User Reviews

¨The Week of the Killer" its correct translation of the original Spanish title results to be a grisly, superbly amusing horror story with vivid performances from the mature employee well played by Vicente Parra , also producer , as he is admirably enigmatic and mysterious . In spite of the English title "The Cannibal Man", this is not a movie about cannibalism. It's a Spanish slasher classic of the chilly grotesque with a convincingly gruesome playing . This suspenseful movie is plenty of thrills, chills, high body-count . Entertaining shocker about vicious killer terrorizing people deal with a worker (Vicente Parra) , working as a butcher, accidentally murders a cabman. His fiancé (Emma Cohen) wants to go to the police so he has to murder her too. He then goes berserk and has to kill his brother (Charly Bravo) , his brother's fiancée (Lola Herrera) and his father (Fernando Sanchez Polack ), who have become suspicious. The butcher origins a slaughterhouse and gets rid of the bodies by taking them to the butchery . Meanwhile a neighbor (Eusebio Poncela) is watching the creepy events .

Eloy De La Iglesia's great success is compelling directed with well staged murders plenty of startling visual content , though was submitted to censorship. The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a terrific finale. It displays lots of guts and blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts. It's an unrelenting shock-feast laced with nice acting by the Spanish stars that deserves its cult status . Vicente Parra plays his part to the hilt, unafraid of Eloy De Iglesia's unsympathetic camera and the viciousness of his character . The early 80s UK video made a prohibited list and was successfully prosecuted, but only made the list due to it's 'cannibal' title . Apart from some massacre footage, this is not a very violent film, and would almost certainly be released uncut in the UK if it was submitted now.

Passable photography with juicy atmosphere by Raul Artigot, but unfortunately turns too much murky in some video print , being necessary a a correct remastering . Good casting with usual Spanish secondaries as Rafael Hernadez , Ismael Merlo , Jose Franco , Valentin Tornos , Antonio Del Real , among others. The motion picture is professionally directed by Eloy De La Iglesia , a good Spanish movies director. He began working in cinema in 1966, though he became notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy with provoking and polemic films as ¨El Pico 1 and 2¨ , ¨El Diputado¨, ¨The priest , ¨Clockwork terror¨ and many others . Drugs, delinquency, terrorism and generational problems are the habitual subjects in his films , as well as the gay world , here represented in Eusebio Poncela's character who falls in love with Vicente Parra's role . Rating : Acceptable and passable .

(aka: APARTMENT ON THE 13TH FLOOR)

The title CANNIBAL MAN is somewhat misleading for this Spanish film since it really has nothing to do with cannibalism at all.

A butcher named Marcos (Vincente Parra) lives in an old whitewashed house on the edge of some new high rises that were recently built. One night he goes out on a date with his girlfriend and accidentally kills a taxi driver in a fit of rage. She wants him to turn himself into the police but he refuses.

When she threatens to turn him in, he slits her throat with a long butcher's knife. And so begins his killing spree. He manages to kill five more people (including his brother, his future father-in-law, and a waitress who's real friendly towards him) in a desperate act of covering himself up before the inevitable end comes. He takes the body parts to the local slaughterhouse so they can be ground up by the machines. He also has to buy multiple cans of air freshener in order to get rid of the smell.

The one person who convinces him otherwise is the young homosexual on the 13th floor of the high-rise who knows his secret but doesn't say anything about it. An act of conscious suddenly grips Marcos and the homosexual is spared.

It's not a particularly gory story although there is blood and there are scenes of people being stuck with all kinds of sharp instruments. However, if you're looking for decapitations and body parts lying around, you won't find anything like that here. Everything's implied which it and of itself, works well for this particular film. Unfortunately the Anchor Bay DVD doesn't come with any extras beyond a trailer.

It has good acting and a good script for an obvious low budget, obscure film even though it does share a similar theme with Claude Chabrol's more prestigious LE BOUCHER (1970). A butcher, multiple homicides etc...

It beats out anything Jess Franco would've filmed around the same time.

