Interesteg What makes it different from others?

EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Bezenby Big George "New Barbarians, Baba Yaga, 2019: After the Fall of New York, Bronx Warriors 1 etc" Eastman is back, and this time, he's got his arse in his hands, quite literally! This time he's running through some town in America, pursued by Mister Edmund "I was great in Ator, Pieces, and also 2019: After the Fall of New York" Purdom "and I also directed and starred in Don't Open Till Christmas". George doesn't come out of this clash of b-movie icons well, turning up at someone's house with his guts in his hands. Next thing you know he's in hospital confusing surgeons while healing up at a rapid rate.A local cop gets involved, finding Purdom wandering about, and gets the low down: Big George is an almost indestructible killing machine in an experiment gone wrong, and Purdom is the priest/scientist sent to kill him. Only a blow to the head will suffice, which will prove difficult as by the time they all figure out what's happening George has already killed a nurse and is heading for the house he was found wounded in (perhaps he'd left some of his guts there, or something).In this house is a small, tantrum having kid, and crippled teenager, a babysitter, and a husband and wife who depart before George turns up, although the husband did do a hit and run on George earlier in the film (while George is in the process of killing actor/director Michelle Soavi!). Also, there's a nurse that turns up later, wondering why the babysitter's missing.This kind of follow up from Anthropophagus (the only link seeming being the Greek origin of the monsters) is as slow as the first film, but somehow not as satisfying. It's very gory, however, with people being drilled and sawed in the head, pickaxed in the head, chopped in the head and having their heads cooked in ovens. There's a lot of dull spots, however, like watching folks eating spaghetti, watching football and a lot of wandering about. I get a Halloween vibe from this one.Once again, Big George "I bummed Giancarlo Perle in the New Barbarians" comes across as quite a menacing character, but there's pacing problems all over this film. I'll say this though: Joe D'Amato is compared to Jess Franco as they both do a lot of skin flicks, but Joe is far more competent as a director.

markcope1981 I really thought this was great the film is a knock off of Halloween 1 and 2 the film is about katia her brother willy and her are left with 2 babysitters meanwhile a maniac is loose with a priest on his trail the two ideas become one from Halloween 1 we have a babysitter in peril the boogeyman who cant die from 2 we have the climax and the hospital scene I love this knock off of a film we have a great gore axe in head drill in head and the oven scene is this films fetus scene ala antrophagus katia is invalid and gained my instanant sympathy I didn't like her brother a whiny tommy doyle clone the babysitters are good overall good great film

FilmFatale Big George Eastman is severely injured while being chased by a priest. Guts in hand (literally!), he shows up at a house and then is taken to the hospital. While at the hospital, the surgical staff discover his blood clots quickly and that he heals at a much faster rate than a normal person. Eastman escapes, the priest pursues, and then we take a detour through a direct copy of Halloween before the movie ends.Absurd is often billed as a sequel to Anthropophagus but Eastman is the only real connection. The story is crazy, and there's lots of boring padding as we watch characters watch TV. However, gore scenes are what we're looking for here, and there are a few nice set pieces on display including a drill through a head and a bandsaw through a head. Apart from these few gore scenes, Absurd is pretty much a dull mess.

Tender-Flesh Another in the list of infamous banned Video Nasties, Absurd(or whatever you wish to call it) is in many ways similar to Halloween and Halloween 2(the originals--not the Rob Zombie visual abortions). Of course, you could say Halloween is a rip-off of Fright(1971) with more of the "babysitter-in-peril" theme being explored. However, Absurd only involves the babysitter(s) to any serious degree more than halfway through the film. In the meantime, we get a few of the best kills of the film, with hulking George Eastman sort-of reprising his role as an indestructible Greek man with rather unusual healing abilities.I enjoyed the score, though it got annoying at times. Something like Carpenter's score for Halloween, it was more akin to the intro music to the Incredible Hulk TV show with a repeating piano tidbit. The direction was adequate. I enjoy a lot of Joe D'Amato's work. Compared to it's sort-of predecessor, Anthropophagus, this film is actually tame. There are no scenes of fetus ripping or self-mastication. On that front, Anthropophagus really excels, but as story lines and pacing go, I feel Absurd was better. Oh, there are a few gratuitous scenes of a televised football game(and I was rather surprised they used the actual game's announcers instead of dubbing something else) that kill some time between scenes.Really, I only have a few beefs with this movie, overall. First, I didn't much care for the oven scene. It took forever! And it was a very sloppy way for a maniac to dispose of someone. And when she was stabbed with the shears, you don't get to see anything good. I was expecting a little more from Eastman's fight with the priest.The best moments, besides the kills, are during the "chase" sequence at the finale. This is probably the best part of the film.If you like Italian splatter films, hunt down this gem which has only just now become available on DVD under the title Horrible(one of many confusing titles, I assure you).