ABSURD aka HORRIBLE aka Rosso Sangue

(Joe D'Amato, 1981)



"Horrible"...finally, a movie that lives up to its name! This "sequel" to Anthropophagus has only one thing in common with its predecessor: George Eastman running amok. In Absurd, he isn't a crusty-faced cannibal; he's a scientific experiment gone wrong. He has the somewhat improbable ability to regenerate damaged tissue quickly, making him almost invincible. Sounds like a good premise, right? In more capable hands, it could have been a horror classic. In Joe's it's a rich, gooey cheese fondue.



The story was obviously lifted from the first two Halloween movies. It opens with Eastman impaling himself on an iron fence, then being rushed to a hospital. There he recovers astonishingly fast, then proceeds to dispatch a nurse. He makes his way back to the house with the tricky fence, killing anyone he meets along the way. Then he stalks a bedridden girl, her little brother, and the babysitters.



True, the film does have some rather gory and mean-spirited violence, but D'Amato fails to create any real tension or suspense. Instead of surprise scares, we are treated to a nurse getting a drill pushed into her temple for what seems like ten minutes. Most of the killings seem to take as long. The film's shortcomings, however, are what make it so enjoyable. The dialogue and dubbing are hilarious, and the scene with all the parents sitting around and eating spaghetti almost had me in tears! And I will admit, Absurd does have a wonderfully absurd ending. Slow, but entertaining. MYA Communications DVD released this not long ago, so it's easy to obtain. Recommended.



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