6 out of 10

Even though there's only a hint of (accidental) cannibalism in this misleadingly titled effort, CANNIBAL MAN is an underrated psycho-thriller/character study well worth checking out. Vicente Parra stars as Marcos, a disturbed slaughterhouse worker who lives in a small one bedroom house with his usually-absent brother. With his sanity barely in check as it is (notice the loud, ticking clock sound a la REPULSION, an obvious influence), Marcos finally snaps when a lecherous taxi driver attacks him and his girlfriend Paola (Emma Cohen). After fatally clubbing the man with a rock, Marcos and Paola can't agree on what to do and during an argument about whether to go to the cops or not, Marcos ends up strangling her to death, sticking her under the bed and closing the door (out of sight... out of mind). His brother rolls into town, Marcos confesses to the murder and his brother also tries to talk him into turning himself in and is immediately clubbed over the head with a wrench. More people will show up to the house (the brother's fiancée, her father, a sluttish, lonely waitress from a café down the street...) looking for missing loved ones and none are ever heard from again. The bodies, all kept in the bedroom, are beginning to stink and all the neighborhood dogs aren't the only ones to notice. Marcos decides to dispose of the corpses a little at a time by chopping them up with a meat cleaver, sticking them into a small bag and taking them to work with him, where they're mixed in with the meat. He stocks up on perfume and air fresheners in the meantime. And all the while, he's befriended by a peculiar young man named Nestor (Eusebio Poncela) who lives on the 13th floor of an upscale high-rise apartment right down the road and keeps an eye on what's going on around him with a pair of binoculars. It's this aspect of the film, the subplot about Nestor and Marcos, very different but social outcasts all the same, and their ability to relate to one another, that gives this film an extra spark of originality and much needed subtext. 

Though there are some gruesome scenes at the slaughterhouse where real cows are butchered and some fairly bloody murder scenes, the climax is surprisingly non-gory, mature and believable and the director seldom dwells on the blood-and-guts aspect of his film, but more on the psychological profile. The production values are pretty good, the English dubbing is tolerable and the acting (particularly the two male leads) is competent, if not excellent, throughout, plus there are even a couple of black comic suspense scenes worthy of Hitchcock, particularly one with some neighborhood bullies playing keep-away with Marcos' bag.

Originally titled LA SEMANA DEL ASESINO (THE WEEK OF THE KILLER), but released in the US as APARTMENT ON THE 13TH FLOOR (with an exploitation ad campaign reminiscent of Last House on the Left). Supposedly banned in many countries upon release, the version I saw from claims to be uncut and uncensored. Director De La Iglesia also made several other horror films, including GLASS CEILING (1971). Too bad they're so hard to track down.

This was one of the infamous video nasties that was banned in Britain. It was released there in 1993 with just 3 seconds cut.

I am not a Spanish expert, but Week of the Killer is a more accurate translation of the Spanish title: La semana del asesino.

Vicente Parra is Marcos, who works in a slaughterhouse. If you don't like scenes of animal slaughter, be warned. He gets into an argument one night with a cabbie (Goyo Lebrero) and hits him with a rock, killing him. His girlfriend Paula (Emma Cohen) wants him to go to the police, but he has other plans. Now, he has two bodies under his bed. At least he had one last night of fun with the luscious Barcelona beauty.

He tells his brother Nestor (Eusebio Poncela), who sings the same song as Paula, and now there are three. That apartment is going to be stinking soon! Nestor's fiancée (Lola Herrera) comes looking for him and unfortunately for her, she finds him. The kills are getting more and more bloody. He seems to be enjoying it now, even if he is becoming anxious.

The future father-in-law shows up looking for his daughter. I imagine this kill is the 3 seconds they cut from the British release. That room is getting rather full and flies are buzzing.

I remember that old Johnny Cash song "One Piece at a Time, where he snuck Cadillac parts out of the plant in his lunch pail. Well Marcos decides to smuggle in a bagful at a time to the plant and mix it with the beef in the hamburger machine. He better get hustling as the neighborhood dogs are gathering at his door, and he will go broke buying air freshener and cologne.

