Director: Peter Newton (aka Joe D’Amato)
Script: John Cart (aka George Eastman)
Cast: George Eastman, Eduard Purdon, Amio Belle, Charles Borromer, Katyn Berger, Kasimir Berger, Ian Danby, Ted Rusoff
Running time: 94 minutes
Year: 1981
Certificate: 18
Absurd (also known as Anthropophagus 2, Zombie 6: Monster Hunter, Horrible and The Grim Reaper 2) is the first of its kind English-language Italian ‘slasher’ film. Directed, lensed and co-produced by Joe D’Amato and starring George Eastman, who also wrote the story and screenplay, Absurd plays out as very watchable reinterpretation of the original Halloween film by John Carpenter. Like its inspiration Absurd also features an unstoppable killer, played by six feet, nine inches tall George Eastman (aka Luigi Montefiori), being hunted by someone who is obsessed with stopping him (this time a Vatican priest, rather than a psychiatrist). And, like its inspiration, Absurd has a ‘babysitter’ figure fighting to save the lives of her charges, with one of the females in peril becoming the ‘final girl’ in the process.
The only really original element to Absurd is the background to the killer, Mikos Tanoupoulos, who was experimented on in a church-sanctioned scientific experiment that gave him extraordinary healing powers, which inadvertently drove him insane. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t really do anything with this interesting back-story apart from have the priest, who was behind the experiment, chasing Mikos; essentially trying to right his past wrongs.
Of course one doesn’t watch a ‘slasher’ film for a complicated plot; one wants to see inventive kills performed by an interesting killer. Well, there are certainly some cool kills here, including Peggy, the babysitter, getting smashed in the head with a pickaxe, and Emily, a nurse who has been caring for Katya, having her head forced into a lit oven. There’s also another nurse having a very long needle inserted into her face and an unlucky chap having his head sliced open with a band saw. Unfortunately, apart from his size, Eastman doesn’t make for a particularly memorable bad guy; he just kind of wanders around a small town, (in fact, mostly through just the one house), killing people.
However, what Absurd lacks in a decent script, good acting and originality, it certainly makes up for by keeping its pace brisk throughout and, apart from one scene – involving our heroine freeing herself from the straps holding her to a bed, which takes way too long – it’s commendably pacey, helped by Carlo Maria Cordio’s unusual, primarily synth score. It’s just a shame that the film is plagued by a pedestrian script and stilted performances, as if the characters had been better drawn, the film could have become a ‘slasher’ classic, rather than just an ‘also ran’.
88 Films have done a great job in making this old ‘video nasty’ film look so much better than it deserves, with picture and sound quality very good throughout the films’ running time. In fact, it’s a 4K re-master from the original 35mm negatives presented in ultra-high definition (2160p) in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s also presents its sound in Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR10 Compatible). They’ve also done a bang-up job on the extras, which cover all the bases, whether you want them to or not.
Absurd is currently out on Blu-Ray courtesy of the great 88 Films and the disc is stuffed with interesting extras including:
The extended English version (Absurd) and Italian version (Rosso Sangue);
Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni Cobretti (English Version) – An excellent, detailed commentary which discusses Absurd as being the spiritual sequel, at least, of Eastman’s previous horror film, namely Anthropophagus (Aka The Grim Reaper). They also discuss the films’ influences in depth, including Luci Fulci’s Dead series and American style ‘slasher’ films, in general.
Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues (English Version) – This is another excellent commentary with Joseph, Eric and Nathaniel from the now infamous podcast. They talk about the cast in detail and share some amusing thoughts along the way, such as the way George Eastman looks like a giant, psychotic Bee Gee!
When Luigi met George (27 mins) – A 2023 interview with Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman). George talks about how he first got into acting, about his love of painting and about his career in general. Unfortunately, due to his height he wasn’t hired for many ‘normal’ roles and ended up playing heavies in Westerns and thrillers. After a stint of running a restaurant and an ice-cream parlour he turned his hand to script-writing, including Absurd. George worked with some major names including Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston.
The Absurd Factor – an interview with Luigi Montefiori (14.5 mins) – Here Luigi talks about getting to know various actors and directors well, including Michele Soavi, who was an uncredited biker in the movie and for whom he later wrote the slasher film Stagefright for.
The Sound of Filmirage – An interview with Carlo Maria Cordio (18.5 mins) – An interesting archive interview with the film’s composer, dated from 2016, in Rome. Carlo talks about his movie career, which mostly consisted of writing soundtracks for horror films. He liked Joe D’Amato, even though he was very demanding, preferring instead Lucio Fulci who he says was extremely knowledgeable about music. Apparently he was only on one film set (Ator, The Fighting Eagle) and rates Caligula: The Untold Story as his favourite of his own musical compositions.
The uncredited biker – an interview with Michele Soavi (17 mins) – Michele explains how he first met the director and got involved with the production side of things. He was only 19 years old when Absurd was shot. It was Joe who later put a camera in his hands and told him to go, get shooting. Soavi respects D’Amato a lot since he could do pretty much every job on a film set, from grip work, to camera assisting to directing.
How Absurd – An Italian Slasher: A visual essay by Mike Foster (14 mins) – An enjoyable and at times humorous overview of the film and its place in the slasher pantheon. This was a refreshing change from some of the more pretentious and very serious visual essays that I’ve sat through as academics get to talking about and over-analysing films. It’s nicely illustrated too, with plenty of posters and stills used throughout.
Original trailer (2.43 mins) – This emphasises the gore, and features lots of the film’s music score, and, sadly, one rather pointless slow tracking shot of a car!
