Man Eater (Der Menschenfresser)

A group of young adults go to a Greek island, where things go from bad to worse when they find that everyone on the island -- with the exception of a blind girl -- has been killed. Clearly, they didn't see the exploitation film "Island of Death" to learn why Greek islands are bad. What they encounter is a man who is more beast than anything, with an insatiable thirst for human blood and flesh.

This film has floated around under various names -- "Grim Repaer", "Man Eater" and the misspelled "Antropophagus" to name a few -- for quite some time, gaining notoriety for its banned status in England and two scenes which had to be cut when it was finally released (one involving a man eating his own intestines and the other with a baby being ripped from a womb and devoured). The hype is more than enough to get people to see the film, though it's tame by today's standards. (I hate to reference "Island of Death" yet again... but if you want to be shocked, the goat scene in that one easily outdoes anything shown here).

I enjoyed this one. There's something about older horror films, even those with poor film quality, that have a value to them modern films lack. And the cannibal, played by George Eastman, is a disgusting creature in his own right. Even without the publicity or the previously cut scenes (now restored in many versions) Eastman is convincing and works well. (For what it's worth, the blind girl is also pretty cool -- on par with the blind girl in "Castle Freak" -- and I'm very glad they scripted her in to this one.) Decent plot, decent characters, decent blood and gore. Unless you're impatient with older films, this is one that is worth your time and I can see myself seeing it again and again if the opportunity presents itself. Make sure you get an uncut copy. You don't need those extra scenes to enjoy this film, but if you're going to view it, you may as well get the full effect and see what lead to the banning in the first place. You'd be surprised what gets people riled up.

Antropophagus from director Joe D'Amato is a pretty notorious movie, mainly for making it's way onto the infamous UK "Video Nasty" list. When your hear about this movie you probably hear about its gore, mainly 2 infamous scenes that cemented its place in the list. I think this reputation hurts the film though because, in all honesty, the gore in this movie is pretty weak (except one scene that I will get to). People go into this movie expecting a very nasty and extremely gory horror movie but come out pretty disappointed at the shoddy gore effects and extremely slow pace...Well, that's because they overlooked all the great and more subtle things that the movie DOES deliver on.

First off, this movie is creepy, a combination of atmosphere, music and a wonderfully over-the-top performance from George Eastman make this movie one of the spookiest Italian slasher flicks I have ever seen. Scenes of characters exploring darkened corridors by candle light are some truly creepy scenes and sort of remind me of more classic horror movies from decades before. There are also some really great jump-scares too. The cat is cheap, but effective, the girl popping out of the wine barrel is definitely effective and lastly, the scene at the end where Eastman's character emerges from the well nearly stops my heart every time I see it! There is some fantastic atmosphere in this movie as well, the deserted Greek town is beautiful but haunting, whether they are walking through the halls of a house or the streets of the town there is always a feeling of something not quite being right.

The Music heightens the creepiness of all the scenes so well. Some might consider it to be annoying but I would call it nerve-wracking. Finally, and most important, is Eastman's character... this man is disgusting, disturbed and definitely somebody you would NEVER want to meet in real life. He towers over everyone with his immense stature, the make-up is excellent in giving him a monster quality. His performance is so over-the-top but it provides the energy the movie needs to keep it going.

If there is one thing that I think sets Joe D'Amato apart from the rest of the Italian horror directors, it's the way he ends his movies. All his movies I have seen contain a wonderfully shocking and over-the-top climax. I think Antropophagus has the best climax of all too. I will try not to give too much away but basically Eastman's character reveals how truly mad he really is (as if he could be any madder) and in a fit of insanity we finally get rewarded with the one truly excellent and extremely disturbing gore effect that wont leave your mind for days to come.

Everything else is pretty standard when it comes to Italian exploitation but I do think it's worth mentioning that there are some above average performances from Tisa Farrow (Zombi 2) and Zora Kerova (Cannibal Ferox) that make the characters a little more likable than your average slasher.

In the end, I think Antropophagus is a really great Italian horror that should be appreciated for it's scares, not its gore. Don't listen to the hype, cause it's misleading.

Well, I FINALLY got to see this infamous shocker after hearing about it for years. 'Antropophagus' a.k.a. 'The Grim Reaper' is one of the most despised and loathed of all the so-called "video nasties", and director Joe D'Amato seems to be regarded as little more than a figure of fun for many. The people who hate this movie usually call it "boring", "dull", "too slow", and so on for the most part, and then complain about the bad taste of the two infamous gore scenes towards the end. One involving a pregnant woman, the other the killer. I won't go into any detail regarding either scene so as to not lessen their shock value. Now, the strange thing is I inadvertently watched the DVD of 'The Grim Reaper' which cut both of these scenes out, and while I was sorely disappointed not seeing them, I didn't find the rest of the movie dull at all. In fact I thought the movie managed to create quite an effective feeling of dread and suspense throughout. While I don't think the movie is as strong as Fulci's 'Zombie' (which also starred Tisa Farrow), I enjoyed it a lot more than say, 'Zombie Holocaust', which is generally rated higher by many hard core horror fans. So make of that what you will. My advice though is try and see the original uncut 'Antropophagus' for maximum effect.

Going into Antropophagus aka Man-Eater (man i have a tough time, pronouncing that) I knew a couple things about it. I knew it was a classic of euro horror and I knew that it was supposed to be pretty gory. And I would say both are true. While watching the opening credits I also found out that it was directed by Joe D'Amato, big time sleaze/horror director. After seeing Buio Omega and this one really gets to know his style of directing.

Antrophoghagahasus....Man-Eater is about a few wealthy people taking a vacation and visiting an island. What they don't know is that the island people have all vanished, thanks to one of the coolest villains in horror history. No joke. So obviously they arrive to the island, and bad things start to happen. Simple but fun.

I hear people find this movie dull, and I can totally see where they're coming from. In the beginning especially there were a few instances I caught myself not even paying attention. But these day-dream episodes didn't happen again and I was pretty happy with the following results. The movie (uncut) isn't full of gore, but it has it's fair share, especially the ending which was funny as hell. It's one of those moments where you're telling yourself - He's not gonna...he's not...Awesome! - Actually there are two moments in this film that gage that type of reaction.

If you're into euro horror, you've most likely already checked this out, but if you're just a horror fan looking for something different, this is one flick I would definitely recommend. It has D'Amato directing, pretty girls, cool gore, some nice suspense and a pretty badass villain. 8 outta 10

I first saw this in the mid 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on YouTube. The picture quality is good n its the uncut version.

The movie starts with a brutal meat cleaver scene then becomes very slow n downright tedious. After that for almost one hour nothing happens.

The rubber mask head n the intestines r unintentionally funny.

The last twenty mins contains the two nasty scenes coz of which this film earned the video nasty label. The cinematography is good. The island location is able to capture an eerie atmosphere. The abandoned town, the alleys n the cemetery added to it's creepiness but the end product is boring.

The killer's tilted bald head is actually laughable. Eastman in a non dialogue role is a big lol.

In one scene while the killer is munching on the fetus, one character is shown injured but what happens to that character is never explained. In another scene the killer spares the blind girl. Wtf man. In the well scene, a hand suddenly pops up n pulls a girl inside. The well is more than half empty n i cant understand how the killer is able to come up n pull the girl into the well and in the next scene he is in the water which is much further down.