If you've followed the site, then you probably know about the Halloween Horror Movie Madness and its yearly themes. Last year, we slunk into the greasy stain of the Video Nasties. For the horror newbie, the Video Nasties were a number of films distributed on video cassette over in England in the early 1980s that were criticized for their violent content by the press, social commentators, and various religious organizations.
Some of these definitely qualified to be on the list(though I don't believe in government censorship in almost any form), while many others left one scratching one's head. The Cannibal Man falls into the latter portion of this statement.
Released in 1972, the movie follows a butcher who accidentally kills a cab driver. His girlfriend, the only witness, wants to go to the police and report this, leading to the phrase 'snitches get stitches' or death in this case. One by one, members of his family and others become suspicious, becoming meat by-products in the process.
Despite the title, there is no cannibalism. Mainly due to the fact this movie was originally title The Week of the Killer. Should have changed Week to Weak. Some good kill scenes are overshadowed by long periods of boredom. There are some strong homoerotic overtones in this film that may or may not be seen as anti-gay, depending on your point of view. When compared to the other works of this period, The Cannibal Man is tame and should not have appeared on the Video Nasty list. One must love the government in the arts.
No comments:
Post a Comment