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Released by: Massacre Video
Released on: June 9th, 2015.
Director: Andreas Schnaas
Cast: Achim Kohlhase, Andre Sobottka, Dirk Thies, Andreas Schnaas
Year: 1999
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The Movie:
Dedicated, in the opening credits sequence, to the late, great Joe D'Amato, Andreas Schnaas' low budget shot on video Anthropophagous 2000 pays homage to the man who teamed up with George Eastman to bring us the classic Italian horror picture that obviously inspired this German retread. Like D'Amato's original film, this puts way more emphasis on gore set pieces than on storytelling but fans of low budget splatter should find much to appreciate here.
When the movie starts out, a group of friends get into an RV (replacing the boat from the original) and heads out for some much needed rest and relaxation at a beach house. Here they're to spend a few days just getting away from it all. One of the women in the group is pregnant and when her stomach starts to bother her, they pull over to the side of the road so she can get out for a bit. Here they're accosted by a beggar looking for handouts. When asked for directions, the beggar tells them to stay away - never a good sign, and one that always goes unheeded in horror movies. Later the pregnant chick barfs in the guy's hands, and he chows down.
At any rate, our heroes arrive at the seaside village and find it more or less empty. The place is rumored to be stalked by Nikos Karamanlis (played by Schnaas himself, of course!), a former sailor who ate his wife and daughter when he ran out of food at sea. Of course, they start poking around the small town and as they do, they're murdered by a flesh eating monster in increasingly gory ways culminating in a few interesting and even more over the top variations of the set pieces that D'Amato made infamous in his 1980 film.
Filled with bad acting from bad actors, Anthropophagous 2000 lacks the screen presence of anyone as awesome as George Eastman but you've got to give Schnaas credit for handily outdoing ol' Joe in the gore department. Granted, the effects aren't as convincing, some might even call them crude (and they are) but there are times where you have to appreciate the mad genius Schnaas shows here. Not only do we get the aforementioned barf buffet but we get the skin ripped off of a woman's face after she's been axed, intestines get ripped out, faces get beaten into bloody pulps, guts are ripped out, things that should not be eaten (aside from barf) are eaten and we get a nod to Cannibal Holocaust thrown in for good measure. Oh and the fetus ripping scene from the original? You just know Schnaas is going to go wild recreating that, and he does, just as he does with the original's infamous ending… one man… one hungry man… alone on a beach.
The atmosphere that made the slower parts of D'Amato's original isn't here but you've got to appreciate how Schnaas modelled the makeup on his character in the movie on the iconic artwork used to promote the original movie. It's also worth noting that he added a few more (completely one dimensional) characters to the movie just to increase the body count. The man is dedicated, you've got to give him that.
For a micro-budget splatter film, this one is pretty fun. The gore is, again, the main selling point here but there are some moments where the movie rises above its ambitions and creates a little bit of tension. Some of the lighting is inspired and the locations that were found to recreate the story work better than you might expect them to. This won't win over those who can't get into what Schnaas has been doing for the better part of the last quarter of a century but for those who do, or just anyone who appreciates low budget gore filled goofiness, this is a pretty fun watch.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Anthropophagous 2000 arrives on DVD from Massacre Video framed at 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen and completely uncut. There are times where the framing looks a little tight, the tops of heads can disappear now and then, but it looks like previous versions of the movie were issued with the same framing so it's probably pretty safe to assume that this is how Schnaas intended it. Quality of the picture looks about as good as you'd expect a low budget shot on video gore film from the late 90s to look - so don't go into this one expecting high definition picture quality. The image is pretty stable and about as detailed as it can be, while colors look good - those reds pop quite nicely and add to the insanity of it all. Black levels are fine but some crush hurts shadow detail - but honestly that's being picky. This looks as good as it probably can.
Audio chores are handled by a German language Dolby Digital 2.0 track with subtitles provided in English only and the quality here is on par with that of the transfer. By that we mean that it sounds okay - the levels are balanced and the dialogue clear enough - but it is obviously and quite understandably hampered by the source material. No problems here though, the goofy score and squishy sound effects come through nicely.
Massacre Video have provided a few minutes of deleted scenes that are interesting enough to check out, as well as a fairly extensive still gallery of storyboards and behind the scenes type stuff. We also get trailers for other Massacre Video releases like Nutjob and Mr. No Legs. Menus and chapter selection are included and we get some slick reversible cover art too.
The Final Word:
Anthropophagous 2000 is what it is - a low budget love letter to one of Joe D'Amato's most infamous films redone on the cheap with an emphasis on splatter. When you're in the right frame of mind for something like this, it can be a lot of fun and Massacre Video's DVD offers US fans a way to see it completely uncut.
