshhunters aka Savage Apocalypse aka Savage Slaughterers aka The Slaughterers aka Cannibals in the City aka Apocalypse Domani is a much more enjoyable 1980 Italian cannibal movie than the notorious Cannibal Holocaust. This is a delightfully nutzoid gorefest full of character actors, oddball one-liners, interesting locations, weird happenings, and kinetic b-movie energy. I dig it.

Directed by b-movie legend Antonio Margheriti under his American-sounding pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson (two examples of titles from the Dawson/Margheritiverse, released in 1973: Seven Dead in the Cat's Eye and Mr. Hercules Against Karate), Cannibal Apocalypse begins with an action sequence taking place during the Vietnam War. American soldiers, led by Norman Hopper (John Saxon), are in the middle of a brutal jungle firefight against the Viet Cong. The Americans finally gain the upper hand after enduring much gunfire and a booby-trapped exploding dog, and they begin to rescue two American POWs, Charles "Charlie" Bukowski (Giovanni Lombardo Ridice) (an homage to the author or a coincidence?) and Tom Thompson (Tony King). Unfortunately, Charlie and Tom are feasting on the body of a dead woman, cannibal-style.

Hopper wakes up in a nervous panic, leaving us wondering if this sequence was a nightmare, a memory, or some combination of the two. He shrugs off the comfort of his wife Jane (Elizabeth Turner), the host of a local TV talk show about music, and goes downstairs to take his anxiety medication. The next day, Jane consults with a psychiatrist who treated Hopper after his return from Vietnam, Dr. Phil Mendez (Ramiro Oliveros), who is more concerned with hitting on Jane than worrying about Hopper. Meanwhile, the teenage girl next door, Mary (Cinzia De Carolis), hits on Hopper, and Hopper acts on his overwhelming urge to bite her. Instead of scaring Mary off, the bite excites her.

Coincidentally, Charlie and Tom are also being treated by Dr. Mendez, and Charlie has just been released from the hospital. He asks Hopper to meet him for a drink, but when Hopper blows him off, Charlie decides to go to a movie instead. I won't spoil what comes next, but it involves movie theater sex (during a war movie?!), cannibalism, conflicts with a middle-aged biker gang, J&B whiskey, a berserk shootout/standoff in a flea market (fantastically bonkers scene), annoying aunts, a manhunt, a sewer chase, a severed tongue, and a contagious virus. The cops roll up in force at the flea market, and it's very fitting that the police chief is a sour-tempered racist with utter contempt for the public who is extremely quick to use tear gas. Some things never change, though I hope they will soon.

Most of the film's final third was shot on a studio lot in Rome, but the rest of the movie was filmed in Atlanta and the surrounding area, though the filmmakers don't include any dialogue explaining where the action takes place. Though Atlanta has been a popular filming location for recent Hollywood movies and TV shows thanks to legislation providing major tax breaks, most of that output is indoor studio work. The city itself is still an underused location, and Margheriti makes strikingly visual use of it as a backdrop to the action.

I also need to highlight the incredible score by the incredibly named Alexander Blonksteiner. His second-to-last score (with Fulci's House by the Cemetery his last), Cannibal Apocalypse goes hard, with some funktastic chicka-chicka guitar scratching, powerful yet graceful drum patterns, strings, synths, organs, free-jazz sax, the occasional disco beat, and prog-rock flourishes. It kicks everything up a notch and prevents the sewer chase from getting dull, the only time the movie threatens to drag a little. Nice work, Blonksteiner.

Cannibal Apocalypse aka many other titles is exactly the kind of weirdo b-movie horror action I spend a chunk of my precious lifetime seeking. And what's wrong with that? Apparently, plenty. The film was heavily censored in US prints and was banned in the UK at the height of the "video nasty" crackdown. Even though we live in mindbogglingly irrational times, this kind of movie censorship has mostly fallen by the wayside, and the film can currently be enjoyed in its full glory (and full gory) (I apologize for this terrible pun) on Blu-Ray.

Defund the police.