Absurd (1981)

   

Produced & Directed by: Joe D'Amato

Written by:
George Eastman

Starring:

George Eastman .... Mikos Stenopolis
.... Emily
Charles Borromel .... Sgt. Ben Engleman
Katya Berger .... Katia Bennett
Kasimir Berger .... Willy Bennett
Hanja Kochansky .... Mrs. Bennett
Ian Danby .... Mr. Bennett
Edmund Purdom .... Father

Release Date: Theatrical: October, 1981 (Italy)

 

Rating:

 

A priest goes after a maniac whose blood coagulates very fast. After getting checked into a hospital he goes even more crazy escaping and goes on a killing spree.

 

Mediocre start off with what looks like a maniac whom happens to be the lead character Mikos Stenopolis running away from a preacher and so fourth which made me wonder as to what was the cause of this along with him trying to break into a family home and a gruesome result towards him as this had a nice dark horror setting to all of this but then it slides big time to earn a golden turkey.
Alot of close ups on Mikos having surgery and boy does it look genuinely gross and a total time waster as they needed to cut this shorter. The odd moments later on with his eyes opening and acting crazy which looked creepy but that's nothing to brag about.
A well focused and creepy moment when Mikos goes in for the kill of a janitor and he tries to defend himself as well as this psychopath looking powerful when he goes in for the kill as well as to what he does to him which should please gorehounds.
In the story of course there's pointless sarcastic discussions with Sgt. Ben Engleman towards others while trying to solve the cases that occurs but this isn't the least bit funny when the story tries to add some humor to the horror that we've seen so far. I was itching for the film to get better but no such luck.
An odd effective horror touch with Mikos in the dark side of the road and moments like that waiting to do in his next victim but still the moments are utterly pointless with no real reason as to why he murders these people.
When the scene's focus on the Bennett family more so compared to having them involved during the near beginning of the story things do become mildly interesting but I do mean mildly as we have spoiled child Willy not getting along with his older sister when she tries to put him to bed as he describes a boogeyman eating him if he doesn't go to sleep. Although this was an attention grabber it was a lame outcome and unconvincing to a horror story. We've seen this before but done in a much better style and fashion.
The best scene in the film which is saying very little is when the stuck up sister tries to get her dog back in the house as we get a creepy feeling that the killer will attack before your eyes and a nice gruesome outcome to all of this.
The babysitter Emily arrives and then she experiences some of the terrors later on and tells Willy to go out and get some help as well as telling him to do what she says. Sound familiar to a 1978 Carpenter classic??? This didn't amuse me however as it was extremely rusty on how this was all put together.
Along the way of the struggling moments Mikos grabs a hold of Emily and tortures her half to death but putting her head in an oven which is a lame killing moment with close up shots on her face being heated in the oven and boy is it a total time waster too.
Meanwhile little Willy knocks on the door of his sister Katia whom is crippled and trying to recover while she tries to get out and let him in which takes forever to watch as well as bad one liners of the little boy crying to get in and as to why. The killer would've got to him fast while this is happening but no such luck. Another time water here indeed.
The action rolls along a little bit better when Katia tries to get away from this maniac which is fairly focused on what happens piece by piece here as well as a moment when she seems to do an axe whacking incident in a Lizzie Borden type of fashion. However none of this is too entertaining as there's more exciting moments like this in other shows.
Bottom line is that this was a heap of a mess of an Italian horror flick which was a total waste of time. It didn't carry a strong plot at all. Of course lots of slasher flicks don't have a strong plot but this one is hard to understand and isn't fully explained although people try to discuss the killers motives and so fourth. Also later on in the story it rips off Halloween and I do mean a total ripoff. In other words don't expect it to be a so bad it's good kind of way. It's non stop terrible. A supposed looely based sequel to Antropophagus but I don't see the relationship to it at all. So I just don't get it. It's only by the same makers and that's about it. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

The acting is in foreign language so it's hard to tell their talents but it doesn't look that great and will do my best here .... George Eastman (Mikos Stenopolis) seemed to have the right mean and crazy looks plus does a nice job acting violent and insane in which he seemed to do fair by acting powerful within all of this. Had a fair dark presence to his role but of course he wrote this clunker.
(Emily) had the wholesome innocent nice girl next door looks as well as coming off as a virgin scream queen type but she is no Jamie Lee Curtis. It's hard to tell her talents but seemed to do okay with her innocent behavior. Yet when she struggles near the end of her performance she seems to lack a bit of energy.
Charles Borromel (Sgt. Ben Engleman) had the rough looks and near appeal to his role as a detective but his voice you could tell was overly dubbed. He didn't seem to fit the role too well by watching the outcome of all of this. He didn't do anything for me. Sorry.
Katya Berger (Katia Bennett) seemed to be the best out of the cast as someone trying to recover from her injuries in which she offered some decent struggling energy and enthusiasm into what is going on as well as reacting nicely to stuff. Shows off a nice demented attitude during a certain scene while killing someone with an axe.
Kasimir Berger (Willy Bennett) had the most effective supporting role as the mischieveous little brat in which he seemed to jump into action quite well along with showing an emotional upsetting behavior along with his tantrums that I spotted him doing. His voice was probably overdubbed which was badly done as he probably was better speaking his own language.
Ian Danby (Mr. Bennett) had the nice clean cut look as the family man in the film along with his acting shaken up by what he did and did it with good style. Offered a nice seriousness to everything that he did in his performance almost coming across as a businessman type.
Edmund Purdom (Father) seemed rather stiff as a preacher in which I wasn't sure of his voice was overly dubbed in which he had a thick accent. He was rather wooden in what he did here as he tried to show some characteristics but didn't pull it off too well.

Insides are revealed when the maniac enters someone's home.
Surgery is done with insides revealed.
Sharp object is stabbed through a nurses head.
Head is sliced in the middle by a cutting saw.
Head is impaled by a pick axe.
Bloodied bodies are revealed.
Head is fried in an oven.
Eyeballs are stabbed.
Body is bloodily slaughtered by an axe stabbing.
Decapitated head is revealed.

Carlo Maria Cordio was catchy with his composing as italian composers really stand out more than the american one's as there's deep gloomy wavy synthesizer music for the opening credits which sounded horror cheese like but in an interesting way as it was played during the story too. Plus there's great beats as well as high sounds by having nice adventureous moments as this was oon the ball but sometimes it was overly played which at times drove me crazy. The music is alot better than the stupid story itself.