The Cannibal Man

Plot

After accidentally killing a taxicab driver, Marcos (Vicente Parra), a young man who works as a butcher, wants to cover up his crime. Marcos's girlfriend Paula (Emma Cohen), the only witness, wishes to go to the police, so he strangles her. Marcos finds himself killing others, including members of his family, as they become suspicious of his actions, butchering his victims' remains at his workplace in order to dispose of the bodies.

Background

TV Guide opined that "this bloody, politically inflected drama is not at all what the exploitative English-language title suggests. [...] Though the US title suggests a zombie gut-cruncher and the marketing campaign was designed to make Eloy de la Iglesia's film look like a Last House on the Left (1972) knock-off, The Cannibal Man is both a study of an apparently ordinary person spiraling into madness and a slyly satirical evocation of life in Spain under the oppressive Franco regime."

Cast

Critical reception

PopMatters called the film "a refreshing forgotten gem". DVD Verdict called it "an extremely well-made Euro thriller with welcome social commentary and subtext. Suspenseful, disturbing and graphically violent, the film succeeds in its depictions of both physical and psychological horror."