| The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review |
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| Science-Fiction |
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CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE
aka
CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS; INVASION OF THE FLESH HUNTERS; SAVAGE APOCALYPSE; THE SLAUGHTERERS; VIRUS
(Apocalisse Domani)
Rating: 
Italy. 1980.
Director – Anthony M. Dawson [Antonio Margheriti], Screenplay – Dawson & Jimmy Gould [Dardano Sacchetti], Story – Gould, Producer – Maurizio & Sandro Amati, Photography – Fernando Arribai, Music – Alexander Blonksteiner, Special Effects – Bob Shelley, Makeup Effects –
Giannetto de Rossi, Art Direction – Walter Patriarca. Production Company – New Frida Organization/Jose Frade Production.
Cast:
John Saxon (Captain Norman Hopper), Elizabeth Turner (Jane Hopper), John Morghen (Charlie Bukowski)
Plot: During the Vietnam War, Green Beret Captain Norman Hopper leads a mission into a North Vietnamese village to rescue two of his men only to find them eating human body parts. Back in the USA the two men are placed in a hospital for nervous disorders. Hopper is called in after one of the men, Charlie Bukowski, is released and goes on a crazed killing spree, biting people. However Bukowski is infected with a virus that causes the sufferer to become a cannibal. The virus spreads throughout the city, causing all those bitten by Bukowski to become cannibals as well.
The Italian zombie and cannibal film is a subgenre which, like the culinary penchant for extremely hot curries or chili dishes, is very much an acquired taste and one whose extremes often cause lesser mortals to quail. The Italian zombie/cannibal subgenre begun with Deep River Savages/The Man from Deep River (1972) but was really kicked into high gear by George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1979) which created dozens of imitators in Italy.
Cannibal Apocalypse a fairly routine entry. The inspiration seems to have come from someone seeing Dawn of the Dead and Apocalypse Now (1979) one after the other – both films were released around the same time. But Cannibal Apocalypse never amounts to anything more than its novelty concept of having cannibalistic Vietnam vets. The metaphors that underline many of the Italian cannibal films about primitive tribes coming to literally devour Western society could have been used to potently echo the whole American Vietnam guilt and denial trip – but Margheriti misses such ripe subtext by miles. Even the zombie/cannibals aren’t very interesting – they are too human in personality and seem to shoot people more than they eat them.
It’s a competently directed film, although Margheriti has made far better. Certainly Margheriti doesn’t falter when it comes to depicting gore, the film having some most convincing chunk-blowings and splatterings. There’s one particularly good effect where John Morghen is dispatched and ends up hanging onto a grille with a hole blown right through his stomach and people can be seen moving on the other side.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1993
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