The Cannibal Man (1973)
"La semana del asesino" (original title)

A young man, Marco, working as a butcher, accidentally kills a taxi driver. His girlfriend Paula wants to go to the police so he has to kill her too. He then has to kill his brother, his ... See full summary »

Director:

Eloy de la Iglesia

Writers:

Eloy de la Iglesia (story), Eloy de la Iglesia (screenplay),

Stars:

Vicente Parra, Emma Cohen, Eusebio Poncela

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vicente Parra	...	Marcos
Emma Cohen	...	Paula
Eusebio Poncela	...	Néstor
Charly Bravo	...	Esteban
Fernando Sánchez Polack	...	Señor Ambrosio (as Fernando Sanchez Polak)
Goyo Lebrero	...	Taxista
Vicky Lagos	...	Rosa
Ismael Merlo	...	Jefe de personal
Rafael Hernández	...	Agustín (as Rafael Hernandez)
José Franco	...	Tendero (as Jose Franco)
Valentín Tornos	...	Obrero (as Valentin Tornos)
Antonio Orengo	...	Camarero
Antonio Corencia	...	Obrero burlón
Antonio del Real	...	Obrero burlón (as Antonio Fernandez del Real)
José Félix Montoya	...	(as Felix Jose Montoya)

Storyline

A young man, Marco, working as a butcher, accidentally kills a taxi driver. His girlfriend Paula wants to go to the police so he has to kill her too. He then has to kill his brother, his brother's fiancée and his father, who have become suspicious. He gets rid of the bodies by taking them to a slaughter house...

---

Plot Keywords:

female nudity | bar | video nasty | slaughterhouse | male nudity | 

---

Taglines:

When the butcher goes berserk....

---

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

June 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cannibal Man

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlas International Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the first movie to use the "vomit-bag" gimmick. Theatres offered free barf bags with the tickets to increase the sales of this 'violent' film.

---

Connections

Featured in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)

User Reviews

Butcher by trade but not by lifestyle choice.

While watching The Cannibal Man, in my ongoing quest to see all of the movies banned by the authorities during the UK "video nasty" debacle of the 1980s, I forgot all about the title and simply enjoyed it for what it was. That was a good move, as I have seen other reviews mentioning disappointment that there didn't seem to be any actual cannibalism on screen.

The slim story concerns Marcos (Vincente Parra), a butcher working in a factory who finds his life sliding out of control after he accidentally kills a taxi driver while out with his girlfriend. One death leads to another leads to another and it's not long before Marcos is struggling to create plausible reasons for the people who have gone missing. He also has to stock up on air fresheners and soap while dealing with the smell of the decay and death in his house.

There's nobody here that I could easily identify from other movies and nothing in the direction from Eloy de la Iglesia (who also wrote the thing and has about 20 other movies to his credit) that stands out as particularly memorable but there are some decent moments of disturbing brutality, a nice development of the characters and situation (there's a possible love interest and then the friendship Marcos develops with a neighbour that becomes quite crucial to helping him see what he has to do to make amends) and some originality in the way the content is filmed and dealt with. This is no gruesome, entertaining horror about a soulless serial killer, this is simply about a man who cannot stop things spiralling out of his control. Worth a watch if you know what to expect or, rather, what NOT to expect.