- Absurd (film)
Infobox Film
name = Absurd
image_size =
caption = Cover for the Wizard Video release as "Monster Hunter"
director =Joe D'Amato
producer =Donatella Donati Joe D'Amato
writer = George Eastman
narrator =
starring = George Eastman
music =Carlo Maria Cordio
cinematography =Joe D'Amato
editing = George Morley
distributor =Medusa Pictures Wizard Video
released = Start date|1981|10
runtime = 98 Mins
country = flagicon|ItalyItaly
language = Italian
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0084028"Absurd " (also known as "Rosso Sangue", "Anthropophagus 2", "Horrible", "The Grim Reaper 2" and "Zombie 6: Monster Hunter") is a 1981 Italian horror film, an unofficial sequel to
The Anthropophagus Beast . It was directed byJoe D'Amato and written by George Eastman.It was on the infamous
Video Nasties list in the early 1980s.Was released in 1980s as "Monster Hunter" by Wizard Video, with a rather inaccurate synopsis on the back or the old-style "big box."Fact|date=September 2007
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. [Satanic Killings, Frank Moorhouse, First Edition, Allison & Busby, 2006.]ynopsis
The plot involves a near invincible man, known only as Nikos, 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 Nikos is to 'destroy the cerebral mass'.
While attacking a motorcyclist after escaping from the hospital, Nikos is struck by a hit-and-run driver. The driver of the car, Dr. Bennett and his wife are going out for dinner that evening, 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.Nikos makes his way to the Bennetts' home and starts to murder everyone there. One particular scene of note is the death of the babysitter, who is stabbed and then has her head forced into a lighted oven, where the camera focusses on her face blistering and turning purple for some time. Daughter Katia sends her brother to get help before struggling from her bed to take on the killer herself. She blinds him with a set of drawing compasses before decapitating him.
Cast
*George Eastman as Nikos Stenopolis
*Annie Belle as Emily
*Charles Borromel as Sgt. Ben Engleman
*Katya Berger as Katia Bennett
*Kasimir Berger as Willy Bennett
*Hanja Kochansky as Mrs. Bennett
*Ian Danby as Mr. Bennett
*Ted Rusoff as Dr. Kramer
*Edmund Purdom as FatherBackground
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 relased with two minutes and 23 seconds of cuts to it that same year.
References
External links
* [http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/nasties.htm Overview of all video nasties]
* [http://www.hysteria-lives.co.uk/hysterialives/nasties/nastiesmain1.htm History of video nasties]
* [http://www.critical-film.com/essays/Nasties/Nasties1.html Complete Video Nasties analysis from Critical-Film.com]
* [http://www.videounderbelly.com/wiki/Absurd "Absurd"] at Video Underbelly.
* [http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/9CB9959146527E03802566C8003544EF?OpenDocument BBFC certification of 'Absurd']
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