31 Days of Horror Day 12: Absurd (1981)

Synopsis: A priest-doctor is in pursuit of a man with supernatural regenerative abilities. After recently escaping a medical lab, the mutant heads to a small town and proceeds to go on a killing spree. 

Absurd (aka Rosso Sangue) is Joe D’Amato’s follow-up to one I covered last 31 Days The Grim Reaper (aka Anthropophagus). Some say a direct sequel but other than George Eastman playing the big baddie there is literally nothing similar. I mean, there’s a disembowelment if that counts. Instead of a small Greek island, this time we are in a nondescript American town. Evident by the subplot of everyone gathering to watch the Superbowl featuring the Steelers v. Rams game. Completely pointless. 

Mikos (George Eastman) has a healing factor that had inadvertently driven him insane. He gained these powers during a church sanctioned experiment. When he escaped, the Vatican sent out a priest (Edmund Purdom) to track him down and dispatch him. After being chased to a small town in the US, the priest disembowels him on a fence and leaves him for dead. Later Mikos is revived at a nearby hospital and proceeds to murder a nurse. Then escaping and going on a killing spree in town. 

You have an unstoppable force. Murdering the small town populace. Being pursued by a person responsible for him. Not a blatant rip off but at this point, I was seeing some parallels to Carpenter’s Halloween. Anyway, the priest informs the authorities that the only way to stop him is to destroy the brain. 

While attacking someone on the road, Mikos is struck by a hit and run driver. The driver is none other than the patriarch of our innocent family that will occupy the third act. That draws in the Bennett family. Mr. Bennett (Ian Danby) and his wife are headed to the Superbowl party, leaving their children at home with a babysitter. One of the children, Katya (Katya Berger) is confined to a bed due to a spinal condition and her younger brother is convinced that the boogeyman is coming to get him. 

There’s an agonizingly long scene with the younger child begging the bedridden sister to let him into her room once Mikos enters the house and murders the babysitter and nurse caring for Katya. Long story short, Katya manages to blind Mikos with a compass before eventually decapitating him. Sorry to ruin it for you. 

I’ve covered D’Amato flicks in earlier posts. So I’m sure you’ve heard me talk repeatedly about this string of horror flicks in the 70’s and 80’s before transitioning to “erotic” fare (softcore to hardcore pornography). Hey, the man found his niche. But for the time being, we’ll be talking about his stint in the horror genre. 

Although the man’s films are an acquired taste, he did have a talent for creating some interesting kills involving pretty good effects for the time. Several scenes from Absurd come to mind. You have a table saw scene effectively bisecting a man’s head. A scene involving a rather large drill entering a nurse’s head and exiting the other side. Oh and who could forget the oven scene? If not for the story, watch this one for those scenes in particular. 

The reason I pulled Absurd for tonight was because it resided on the infamous UK video nasties list and I felt it needed to be seen. My verdict? If you can get through the super slow first half the second half will be worth it. In my opinion, D’Amato’s films are not very good. But if you can make it through the bad dubs and slow crawl then you’ll be rewarded with some interesting deaths, utilizing some extremely talented effects people and deserves a watch for that alone. I found this one streaming on Tubi. 

2 out of 5

So grab your popcorn, kill the lights and join me again tomorrow as we continue our journey on this strange little trip down the 31 Days of Horror rabbit hole. See you soon…