Rosa (Vicky Lagos) is hot for Marcos, and so is Estaban (Charly Bravo). One dies and the other lives, even after Marcos discovers his secret is no longer secret.

Again, it is a misnomer to call this Cannibal Man, and I hated to have to watch a dubbed version, but Vicente Parra and Charly Bravo did an excellent job, while Emma Cohen was a real delight in this neo noir Spanish thriller.

La Semana del Asesino which apparently translates into English as The Week of the Murderer, or the misleading & exploitative title of Cannibal Man as it's commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts in a slaughter house run by a company called 'Flory', we witness various cows having their throats slit, bleeding all over the shop & other gory establishing shots. We are introduced to one of the workers, Marcos (Vincente Parra) who has a crap job picking all the guts up & generally has a crap life living in an old house in one of the oldest districts in town. One night while out with his girlfriend Paula Marcos becomes involved in a fight with a taxi driver & ends up accidentally killing him. The next day Paula says they should go to the police & confess, an idea that Marcos is not keen on saying that the police will never believe them because he is poor & cannot afford an expensive lawyer. Paula says she will go to the police on her own at which point Marcos strangles her. Racked with guilt Marcos confesses all to his Brother Steve who also says he must tell the police, in no time whatsoever Marcos beats Steve to death with a wrench. Marcos continues to kill to keep his secret & has dug himself into a hole from which he sees only one escape, to dispose of the evidence at the slaughterhouse...

Originally gaining some notoriety in the UK (& presumably elsewhere) where it was banned as a 'Video Nasty' in the early 80's this Spanish production was co-written & directed by Eloy de la Iglesia & is a surprisingly good character study of a serial killer & one mans descent into madness through fear & panic. The script by Iglesia, Anthony Fos & Robert Oliver isn't perfect by any means, it starts off really well with the bodies piling up thick & fast but slows considerably towards the end which is odd as it's usually the other way around. La Semana del Asesino concentrates on Marcos & his thoughts & feelings, what makes him commit murder & the situation he has created that he can't seem to escape, no mention of the police investigation is ever made if indeed there was one. I was impressed with the ending, it's certainly not what I was expecting & was maybe a little low key for some but I thought it worked & worked well. The film moves along at a fair pace but does drag a bit in places which would probably put me off watching it again anytime soon. Director Iglesia also manages to throw in a bit of satire amongst the blood, of which there is a fair amount but the title Cannibal Man is so misleading it's untrue. In fact there is not one single instance of cannibalism in the entire film although we are treated to some decent gore even if it doesn't reach the heights of some other splatter filled Euro horror, there is an effective slit throat, someone has their head bashed in, someone gets his face split down the middle with a meat clever & there are various gory sequences inside the slaughterhouse & all that entails. Technically La Semana del Asesino is basic but professional enough, Iglesia films it in real locations which add to it's grittiness & credibility while at the same time giving the film a nice atmosphere throughout, the cinematography is OK, the music forgettable while the special effect's aren't going to impress too many people these days they are good enough. The acting by Parra is very strong & I was both engaged & gripped by his character, no one else gets that much screen time but they all do a fine job none-the-less. As long as you can get over the misleading title & not go into La Semana del Asesino expecting an all out cannibal gore fest like Cannibal Holocaust (1980) or Cannibal Ferox (1981) then you may just be rewarded with an intelligent & satisfying drama/thriller/horror! Personally I definitely think it's well worth a watch, surprisingly good.

La Semana del asesino (Week of the Killer) has no scenes of cannibalism in it, but hey, that title was catchy enough for international distribution. Now that the full version of this film is available from Severin*, people may see it beyond its lurid title and appearance on the section one video nasty list.

