Absurd [Blu-ray]

Here we have the supposed sequel to “Anthropophagus”, ok…… no real follow on that I could see. Who am I to argue though?George Eastman is being chased through the Woods by a guy half his size. Why he didn’t turn on him and punch his lungs out is still a mystery. He doesn’t. In an attempt to evade the man he starts to climb a big wrought iron gate with some spikes on top. The man pulls his bell bottoms causing poor George to get impaled. Queue one gruesome visitor to the house with his innards now hanging out. He is taken to hospital where it is quickly found out that he is basically immortal. After killing a Nurse, he’s free again. After dispatching a guy by cutting his head open with a bandsaw he is really on the lamb. It then turns into a film similar to Halloween. With George being pursued by the guy at the start of the film turning out to be a Priest. A bit more carnage ensues, but mostly it’s not as gory as the earlier stuff. A lot of the violence in the later part is more against poor George.It’s a cult classic for sure. Well paced. Another “who’s who?” of cult cinema make up the cast.I really think D Amato and Eastman were the Lennon and Mcartney of exploitation cinema.My hat is off to them both.

I've never been a big fan of Absurd, it was the first video nasty I managed to get my hands on back in the day when it was still banned in the UK (from a dodgy VHS dealer at a local market, great days), but it makes me feel nostalgic.When I saw that the 'The Hysteria Continues' podcast boys had done a commentary on the 88 Films release I thought, what the hell, I'll buy it.I have watched Absurd multiple times now with the commentary on and enjoy it quite a bit.I'd give Absurd 2.5/5With the Commentary I'd give Absurd 5/5The decent commentary sold me on this, and it's something I now find myself returning to often. With the THC commentaries it's like watching a film with friends and it helps to lighten the tone a little bit, especially with some of the gratuitous violence on display in absurd, e.g. the head in the oven scene.

88 Films have done a sterling job in bringing this video nasty to Blu ray. The film itself still drags but the blood drenched set pieces are what this is all about and they still pack a punch after 35 years. Not as many extras as I had hoped for but not a bad selection for a film of it's age.

Absurd is a strange title for this italian produced movie but then again it bears no relationship to its alternative title Anthropopagus 2 as regards the original storyline.I cannot think why this was originally on the banned nasties list back in 1984 when you consider the modern gorefests are far more graphic and explicit but maybe back then anything mentioning cannibals or slasher serial killers was not considered hip enough and could deprave viewers? not necessarily so! George Eastman is the immortal killer with reproducing blood cells in this gorefest and the only way he can be killed is by shutting off his brain either by a bullet or hatchet-well it's different! He escapes from hospital pursued by a priest and impales himself on the spikes of a gate he tries to climb over.After his wounds have miraculously healed he is on the run again killing anyone who gets in his way-in fact one of the young motorcyclists he slaughters is none other than Michele Soavi who turned out to be one of the noted directors in italian movies at a future date.Arriving at a private residence he makes his way in and starts a rampage of killing again but eventually gets his comeuppance from a young crippled girl who manages to get out of her bed and blind him.He wanders around in a frenzy trying to feel for her but she buries a hatchet in his head-end of story.Anyway it's enjoyable if you don't take it seriously and ignore the loose ends and improbabilities.The bluray is sharp with good colouring and a definite improvement on the dvd.well worth a look!

