Is Absurd a Hidden Treasure or Dumpster Fire?
Blu-ray Distributed By Severin / September 24, 2018
Toss away those inferior bootlegs and experience sleaze maestro Joe D’Amato’s infamous follow-up to ANTHROPOPHAGOUS like never before: Borrowing heavily from HALLOWEEN, D’Amato unleashes gut-spewing Greek boogeyman (screenwriter George Eastman) into suburban America for a “gruesome as hell” (CinemasFringes.com) and “incredibly sadistic” (ASlashAbove.com) saga of doomed nurses, butchered babysitters, bio-chemical clergy and some of the most insane splatter scenes in Italian gorehound history. Edmund Purdom (FRANKENSTEIN’S CASTLE OF FREAKS, PIECES) and Annie Belle (HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, LAURE) co-star in this “violence-soaked bloodbath” (Hysteria Lives) and former ‘Video Nasty’ – also known as THE GRIM REAPER 2, ZOMBIE 6, HORRIBLE and MONSTER HUNTER – now featuring a 2k scan from the original negative and gushing with all-new Special Features.
Jamie’s Take
George Eastman stars as Mikos, a half man-half monster whose being chased by a priest (Edmund Purdom from Pieces and Don’t Open Till Christmas) because this blood thirsty monster has been created by the church in some strange scientific experiment which has caused this madman to be impervious to pain, with the power of coagulating blood when he is wounded.
There is some thrown together dialog about what happened to this man and how he has been chased to America from Greece (I assume it’s Greece, not 100% sure, fuck it). Trying to stop what they created, the church is out to put an end to Mikos before he kills many others.
After being wounded, Mikos is taken to the hospital where the doctors revive him albeit the warnings of the priest and sure enough Mikos is free (after dispatching a poor nurse with a drill). Mikos also comes across a mill worker (I think it’s a mill, it’s a warehouse with a table saw) who gets his head pushed through a table saw. While not as gruesome as the kill in Intruder, this is the highlight of the film as this gore sequence is pretty fucking brutal.
While all this insanity is taking place, the movie changes focus on a family whose invalid teenage daughter and six year old son (who has this massively huge afro) are being babysat while their parents go out to watch Monday Night Football. I shit you not. There is way too much footage of this vintage Steelers game with characters getting really into the sport that I found both annoying and hilarious. It’s pretty obvious that a foreign director and screenwriter (co-written by Eastman himself) made this film. “Americans love football! They watch it while Mikos makes murder!”
Anyways, while these dummies watch football at another couple’s home, Mikos invades the home of this family as the babysitter (Annie Belle who got good fuckin’s from David Hess in House on the Edge of the Park) tries to protect the children. The climatic finale is actually quite suspenseful and gruesome, suddenly making this silly goriest into a downright tense and edge of your seat horror film. It’s both good and bad that the film abruptly took itself seriously as I would have liked the whole film to have gone either bat-shit crazy or had the continuous terror that the third act brought. As it is, Absurd is tonally all over the place.
I finished the film thinking I would give it 2.5 cans but as the day went on and the more I thought about the third act, the more I liked Absurd. While the plot is ludicrous and at times incoherent, the movie is rather creepy and those gore effects are pretty decent. Once again Joe D’Amato gives viewers plenty of flying crimson (no titties Joe? Come on!) to satisfy the gore hounds. While it isn’t a continuous splatterfest, Absurd delivers the goods.
Severin also delivers the goods and it’s hard for me not to compare this transfer to Anthropophagous since both films have been released simultaneously on blu ray, with Absurd being promoted as a sequel to Anthropophagous. Absurd has never been released uncut and has been released in butchered versions under the names of Monster Hunter, Zombie 6, Horrible, and Grim Reaper 2. Needless to say, there never has been a good quality version…until now. The picture looks absolutely stunning. It’s pretty much flawless with rich colors, clear picture and yet still maintaining the film grain.
Even better is that the film can be viewed in either the dubbed, uncut 94 minute version or the shorter 88 minute Italian version.
The special features are rather nice as well;l with another lengthy interview with Eastman and also Michele Soavi (he played a biker in the film and went on to work with Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and Lamberto Bava before becoming a film maker himself). There’s also an old archive interview with D’Amato who unfortunately is no longer with us.
And if that isn’t enough, Severin released 2,500 copies with a CD of the music by Carlo Maria Cordio (Shocking Dark). My only guess that a CD wasn’t included with Anthropophagous is because that movie sucks ass.
Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?
Jamie says: Hidden Treasure!
| Jamie's Take: |  (3.0 / 5) |
| Blu-ray Extras: |  (4.0 / 5) |
| Average: |  (3.5 / 5) |
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Special Features:
- Rosso Sangue: Alternate Italian cut (with optional English subtitles)
- The Return of the Grim Reaper: Interview With Actor / Writer / Co-Producer Luigi Montefiore (George Eastman)
- D’Amato on Video: Archive Interview With Director Aristide Massaccesi
- A Biker (Uncredited): Interview With Michele Soavi
- Trailer
- First 2500 copies includes Bonus CD Soundtrack
- Reversible Wrap