Instead, The Cannibal Man presents a journey into a place that few of us have experienced: the oppopressive rule of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Estimates are difficult to put together, but Franco killed between 15,000 and 50,000 of his political opponents. His oppression also led to how the arts were treated, with as a unitary national identity was created at the expense of Spain's cultural diversity. Women could not manage money, hold certain jobs or even open a bank account. And yet, in the words of geopolitics, Nixon referred to Franco as, "a loyal friend and ally of the United States" when the general died.

Basically, Spain was a real-life horror show and this film attempts to explain that pain through the life of a young butcher named Marcos who accidentally kills a cab driver. That murder sends him on a spiral as he has to start removing anyone who could potentially turn him in, from his girlfriend to eventually his family members, using his butcher shop to remove of the evidence. Then the dogs come searching for the rotting human meat hidden in his bedroom.

Even the potential relationship that the protagonist discovers with another man who lives in the high caste high rises above the city won't be enough to stop the drain at the bottom of this downward spiral. Franco's censors saw to that.

*Yes, I realize Anchor Bay and Blue Underground also released the full cut, but the Severin one has "both the International and extended Spanish Version newly scanned from the original negatives for the first time ever."

This gritty and ghoulish Spanish shocker is far more impressive than its relative obscurity would indicate. With an utterly realistic approach to the murderous deeds that anchor the plot and a surprisingly substantial character study at the heart of the film, Cannibal Man is far from a run-of-the-mill slasher flick, and genre fans who enjoy delving deeply into the darker recesses of humanity will find a tremendously enjoyable exploration here.

Vicente Parra's thoughtful performance is one of the best you're likely to find in the exploitation genre, and even though American audiences will have to settle for dubbed dialogue, Parra's expressive and nuanced delivery transcends language and ably presents the tormented killer's inner struggle as he copes with the consequences of the murderous path he's gradually led down.

Parra's Marcos is not simply a remorseless maniac, and the first death in the film arrives entirely by accident. The circumstance surrounding this inadvertent assassination is a situation that any otherwise normal person can relate to, and when his initial foray into homicide is striking down a man who is attacking his lover, it's easy to imagine that most of us would probably handle the situation exactly as Marcos does. However, when the man dies as a result of the assault, and the girlfriend's guilty conscience leads her to urge Marcos to go forward to the police, the unwitting killer's instinct for self-preservation supersedes his humanity, and very quickly, he has a second murder on his hands.

From there the spiral continues, and just as a liar has to continually twist the truth to maintain their original lie, Marcos finds himself stacking up bodies to silence the unlucky people who discover his mounting compulsion. As his sanity begins to slowly erode, he takes increasingly elaborate actions to cover up his crimes, and his desperate attempts to obscure the results of his handiwork forge some compelling and tense scenes.

Even if you aren't seeking a well-essayed psychodrama, Cannibal Man has enough diversionary bloodshed to please gore aficionados, and the undeniably sick storyline carries plenty of weight on its own. The most unsavory aspects of the film, however, are the sequences which portray business as usual at the slaughterhouse where Marcos works, which feature scenes of genuine cattle evisceration that will make the more squeamish members of the audience take a closer look at their next cheeseburger.

Director Eloy de la Iglesia's stylish approach maintains a grim and unsettling atmosphere throughout the film. He also knows when to assault the viewer with explicit carnage and when to employ more subtle tactics, and since there's a fair amount of the former, images like Marcos's shadow on the wall repeatedly lifting and descending his meat cleaver as he butchers one of his victims have tremendous impact despite the fact that we don't actually see the blade's grisly result. By utilizing this restraint, Iglesia renders the more visceral scenes even more powerful, and he strikes a fine balance between conjuring up explicit splatter set-pieces and allowing the audience to summon even more gruesome tableaux in our minds.

Despite its strongest aspects, the film falters in at least two major areas. The first is the woefully anticlimactic ending, which unfortunately does not offer a significant pay-off considering the taut road leading up to it. The other major shortfall is an equally puzzling resolution to the bizarre homo-erotic subplot tracking our lead's interactions with a clearly disturbed neighbor, who comes across as a much shiftier character than Marcos (the first time we're introduced to the neighbor, he's peering through his binoculars at a group of shirtless adolescents playing soccer). The final act definitely suffers because of the tame conclusion, so Cannibal Man doesn't quite turn out to be a certified classic.

