Verdict
Summary
It’s highly unpleasant, sensational, and exploitive, but it’s really interesting for a lot of the same reasons that First Blood is. Director Antonio Margheriti makes the proceedings feel like a grungy zombie movie, but in fact it’s not quite in that subgenre, but it’s certainly a horror film, if disguised by a Vietnam vet / action thriller. It’s very unique in that regard, but most certainly not for everyone.
Plot:
A Vietnam vet terrorizes Atlanta, promting another Vietnam vet to hunt him down.
Review:
Vietnam was hell for Norman Hopper (John Saxon), and he’s plagued by PTSD and the memories of members of his platoon going off the deep end and literally cannibalizing Vietnamese civilians. He’s adjusted pretty well in Atlanta, with a pretty wife and a kid, but everything stops when he gets a call from a member of his platoon, a psychologically damaged vet named Charlie (Giovanni Lobardo Radice) who wants to hang out, but Norman rejects the offer. Charlie, dejected, goes to the movies where he can’t control himself and he bites a woman in the row in front of him, ripping part of her neck apart. He flees and ends up in a department store where he goes completely off the rails and kills a few people, causing a huge ruckus and a massive police response. When Norman hears that it’s Charlie that’s terrorizing Atlanta, he goes in and offers to assist the police in bringing him in, which works: Charlie is apprehended, but the terror has only begun! Another vet from Charlie and Norman’s platoon named Tom (Tony King) shows up, and he and Norman band together when Charlie busts loose, and the three of them – all infected with some kind of dormant virus that turns them (and anyone they bite) into raging cannibals! Soon, Atlanta has a cannibalistic epidemic on its hands, and Norman who knows that he’s infected and tries his best to hold his infection at bay, might be the only hope Atlanta has because he’s the only one who has the willpower to end it in the only way he knows how.
Shockingly grim and downbeat for a Vietnam vet-run-amok type film that quickly brings to mind the very similar First Blood, but done in the completely crazy Italian style, Cannibal Apocalypse is obviously (I hope!) a metaphor for the horrors of the Vietnam war come home to roost. Other Vietnam vets-run-amok films such as Combat Shock really dwell in the grime and putrid filth that its psychologically damaged characters deal with, and Cannibal Apocalypse deserves to mentioned in the same way as that film. It’s highly unpleasant, sensational, and exploitive, but it’s really interesting for a lot of the same reasons that First Blood is. Director Antonio Margheriti makes the proceedings feel like a grungy zombie movie, but in fact it’s not quite in that subgenre, but it’s certainly a horror film, if disguised by a Vietnam vet / action thriller. It’s very unique in that regard, but most certainly not for everyone.
Kino Lorber brings Cannibal Apocalypse back in print for a 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray combo edition as part of their “Kino Cult” series, and this one is numbered #8 on the spine. There’s an audio commentary by Tim Lucas, plus a documentary about the making of the film, an interview with actor Tony King, a video tour of the filming locations, and an alternate opening title sequence and trailers. There’s also a slipcover and a reversible cover sleeve.
