Cannibal Apocalypse (1980)

I. Fucking. Love. This. Movie.

I've watched this movie drunk, I've watched this movie sober, I've watched it high on NyQuil, I've watched it while eating breakfast, I've watched it while eating dinner, I've watched it while doing laundry, I've watched it while laying in bed sicker than a dog, I've watched it in a mobile home trailer sitting in the middle of the woods in Kentucky, I've watched this while living in a posh condo in the Chicago suburbs, I watched it in a New York basement apartment...! I've seen this movie A LOT and I will watch it many more times in my life! If you haven't seen it, then what the hell is wrong with you?! You're missing out. SEEK IT OUT NOW!

Playing off the title Apocalypse Now, the original title for the film was Apocalypse domani - translated from Italian as Apocalypse Tomorrow (another great alternate title was Invasion of the Flesh Hunters). The film is Italian and Spanish made, but many things set it apart from the typical films in this specific sub-genre. Parts of the film were shot in Atlanta and Decatur Georgia, creating an anytown USA vibe to it which I love and I think that's one of the reasons it stands out from the other cannibal movies at the time. The film starts in the jungles of Vietnam where Norman Hopper (the unmistakable and charasmatic John Saxon) recognizes his old friend Charlie Bukowski (the amazing Giovanni Lombardo Radice aka John Morghen)  as a P.O.W. being held captive in a hole in the ground guarded by a bamboo cage. As Norman reaches in to save Charlie, he notices that he and the other captive are chowing down on flesh and guts - a glorious gore buffet. Charlie's fellow captive lunges forward and takes a chunk out of Norman's arm.

Norman wakes up from his Vietnam flashback nightmare and as his wife assures him everything is okay, he looks down at the scar on his arm. His retreat downstairs makes you wonder if he's having a delayed reaction to a possible cannibal virus that had been carried by the P.O.W. who bit his arm; he stares into the refrigerator and sees blood dripping from the meat and for a moment you're thinking he's going to pick it up and eat it.

Obviously this is years later from the happenings at the beginning of the movie. By this time Charlie is being released from the mental hospital and looks Norman up in the phone book, giving him a call, but Norman has been busy entertaining the under-aged next door neighbor who flirted her way into the house to borrow a hair dryer. I mean, seriously, you can't write this shit. Oh wait...! Anyway, while on the phone with Charlie he starts to act strange and hangs up. After turning down advances from his under-aged guest, Mary, he changes his mind and takes a bite into her flesh - somewhere below the belt...?

The following scenes are part of why I fell in love with this movie. Charlie gets off a subway and walks around downtown Decatur. As he's walking around and dodging a biker gang making advances to two pretty ladies jogging around the plaza, he spots a movie theatre showing a war movie and decides to go in. Yeah. A war movie. That's the perfect movie he needs to see right now, right? There's actually some trivia here that you horror buffs may already know. The film Charlie is walking in to see is a 1979 film called From Hell to Victory and stars May Heatherly who plays Nurse Helen in this film.

Needless to say, while Charlie's eating his popcorn in the movie theatre, he's dreaming it's the neck of the girl sitting in front of him who is getting sexed up by her boyfriend. He can't resist her flesh and chomps right into her juggular, spraying out a frenzy of blood everywhere. He runs out of the theatre and makes his way to a giant department store/flea market. To be honest, I don't know what the hell this place is, but it's awesome and allows him to hide from the angry theatre mob and the biker gang who has since joined them in trying to catch him. He gets inside, some people are killed, Yankee Doodle is sang, and place is in shambles. The entertainment is endless.

The next scenes remind me a bit of Dawn of the Dead, with the whole S.W.A.T. team feel, mixed with First Blood but again, this movie has its own style and flair. The police are out front in the parking lot surrounding the place, John Saxon arrives to try and talk sense into Charlie...I'm tellin' ya, this movie has it all. They throw in some tear gas and  Norman reminds Charlie what to do. Piss on it. So he does. Eventually, Charlie is lured out of his hiding place and the cops arrest him and take him in. The next star to come into this movie is Wallace Wilkinson who plays Captain McCoy. This guy is my hero as he takes no guff and tells shit as it is.

Eventually shit hits the fan at the hospital when Charlie grabs Nurse Helen (played by previously mentioned May Heatherly) through the bars and bites her arm, ultimately infecting her. All those who are infected are descending further into their infected madness and get in cahoots as 4 of them make their getaway around town in a stolen ambulance.

Soon they dump the ambulance and go underground. As they're making their way through the sewage labyrinth, the police finally catch up with the group and shoot Charlie in the back, creating a huge hole in his abdomen. The effects are pretty amazing, being displayed in a glorious camera pan-up from the hole in the stomach to John Morghen's agonized face. Before I saw this movie, I read reviews about it and this scene in particular was one that I was looking forward to seeing as it seemed that something would be lost in the way of effects. The main reason I was curious was because I wanted to see how well executed it was - pun intended. They aced it. By using John Morghen from the neck up it made it realistic and believable. The same effect was used in Lucio Fulci's The Gates of Hell when the priest is impaled by a giant wooden cross in the catacombs. I'm assuming the actor is somehow leaning into the fake body with only their head and neck exposed. I'm sure kids today would laugh and think that it looks like crap but I would laugh in their face and tell them that this is WORK and ART - something they know nothing of because everything is lazy and digital now. I'll take primitive effects that lack over digital effects that look absurdly overdone. End rant.

I love the ending of this movie because it's left open and there's no real closure, making for a bleak yet almost laughable ending. Though Norman and his wife have a sad moment together, Mary from next door has started to infect people with the bite from Norman and you see in the end that her nagging mother has been killed by her and her little brother as he chomps away on some flesh.

Credits roll, the badass soundtrack goes to 11, and the audience has either had the time of their life (that would be ME!) or they have no taste and didn't enjoy themselves. One or the other. This movie both fits in and stands apart from the other cannibal movies. Similarities obviously include cannibals, settings in both tropical areas and cities, bumping funky soundtracks, and stern-faced actors delivering serious performances. Differences include Cannibal Apocalypse has war elements - something that is missing from the other cannibal movies at the time. Again, this was inspired by Apocalypse Now. Also, instead of New York city, the city vibe that we get is in the lush state of Georgia, creating an otherworldly feel. Well, to me at least. This is something else this movie and The Gates of Hell has in common.



There's plenty of gore and the typical bumping Italian prog rock soundtrack to go around, too. I understand that John Saxon has been outspoken in the past about not being fond of the movie, but I'm here to tell you he has since changed his mind and looks back fondly on this masterpiece. Okay, I'm making this up, but I'm going to pretend that he's proud. As he should be because... I. Fucking. Love. This. Movie!