Antropophagus

Antropophagus (also known as Anthropophagus: The Beast, The Savage Island, and The Grim Reaper) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato, co-written by D'Amato and George Eastman, and starring Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini, Mark Bodin, and Eastman, who portrays a cannibal stalking tourists on a remote island.

The scene in which the titular man eater strangles a pregnant woman, tears out the fetus from her womb and bites into it, made it become one of the infamous "video nasties" that was prosecuted in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, and the "controversy greatly aided its cult reputation" as well.

The only one who objects to this detour to the island (which Julie explains has only a few permanent residents and only sees tourists a few months out of the year) is Carol, whose tarot cards, the Tarocco Piemontese, convince her something bad will happen if they go.

The others explore the island's town, discovering it in disarray and abandoned, except for an elusive woman in black, who writes "Go Away" on a dusty window.

Ruth (the woman in black from earlier) watches the group enter the building, comforts the sleeping Carol, and hangs herself.

As Arnold slowly dies, he watches in horror as Klaus rips out and eats Maggie's unborn child.

Additional funding was supplied by Eureka International, a company founded by Edward Sarlui which specialized in licensing films abroad.

He further stated that after Antropophagus, D'Amato asked him to act as cinematographer on some red light films as well, for which he had to use a pseudonym for reasons of censorship.

[6] D'Amato, on the other hand, claimed that he had done the cinematography himself and that Biribicchi's name was only put in the credits because the union had placed a limit on the number of jobs a single person was allowed to do for a film.

"[7] He said "I had to shorten the scene where Montefiori devours Serena Grandi's fetus, which, in actual fact, was a skinned rabbit covered in blood.

[6] The version of the film titled The Grim Reaper which was released in the United States uses music from Kingdom of the Spiders instead of Giombini's score.

[6] Some of Giombini's music was newly performed and recorded by Deak Fearance and Roger Conrad and released by the Austrian label Cineploit.

[7] From retrospective reviews, the book Spaghetti Nightmares called the film "professionally and cleverly made" and stated that it "immediately became the symbol for Italian gore".

[20] DVD Verdict wrote that "Anthropophagus may be the most notable horror effort mounted by Euro-skin and sin maestro Joe D'Amato, but that doesn't mean that it's particularly a good film.

"[21] Writer John Kenneth Muir praised the film as a "scary little Italian flick" and noted it for its atmosphere and final chase sequence.