It's worth noting that the title itself has pretty much nothing to do with the film. I realize that the name "Cannibal Man" carries with it a wealth of implied atrocities guaranteed to lure in eager grind-house audiences, but since our titular figurehead doesn't actually eat anything in the movie except for soup and bread, the moniker utilized for American audiences sells this offering short, and muddles the complex dissertation on madness that ultimately drives the film.

Even if Cannibal Man doesn't go as far as the inappropriate title might suggest, there's no denying that this is a truly twisted and unique vision. Audiences looking for a pure exploitation vehicle might feel a bit short-changed, but viewers up for an engaging and intricate thriller will find this a very rewarding experience.

"Cannibal Man" is indeed an unfortunate title for this film. The original Spanish title, Anglicized, is preferable. That said, saying it was simply a marketing ploy is not quite right: First, I do take it to be one of the points of this film that the acts of Marcos do affect the larger community in a manner that fairly accurately, if not literally, reflects the title, albeit indirectly and unknowingly to those so affected. (Soup scene, anyone?)

Second, aside from the literalism of the title, there is the thematic fit: At the end Hector curiously thanks Marcos for doing the type of work - butchery - that people like Hector are unwilling to do, but from which they benefit. There is a double entendre in there: The role that Hector plays in the film - elegant, obviously wealthy, a consumer (underline that word) of nice things like fine art and scotch - separates him from Marcos, even though both "live in the shadows," as it were. (There is a short scene where the police interrogate both men, forcing Marcos to produce ID but passing on Hector once they find out where he lives. His station in life is NOT the same as Marcos', even though Francoist Spain was famously brutal toward gay men, or those suspected of being gay men.)

The fair questions one must ask at the end, then, is why Hector never bothered to intervene at any time up to that point? (It's "Rear Window" where Jeff does not bother to investigate. Voyeurism without conscience.) And one may also ask whether Marcos is himself demonstrating less a moment of conscience than the realization that he finally has met the kind of victim that cannot be hidden? Indeed, in the closing scenes, there is a taste of the gentleman in a theater box-seat watching the impending arrest of the killer ("cannibal") below. For that reason, I do tend to view the film as making Hector something of a killer himself - albeit one who enjoys his perversion vicariously.

In spite of the title of this film it's not about cannibalism. At least not in the sense that most films in the cannibal genre involve eating another human being. The title is actually a bit of a twist rather than flat out being about an actual cannibal.

Marcos (Vincente Parra) is a young man who works at a nearby butcher company. Not the store on the corner but a mass producer of meats for markets. His job pays him enough to get by but nothing big. Marcos is dating Paula (Emma Cohen), a girl whose father believes she is too good for Marcos. Still the young couple dates without his knowing.

After a date on the way home to Marcos', a home he shares with his brother, the couple begin to make out in the back seat of their cab. The driver throws a fit when he sees this and pulls over, demanding they get out in the middle of nowhere. In spite of kicking them out he demands that they pay him. A struggle ensues and Marco accidentally kills the cab driver.

The next day the news is all about the mysterious death of the cab driver with the police having no clues who was responsible. Paula wants to go to the police but Marcos tells her that if she does so he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. An argument follows and results in Marcos killing Paula.

And so the movie progresses with new people stopping by and talking to Marco with each one discovering his secret. It doesn't matter who, each one ends up being killed in what almost seems like a comedy of errors without a touch of humor. But what is Marco to do with all these bodies?

Fortunately the owner of the company he works for has been training Marco on a new piece of machinery installed at the plant. Smaller pieces of meat are put into the machine and it grinds up everything place in it, bones and all. So Marco begins taking pieces of the bodies now piling up in his house and disposing of them this way. But even then how long can his killing spree last?

