La semana del asesino (1972)

Director:

Eloy de la Iglesia

Writers:

Eloy de la Iglesia (story)
Eloy de la Iglesia (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

June 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror

Tagline:

When the butcher goes berserk....

Plot:

A young man, working as a butcher, accidentally kills a taxi driver. His girlfriend wants to go to the police so he has to kill her too...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Gay Interest | Video Nasty | Factory | Swimming Pool

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Vicente Parra	...	Marcos
Emma Cohen	...	Paula
Eusebio Poncela	...	Néstor
Charly Bravo	...	Esteban
Fernando Sánchez Polack	...	Señor Ambrosio (as Fernando Sanchez Polak)
Lola Herrera	...	Carmen
Goyo Lebrero	...	Taxista
Vicky Lagos	...	Rosa
Ismael Merlo	...	Jefe de personal
Rafael Hernández	...	Agustín
José Franco	...	Tendero
Valentín Tornos
Antonio Orengo	...	Camarero
Antonio Corencia	...	Obrero burlón
Antonio del Real	...	Obrero burlón (as Antonio Fernandez del Real)

Also Known As:

The Apartment on the 13th Floor (USA) (dubbed version)
The Cannibal Man (International: English title)
Week of the Killer
Cannibal man - La semaine d'un assassin (France) [fr]

Runtime:

UK:98 min | Spain:90 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Sweden:(Banned) | West Germany:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Atlas International Film

Trivia:

Was the first movie to use the "vomit-bag" gimmick. Theatres offered free barf bags with the tickets to increase the sales of this 'violent' film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hélas pour moi (1993)

It's not LE BOUCHER but who cares...

(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