There is no doubt that Italian director Antonio Margheriti knew his way around the vampire genre, but also that his vampire films (and those that played with tropes from the genre) were some of the stranger and more interesting entries into the genre.
The prosaically titled Cannibal Apocalypse, from 1980, certainly played with vampire tropes and flirted around the Venn diagram where vampires and zombies intersect. The story's narrative demands leaps of faith in places, but the film is certainly an interesting take though might have been a bit tauter when it comes to the horror aspect.
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| the soldiers |
The film starts with stock footage of Vietnam, with American choppers in the sky. A troop led by Norman Hopper (John Saxon) are attacking a Viet Cong village and, after one soldier is killed by a dog with explosives at the collar, they go in heavy, machine guns and flame-throwers blazing. Some villagers run, others fight. In a pit they have two American soldiers prisoner.
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| Thompson bites Hopper |
I didn’t get a sense as to whether this was a rescue or a coincidence (Hopper knows one of the men, Charlie Bukowski (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, City of the Living Dead & the Reverend), and describes himself as his commanding officer later). We see a woman run from the caves in flames, a victim of the flame thrower, and then she falls through the bamboo grating into the pit. Bukowski and the other prisoner, Tom Thompson (Tony King), turn onto her and start eating her flesh. The troops find them and Hopper leans into the pit. When Thompson spots him, he grabs for his arm and bites into his flesh.
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| John Saxon as Hopper |
Hopper bolts awake at home, back in the States. He’s not had the nightmares for a while. When taking his meds, he looks into the fridge and becomes entranced by dripping meat – the camera, importantly, lingers on the blood rather than the meat. Wife, and local TV presenter, Jane (Elizabeth Turner) seems overly worried and the next day we see her pick up Doctor Phil Mendez (Ramiro Oliveros), whilst he’s jogging, to ask him about her concerns as Hopper hasn’t had the nightmares for some time. Mendez uses the opportunity to sleaze a bit (Jane had chosen Hopper over him) and gets a lift to the psychiatric hospital where he works and where Bukowski and Thompson are inmates. Bukowski is just leaving, his first pass out of hospital.
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| Cinzia De Carolis as Mary |
As for Hopper he seems happy enough playing with a remote-control plane and then showing the young kid next door how it works. The kid’s teen sister, Mary (Cinzia De Carolis, Night of the Devils) comes over and asks if she can borrow Jane’s hair dryer. They go in the house and Mary fakes a thigh injury to sexually entice him. Saved by the bell, it seems, as the phone rings, Hopper answers and it is Bukowski. Importantly Hopper says he was thinking about him (and he had the dream, of course), which though subtle does suggest a (limited) psychic link. They talk about having a drink but Mary is messing with the hair dryer and Hopper changes his mind. Off the phone he approaches Mary and the approach is sexually charged. He lifts her jumper – the camera cuts as we hear her exclaim…
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| cinema attack |
Bukowski walks through the town, getting in the way of bikers sexually harassing a couple of girls and then deciding to go to the cinema to watch a war picture (From Hell to Victory) – probably not the best choice for a Vet on day release from the psychiatric hospital. The film, however, does suggest that they have been home at least 6 years. A couple go in after him and start making out right in front of him. She is leaning over the chair and he reaches out to her and then leans in and takes a bite out of neck/shoulder.
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| Bukowski's siege |
He's chased out of the cinema – at which point the bikers go after him also. The bikers smash a thrift market window and Bukowski goes in chased by a biker on his motorbike. In the market (which was closed) Bukowski finds a stall with guns (well it is America) and kills the biker and then a security guard who comes to investigate. Soon the market is surrounded by cops. Jane gets to hear about the incident through her TV job and phones Hopper as a Vet has gone mad (she really does doubt him) but he’s home and yet, knowing instantly it is Bukowski, he goes to intervene. As he gets in his car Mary comes across. No one has ever bitten her like that she says, and doesn't seem upset… he drives away.
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| Tony King as Thompson |
Suffice it to say he talks Bukowski down but, on his way into a waiting ambulance, the Vet bites a cop’s hand. In the hospital Bukowski and Thompson conspire to bite a nurse, Helen (May Heatherly, Vampyres). The hospital has identified a virus – they liken it to rabies – however there is no rhyme or reason as to why the two prisoners displayed symptoms in Vietnam and then have been bite free until this day, why Hopper never seemed to “turn” until this day and why those bitten on the day are symptomatic and infectious in a matter of hours (the cop and Helen for instance, the girl in the cinema is essentially forgotten about).
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| feeding |
The infected do seem to have a connection. Helen turns on her Doctor boyfriend (biting his tongue out) and then hurries to free the two from their restraints. Hopper might have loyalty to his men but that loyalty seems stretched (escape of a secure facility, stealing vehicles, fighting and killing bikers and cops). Talking of which, the bikers suddenly pitching up to attack them during their escape is a stretch, as is the cops getting hold of a flame-thrower! The infected do seem to be connected somehow, aware when another one is near and also, of course, they don’t attack each other.
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| turned cop |
This is ultimately some form of cannibalism causing virus (they really want to munch on flesh) but the camera does linger on blood a couple of times as though that is the motivator and all flesh consumed is raw. The film more uses tropes from the vampire genre (though arguably vampirism is nothing more than cannibalism) and the zombie genre (especially them sat munching on flesh in a couple of shots that feels straight out of that genre). The hinted sexual element, through Hopper and Mary, is more vampire than zombie. They are still thinking (though some are more rational and calculating than others) and, as mentioned, they seem connected. The horror, however, could have been ramped up, both in tension and in gore; for instance the cop is caught having attacked two other cops and munching (on what appears to be ripped off breast) flesh – the attack, unseen, could have been a cracking horror gore scene. As mentioned, there are some story leaps of faith. That said, this has something about it despite being less well known than some.
The imdb page is here.
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK
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