The film was controversial enough to land on the Video Nasties list in the UK. At first glimpse you might wonder why? Certainly there are more films worthy of being added with much more gore to them. The thing is that this movie presents the killings in a more realistic manner than most. Those scenes are more disturbing than say a chainsaw or machete wielding maniac on the loose.

Not only that the character of Marco is a sympathetic one at time in spite of what he does. We are presented with a handsome lead in the form of Parra who is a bit simple minded with no clue about how the world around him works. At first he seems like a decent man that we wouldn't mind being neighbors with. And then with one act of violence we begin to witness a slow descent into madness.

Here again Severin has released the film, directed by Eloy de la Iglesia, featuring both the International and extended Spanish version of the film, newly scanned from the original negatives for the first time ever. This release also has extras that include "Cinema at the Margins: Stephen Thrower and Dr. Shelagh Rowan-Legg on Eloy de la Iglesia", "The Sleazy and the Strange" and interview with Carlos Aguilar, deleted scenes from the film, the trailer and reversible artwork for the box.

Once more fans of Spanish cinema, de la Iglesia or foreign films will want to add this to their collections. It's an interesting film that will hold your attention from start to finish.

While writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia is well known in Spain for his quinqui (i.e. hoodlum) films, gritty depictions of young criminals and drug addicts, abroad his reputation rests largely on the shoulders of his early seventies thrillers. The most notorious of these is Cannibal Man, which gained cinematic immortality as one of Britain's Video Nasties. Like many titles on that list, this film is far more complex than its exploitative title and marketing would suggest; the original Spanish title is La semana del asesino, which means The Week of the Murderer.

The murderer in this case, rather than "cannibal man" as the export title misleadingly suggests. is Marcos (Vicente Parra), a lower-class employee of the local slaughterhouse. His small shack looks like a relic when compare to the adjacent high-rise apartment, which is populated largely by affluent students. Marcos is pressured by his girlfriend Paula (Emma Cohen, one of Spain's greatest actresses) to marry, but he insists on waiting until he's promoted. One of their outings goes horribly wrong when a cab-driver, disturbed by their backseat necking, kicks them out of his taxi. Marcos refuses to pay the fare, and a scuffle breaks out. As the cab driver begins beating Paula, he utters one of the film's best lines, which is simultaneously hilarious and tinged with social commentary: "I'm gonna give you the beating your father never had time to give you!" Marcos hits him in the head with a rock, accidentally ending his life. Thus begins our protagonist's soul-destroying week, which finds him committing murder after murder in order to cover up his original crime.

Though the film has its share of blood and gore, Eloy de la Iglesia is far more interested in his character's plight, as well as his social status. Marcos often reminds us that he's a poor man. When his brother and girlfriend pressure him to confess his crimes to the police, he protests that as a working class schmo he'd never get a fair trial. "The police will never believe me...and you need money to afford a good lawyer." The chain of murders only escalates as more people snoop in Marcos' shack, and react either with hostility or fear. His only friend throughout the whole ordeal is the enigmatic Nestor (Eusebio Poncela, most famous for playing the inspector in Almodovar's Matador). Nestor is a resident of the nearby high-rise, and one of the affluent students mentioned earlier. He spends his time spying on people with his binoculars, and this is how he acquaints himself with Marcos.

In discussing the relationship between Marcos and Nestor, it is necessary to reference the director's sexual orientation. Eloy de la Iglesia was a gay Marxist, during a time in which homosexuality was still illegal in Spain. Though it's never blatantly mentioned, Nestor is clearly gay, and he shares the director's sympathy with the working class. Though he initially tries to impress Marcos with masculine posturing, Nestor's interactions with Marcos soon become charged with homo-eroticism. This reaches its peak in a memorable swimming pool scene, in which Marcos and Nestor swim and shower together; it's a dazzling and tender display of filmmaking, and it loses not of its potency with repeat viewings. This scene, as well as much of the political content, was unfortunately but not surprisingly censored from the Spanish version of the film, meaning that this English-dubbed export version is the closest thing to a true director's cut. Some recently discovered deleted scenes, featured on the German blu-ray, fascinatingly hint at a more explicit version. While most of the material is inessential, such as a scene in which Marcos is promoted, one of the final scenes shows Nester and Marcos passionately making out. No context is provided, and this scenes (as well as the others) features no audio. Thus this plays as a haunting footnote to the film's fascinating and complex central relationship: did de la Iglesia intend for the two men to become lovers? Is this perhaps just a fantasy of Nestor's? Or, more intriguingly, a fantasy of the classically masculine Marcos? Unless the screenplay surfaces, or someone interviews Poncela about it, we may never know.

