Anthropophagus II

The Italians seem to be getting their 1440 Entertainment on with this in-name-only sequel to Joe D'Amato's classic Anthropophagus (1980) arriving decades later. A group of seven girls and their teacher (maybe?) head into the hills to spend a weekend locked in a WWII bunker. Why? Who knows as the filmmakers never bother to explain their reasoning. The Tubi plot synopsis mentions it is a "research project" but even that is suspect because the first thing they do when they get into this cavernous bunker is go to bed. Two girls wake up and wander off, only to run into a killer who alternately is seen in a wifebeater or hazmat suit. He then slowly stalks the group. To quote Evil Ed from Fright Night (1985): "Slowly, oh so slowly!" This one is a real headscratcher. Director Dario Germani actually mounts a pretty slick looking production as it is well shot and the locations are great. However, any credit it gets is quickly revoked by its steadfast stance of having zero plot. Want to know why the girls are there? D'Unno as it is never explained. What is the backstory of the killer? D'Unno as he is just there. What was the whole point? D'Unno. It is almost the same scenario over-and-over as girl wanders off/killer stalks girl/killer tortures them in his kill room. Rinse and repeat. It is so odd that they slap the Anthropophagus title on this generic flick as it literally has no connection. You have to wonder who this is even for. I mean, the only person who would immediately be hooked by that title is a D'Amato diehard who dreams of seeing a modern take on gut munching and fetus eating that they scramble to Tubi at 11p.m. On a weeknight to watch it. Oh crap, this was made for me!

Seven female university students and their professor travel to an abandoned (well, mostly) bunker to work on a thesis for history or sociology or whatever (it doesn't matter), only to discover that they're not alone. Our gals weren't allowed to bring cell phones and were forbidden from telling anyone where they were going so here they are locked in the giant bunker with a cannibal, and only the creepy caretaker knows.

The ladies are attractive but the dubbing is atrocious and the dialogue is almost worse. Mr. Bunker Man is the most inefficient cannibal I've seen in ages - dude, you live in an abandoned bunker with a bad reputation in the middle of nowhere. There can't be much walk in traffic but ol' Bunky catches a girl, tortures her for a bit, and then starts to chow down without a thought to aluminum foil, plastic baggies, or a deep freeze.

His leftover loss is our gain though, because the kills and gore are mostly awesome. Impromptu C-section, scalping, degloving, tongue removal, and more, and they all look great. It was very weird to watch one character have her nose bitten off and then her head slammed into concrete until it's a big mess in one scene but when one of the leads finds her in the next scene, she looks mostly ok,but I'm not going to quibble. Watch for the effects and not the plot and you'll probably have a good time.

PS - this has nothing to do with the OG Anthropophagus or Absurd.

Arriving at a disused military bunker, a group of friends is set to spend the weekend exploring the area for a special project they're about to start, but the longer they're there they come to believe a psychotic cannibal killer is loose within the facility and must find a way to avoid being eaten to get out alive.

This was a decent enough sequel but has some issues. One of the better elements here is the rather impressive atmosphere featured throughout here as this all comes off quite well. The main bunker where the group stays has the hallmarks of the cold, desolate military facility from decades earlier as the remnants of its original operations with the darkness, cold environments, dust-covered environment and desolate setup that leaves them alone offers the kind of scenario for a claustrophobic genre effort to be had. That leads into the film's best aspect here in the admittedly graphic and brutal gore in the various tortures and kills on display. As the killer keeps victim hostage to brutally mutilate them before outright killing them, this gets quite bloody and brutal before going for the over-the-top concepts to showcase some cheesy yet still effective gore. The few chases here aren't so bad and the final encounter here is rather fun with how it plays out including a decent enough twist that's enough to end this on a high note which provides some positives. There are some big flaws present here. The main issue is a decidedly underwhelming and generally lazy setup that has some big factors holding it back which mainly stem from the inability to spell anything out. This one never gives much of a reason for what their purpose to the bunker is supposed to be about or even who most of the girls' names are until they're shouted out in the middle of a chase, making for a difficult time to care about the group before they're being dismantled when we don't know who they are. It becomes even more problematic due to the troublesome killer here that's incredibly frustrating. Continuing on from the lack of knowledge dished out elsewhere, he doesn't get much about who he is, what he's doing holding them hostage to save for later while others he kills without a second thought or even how he survived all this time. As well, he lacks the imposing physically to be intimidating or the grotesqueness to be memorable, making the franchise connection tenuous at best leaving this one with some big drawbacks.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.

After the early 90s, Italian horror and cinema in general has drastically faded so imagine both my surprise and wariness when a trailer for Anthropophagous 2 was released in 2022.

Relatively little was shown and what was didn't look like much but I kept it in my watchlist, being a fan of the original Anthro and its pseudo-sequel, Absurd.

So, was the movie worth the wait?

The plot concerns a group of college girls and their teacher spending a few days locked in an old tunnel system for some sort of thesis or research, we really never know. Naturally they run afoul of a psycho cannibal living down there. That's about it.

Director Dario Germani had previously made a few Italian drama films, but he pulls out a good sense of dread in the first part of this film. While many may dislike in the original that little happens in the first hour apart from buildup, here the first of the group is dispatched around 30 minutes in. The atmosphere is well done and the cinematography makes good use of the dark tunnels. The cast is full of pretty girls who do well enough, essentially being meat for the monster. They are all dubbed which will either delight or annoy, depending if you are a fan of the 70s and 80s Italian horror with its trashy dubbing.

Sadly, rather than the slasher/cannibal route of D'Amato's film, this one goes for a 'torture porn' route, which I generally dislike, though it doesn't ever linger too long on people screaming or crying.

Speaking of the gore, it is all practical and well done in respect to the budget. The titular anthropophagus sadly is nothing compared to George Eastman's hulking beast in the original. Here he is a skinny old man in a dirty wifebeater that feels like he was plucked from Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn.

This letdown of the killer was the biggest detractor of Anthropophagous 2, as Eastmans creepy portrayal is what elevates the original and makes it watchable.

Anthropophagous 2 is hardly the second-coming of Italian horror films, but it is a positive step and is functional enough to be worth a watch for both fans of the old Italian movies as well as more modern fans looking for a bit of bloody mayhem.