Title: ABSURD (1981)Label: 88 FILMSTranfer by: Italy (?)Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1 (?) / Original Ratio: 1.66 : 188 FILMS released a BD set of ABSURD. Newly transferred from the original camera negative and it works and looks quite well. ABSURD is the so called sequel to ANTROPOPHAGUS (1980) shot by the same director Joe D'Amato. The movie is an italian version of JOHN CARPENTERS HALLOWEEN (1978) but without much visual style, without cool lightning situations, fancy colors and without suspense. Lets say it is a movie on a very small budget which main duties are to install gruesome death sequences. Full score for ABSURD on that side. I like it for what it is, a straight forward moving kind of work. But one can say whatsoever about ABSURD. It has lots of tension and very cool music in it.No Grain Baby, No Gain / The Transfer:For this transfer the original camera negative was used as source material and it looks quite filmic. There is a grain structure left in it but I do think they could have done better. Maybe they filtered some grain out. I am not sure here. Sometimes the frames seem to look a little bit empty/ flat without deep textures. Fortunately no edge enhancement is visible. My suspicion the grain structure could be richer (and therefore the level of details and allover filmic quality better) increased when I saw the two interviews with Michele Soavi and "George Eastman". As an introduction here you see some excerpts from the movie...but in a much nicer quality as seen on this BD transfer. Stronger color and much richer grain structure with a very fine grain size. It looks like full quality 4K scan material. Disappointing somehow in comparison. By the way, you shouldnt miss out this two interviews. They are more interesting than the movie itself. But anyway, colors of the main feature are de-saturated and tend towards brownish tones. But when it comes to bloodshed, deep reds do their job well. This BD could be more filmic for my taste but works quite decent even via bigscreen projection. Sometimes the grain in darker passages gets a slightly digital appeal.Cut and Run:The scanned source material is integral. NO noticeable inserts from different sources have been applied. I find this to be so damn important for a perfect filmic enjoyment. The movie is strong uncut.Final Thoughts:Fans, collectors and people with bigscreens or projectors can spent their money while they can cope with a little disappointment the comparison with the better looking outtakes brings. I doubt this movie will look much better in the near future in your home cinema.Statement:My ratings refer exclusively to technical aspects of BD sets. The more filmic / photographic a movie looks and feels via bigscreen projections and the more authentic to its camera negative (or other sources) the movie is scanned and digitally treated afterwards, the higher the ratings will be.I do not rate movies at all. I just watch them and I think of them as artificial pieces of work where many efforts have been taken (including complex postproduction) to accomplish a vision of whatsoever kind. No movie ever shot has earned a 1 star rating on AMAZON or a 1 point rating on IMDB. Anyway, I could rate them because I have studied in private many publications about making films, their psychological impact, and the subject violence on film. And because I am a hobby photographer for years now I know much about frame compositions, color composition and different styles and so on. I am interested in the arts in general. I am also a hobby musician and sound designer with a little studio. So I even could rate the filmical scores. But hell...why should I? Things are what they are and nothing more or less. I like to think beyond mind constructed terms like good and bad. So called "objectivity" becomes fast diluted by personal preferences which results in comments of personal taste. And that should not be the base for a rating-scale which claims to be universal. When it comes to technical aspects thats a different kind of thing. DNR, edge enhancement or block noise and such things are obvious on big screens and we can speak of objectivity and measurability.All about Ev(m)e:I am a collector of films for about 27 Years, own about 3.000 films (would be far more, but I often sort out transfers I dont like) and watch them in a home-cinema room via bigscreen projection. I am also a hobby musician and photographer with some experience scanning camera negatives in high definitions. I am fascinated by films from reels since I am a kid and spent hours for hours in cinemas and visiting film festivals.

Finalmente qualità video ottima..e il film è quello che è..uno slasher tosto che non puoi dimenticare..ma le cose più belle di sto blu ray sono le interviste a Montefiori e Soavi tutte in italiano..e la copertina che si può capovolgere è tenere in collezione con il titolo italiano(come giusto che sia)

Once classed as a video nasty in the UK, this Halloween rip off looks amazing in this DVD and is totally uncut. It's a bit cheesy in places but it certainly delivers the gore and it's surprisingly atmospheric and quite tense in places. Not for the squeamish or nervous, it's definitely worth grabbing a copy if you like this kind of thing!

Attention je stipule qu'il est horrible mais dans le bon sens une violence incroyable

Perfekt

I've been burned before, as a youngster going to video stores buying anything that looks cool. You get burned maybe 70% of the time but the gems you find in the other 30% make it worth the risk. Back then you were only putting up $15 to play. Nowadays there are so few people collecting these movies on physical media that you're shelling out $50 a pop. This movie is not worth that. I took a leap of faith on a movie marketed as an ultra gory Halloween rip off. I got a snooze fest. There is no gore. There is only boredom. I love George Eastman as much as the next guy but he's hardly in it either. This release throws in a CD of the soundtrack. The only thing more boring than the film itself. There are prohibitively expensive special editions of movies that actually deserve your time. This is not one.