Synopsis: A group of friends and a hitchhiker become stranded on a tourist island where they are stalked by a disfigured cannibalistic killer who is prowling the island after killing its residents.
Joe D’Amato made a handful of horror films in the 70’s and early 80’s before moving toward more erotic fare and eventually transitioning into hardcore pornography. Within the horror films, there were a few to reach cult status such as Beyond the Darkness and Absurd. I myself have a bit of a love/hate relationship with his films so The Grim Reaper aka The Savage Island aka Anthropophagus was one that I never really had the desire to watch. Given this month I’m attempting to fill the voids in my genre viewing, I figured why not give this one a shot. I kind of wish I didn’t.
This flick takes a little while to get going as the group heads to the remote island. You get brief glimpses of the terror stalking them but it is basically all meaningless filler littered with terrible dialogue. That is, until about midway when the action starts. From there it rolls in fits and starts when it comes to the action/gore and I found myself completely bored. The only saving grace is a couple scenes of fairly decent practical effects toward the end but all in all this was pretty terrible and not in that good, charming kind of way.
When it comes to this genre, they can’t all be winners but you take the good with the bad. Sometimes you can find that little hidden gem but you have to wade through the shit to get there. Don’t get me wrong though, I like some of D’Amato’s work but this one just completely misses the mark for me. If you want to experience this one for yourself, you can find it streaming on Tubi.
Join me again tomorrow as we continue down the horror rabbit hole…hopefully we find a good one next.
