Anthropophagous

Anthropophagous (1980) is directed by Joe D’Amato and co-written with exploitation legend George Eastman. George plays a disfigured cannibal who is killing all the residents of a remote Greek island. On to this island arrives a group of tourists. Among them are Julia (Tisa Farrow), who is no stranger to Italian horror, and Maggie (Serena Grandi). Maggie is pregnant, and this detail is one reason this film ended up on the video nasties list. It was one of thirty-nine films that could be seized and prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act in the UK.

All this fervour has just added to its reputation as one of the films at this time that pushed the limits of gore to its bloody extreme. Best not concentrate on the plot too much and just experience the visceral effect that D’Amato and Eastman set out to portray.

Marcello Giombini’s score is played on just two synthesisers, and he twiddles all the knobs and cranks up the gothic organ. Giombini knows what to play to colour the encroaching dread and doom of the hapless bunch as they fall victim to Eastman’s hungry maniac.

If you are a fan of the use of offal as a prop, then Anthropophagous spills it out and devours it. It would make a great Tisa Farrow double bill with Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979).

If the thought of George Eastman eating his own intestines doesn’t turn you off, then I suggest this should be on your must-watch list.

Gallery

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Trailer

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From the score

• Marcello Giombini – Antropophagus (main theme)

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• Marcello Giombini – I morti viventi

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Filed 27 October 2026 by Darren Evanson.