Since I am both a huge fan of this film and incredibly reckless with my money, I forked out a sizable amount of money to import the recent German blu-ray. I am pleased to say that the disc is a significant upgrade to the American DVD, and lends a greater appreciation to the director's artistry. This was my third viewing of the film, and I found it just as rewarding as the first. The surprise reveal in the deleted scenes only sweetened the deal for me, assuring me that my money was well spent. It is a complex, politically charged, yet deeply heartfelt film. I shared it with a friend on my last viewing, and I hope he will not mind if I share his thoughts on the experience: "It's really just about one man having a bad week, and the trials of having to get through it without losing his whole soul." It is that, but also much more; a film that can be appreciated from multiple perspectives. I fear that this review does not do it justice. Suffice it to say that this is truly one of the crowning achievements of Spanish horror cinema. This will also be of interest to anyone interested in the history of queer cinema, being one of the ballsiest acts of transgression ever committed under a fascist dictatorship. Though homosexuality was outlawed in Spain, de la Iglesia wore his sexuality like a badge of honor, and he continued to make films on his own terms.

Dour, moody, petulant, very masculine and unsociable loner abattoir worker Marcos (a fine, low-key, creepily nonchalant performance by Vincente Parra) and his peevish, unhappy girlfriend (the lovely Emma Cohen) take a ride in a taxi one fateful night. The irritable cab driver tosses them out when they start making out in the back of his taxi. Marcos and the cabbie have an altercation which results in the cabbie being killed. Marcos' girlfriend wants to tell the cops. Marcos, who's distrustful of authority due to his lowly working class social status, throttles his girlfriend in a fit of pique. Pretty soon Marcos becomes extremely paranoid and begins to kill every last person who suspects him of being a homicidal maniac (Marcos even whacks his own brother with a wrench). Marcos strikes up an uneasy friendship with an earnest, but suspicious gay neighbor. Things get even more tense. Meanwhile, Marcos chops up the corpses residing in his spartan, squalid rathole abode and disposes of the body parts by incinerating them in the slaughterhouse furnace.

A grave, gruesome, exceedingly unnerving and disconcerting depiction of how severe self-loathing and one's miserably meager station in life can feasibly drive you murderously around the bend (Marcos registers strongly as a hauntingly sullen and scarily twisted proletarian anti-hero), this dark, stark, deeply disturbing and harrowingly plausible psychological horror portrait of everyday gratuitous violence, repressed sexuality (there's an edgy air of homo-eroticism apparent in the relationship between Marcos and his meddlesome neighbor), and seething, volatile little guy angst makes for a very queasy and unsettling viewing experience. The late, great Eloy de la Iglesia's taut, austere, fiercely humorless and deliberate direction, ably assisted by Raul Artigot's grainy, gloriously unadorned no-frills cinematography, Fernando G. Morcillo's spare, spooky, nerve-jangling score, occasional outbursts of hideously graphic and genuinely shocking violence, gradual pacing, an unsparingly solemn tone, and properly subdued naturalistic acting from the uniformly solid cast, creates a frightfully squirmy and sweaty suffocating gloom-doom atmosphere which ultimately delivers one hell of a potent and lingering kick-you-in-the-gut wallop. Anchor Bay's typically up-to-par DVD offers a nice widescreen presentation with the trailer as the sole extra.