The Cannibal Man (1973)

Director: Eloy de la Iglesia

Starring: Vicente Parra, Emma Cohen, Eusebio Poncela, Charly Bravo

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When the butcher goes berserk....

Plot: A young man, working as a butcher, accidentally kills a taxi driver. His girlfriend wants to go to the police so he has to kill her too. He then has to kill his brother, his brother's fiancee and his father, who have become suspicious. He gets rid of the bodies by taking them to the butchery...

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah. Once was good.

I liked it enough to recommend but it is rather slow. That's the real killer but then the simple story is amusing it's got quite a few kills to keep you satisfied. If I ever do watch this again I'll have to find the original Spanish dub. That might change things for the better.


I found it quite funny like a black comedy. Marcos and his girlfriend get into a fight with a cab driver that lunges toward them and takes a blow to the head in self defense. They flee the scene. The next day they discover that the cabbie died hours later in the hospital and that's when Marcos's girlfriend wants to go to the police. He can't let her do that for some reason and ends up killing her. Next thing you know his brother shows up and starts asking questions about Marcos's girlfriend so Marcos kills him. Wait a minute, what about bro's fiance? She's got to go, too. Uh-oh. Her father's snooping around. Now he's got to die.


I almost forgot. Then there's Paula. She the waitress at the local diner where Marcos hangs out and she's sweet on him. They have sex, she starts the math and gets nervous...really nervous. Marcos picks up on this and figures she might as well die, too. Now, not only does she look like Amy Winehouse, she's stopped breathing like her, too.


What? Too soon?


You're right. I should've waited more than 24 hours. Please don't hurt me.


It's really funny because after he kills the brother you know everyone else that comes around is going to snuff it. That much I liked. Then there's this young, fancy lad that's been watching what's been going on from his binoculars in his high-rise apartment. He befriends Marcos and they hang out, go to dinner, go swimming...


I kept waiting for some kind of guy on guy action but that never happened. Their friendship was very homoerotic. I'm curious about it though - the movie that is. They do have an unusual relationship, one that I rather liked. It was strange and I'm sure it was strange to each of them as well. The ending is satisfying. Man, I'm about to talk myself into raising the score but I shouldn't. It's really slow for no other reason than to fill that magical 90 minute run time. 70 minutes would have better served the film. Good flick, though.