| Absurd | |
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Film poster |
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| Directed by | Joe D'Amato |
| Produced by | Donatella Donati Joe D'Amato |
| Written by | George Eastman |
| Starring | George Eastman |
| Music by | Carlo Maria Cordio |
| Cinematography | Joe D'Amato |
| Editing by | George Morley |
| Distributed by | Medusa Pictures Wizard Video |
| Release date(s) | October 1981 |
| Running time | 94 Mins |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Absurd (also known as Rosso Sangue, Anthropophagus 2, Horrible, The Grim Reaper 2) is a 1981 Italian horror film, an unofficial sequel to Antropophagus. It was directed by Joe D'Amato and written by George Eastman.
Absurd was one of the infamous Video Nasties of the United Kingdom, and became one of 39 titles to be successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act in 1984. Originally released in both a cut and uncut version with identical sleeve design by Medusa Home Video in 1981. The original tape is a sought after and expensive collectable among fans.
It was released in 1980s in the US as "Monster Hunter" by Wizard Video, with a rather inaccurate synopsis on the back of the old-style "big box." To add to its questionable fame, this movie inspired the name for German black metal act Absurd, whose members later switched their interest from gore movies to extreme right wing politics and committed murder in 1993.[1]
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The plot involves a near invincible man, known only as Mikos, a dead Greek serial murderer, whose blood coagulates incredibly fast, but this gift has made him insanely homicidal. A priest pursues the killer and attempts to destroy him by impaling him on a set of railings which disembowel him, but he is revived later in a local hospital. The madman escapes after brutally killing a nurse and goes on a killing spree. The priest informs the hospital that the only way to kill Mikos is to 'destroy the cerebral mass'.
While attacking a motorcyclist after escaping from the hospital, Mikos is struck by a hit-and-run driver. The driver of the car, Dr. Bennett and his wife are going to a friends house to watch a football game, leaving their two children at home with a babysitter. Their daughter Katia, is confined to her bed because of a problem with her spine, while her younger brother believes that the 'Bogeyman' will come to get him.
Mikos makes his way to the Bennetts' home and begins to murder everyone there. Peggy, a family helper is stabbed in the head with a pickaxe and the babysitter Emily has her head forced into a lit oven, causing her face to blister and turning purple, but not before sending the brother off to get help. Katia struggles from her bed to take on the killer herself. Mikos breaks into Katia's bedroom and attacks her, but she manages to stab him in the eye with a set of drawing compasses. She then stumbles down the hallway as the blinded killer staggers after her. He stalks her through the house and Katia manages to elude him. The priest arrives and struggles with Mikos, and Katia grabs an axe from a suit of armor and decapitates Mikos. The family arrives home to discover Katia standing in the front doorway, covered in blood holding Mikos's severed head.
Absurd is in many ways a 'non-sequel' to Anthropophagus the Beast, as the only real connections between the two films - besides George Eastman and Joe D'Amato - is the presence of a homicidal man (played by George Eastman in effectively the same role as the one he played in the first film) who is disembowelled in both films, and who comes from a Greek island.
On its release some critics accused the film of being nothing more than an Italian version of Halloween. There are some similarities between the two films - references to a 'Bogeyman' and a babysitter and her charges in peril from a silent and seemingly indestructible killer. Director D'Amato also attempted to make the film more attractive to the American market by setting it in the States, even though it was shot in Italy.
The film was placed on the DPP's list of video nasties in 1983 in its uncut state in the UK, but a cut version was released with two minutes and 23 seconds of cuts to it that same year.
The film was considered a "sequel" to the Zombie series of horror films, under the title "Zombie 6: Monster Hunter." An incorrect description on the back of the box promoted the film as a sequel to the zombie films for a while.
An uncut DVD version of the film was released under the French title, 'Horrible', via Mya Communication on July 28, 2009. [2]
An uncut DVD version including a long version of the film was released under the German title, 'Absurd', via XT-Video on December 15, 2010. [3]
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