Cannibal Apocalypse (1980)

Original title: Apocalypse Domani

Director: Antonio Margheriti

Writers: Antonio Margheriti, Dardano Sacchetti

Composer: Alexander Blonksteiner

Starring: John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Cinzia De Carolis, Tony King, Wallace Wilkinson, Ramiro Oliveros, John Geroson, May Heatherly, Ronnie Sanders

More info: IMDb

Tagline: An American City Terrorized by Crazed Flesh-Eating Killers ... An Unbelievable Nightmare!

Plot: Giovanni Lambardo Radice and John Saxon are Vietman vets that bring back contagious virus that turn people into cannibals when bitten.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

See!  Vietnam flashbacks!  See!  A 15 minute shootout at an indoor flea market!  See!  Not much in the way of cannibal action or cannibals in general.  For about the first hour I was getting a little cheesed because I popped this in looking for some cannibal action and there's hardly anything like that.  The title doesn't lie.  It's got an appropriately bleak ending and everything that happens before is almost futile.  The title doesn't lie so I guess it was my brain filling in all kinds of possibilities of what this would be.  I didn't see the trailer until after the film.  If you go into it looking for a horror thriller that's more like a zombie apocalypse then you're more likely to enjoy it from the beginning.  Once I realized that that was what it was (with a half hour to go) I started to dig it more.  Saxon does a fine job in the lead and there are some fun scenes (like the biker chase and subsequent flea market shootout) but it's not the kind of picture I can see anyone revisiting much or at all.  If you digs on some Italian horror/exploitation then this is a must see but you won't exactly be telling your friends about it.  The score has some nice moments.  The Studio Canal/Image DVD (from their EuroShock Collection) has a great anamorphic widescreen print.  They've lined up some great extras.  You get a 55 minute making of documentary, a 6 minute tour of the filming locations, the European theatrical trailer and Japanese teaser trailer, poster and still galleries, an alternate U.S. opening sequence and a text treatment on the film's censorship issues.