A group of tourists explore the Greek Islands. Unfortunately, someone or something starts bumping them off.

There’s so much to love about Joe D’Amato’s Anthropophagus The Beast. Firstly, it delivers. The film’s reputation is one of extreme gore and about it being utterly disgusting. And, thankfully, it is, which is perfect for horror fans. How disgusting is it? Let’s just say that the scene involving the pregnant character and the one involving the killer at the end (I don’t want to ruin any surprises) are as ghoulish and vomit-inducing as you hope they will be. These scenes have gone down in horror history for a reason.

George Eastman is as great as ever, and I disagree with the critics of the film who say he isn’t in the film enough. I think that the sparsity of his character’s appearances is key to why the film works so well. When he is onscreen, he doesn’t disappoint. I also love his entrance into the film (again, no spoilers here).

There are several parallels with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and this film, with both movies being a slow, but still very engaging, burn until the kills start, and then both films go up several notches. There’s also a ‘Saturn in Retrograde’ moment in Anthropophagus with a tarot card reading. A character is also introduced later on in proceedings who has had previous dealings with the killer and said that she can now actually smell him and that he smells strongly of blood (rather than olive oil, presumably).

The film also captures that moment in time regarding the evolution of the horror genre, how extreme it had become with certain envelopes being pushed, and rightly so. This is a cinema genre that deals with the extreme and how this kind of artistic expression is so vital, regardless of Christian busybodies and MPs who want to make a name for themselves by trying to stop this. Many hadn’t even seen the films they campaigned to have banned.

The film is actually beautiful to watch, and D’Amato photographed the movie’s locales very well. In fact, in some ways, Anthropophagus The Beast feels like a Greek Islands tourist film from hell. And I love it. I actually want to visit the islands now.

Please avoid the version that has all of the gore and disgusting content edited out and was retitled The Grim Reaper.

If it wasn’t for the film’s inclusion on the DPP List, it probably wouldn’t have been released on 4K UHD after extensive remastering and work being done on the transfer. That’s karma right there. Every cloud…

4.5 out of 5 stars