Review of Cannibal (2013) by Jesse O — 13 Jul 2015

Manuel Martín Cuenca's film is exquisitely shot, acted and somehow almost empathetic. At no time does he present his story as anything other than what it is. It defies the idea of a "horror film" because while it does depicts a serial killer guilty of the most vile and cruel atrocities, it Cuenca's aim is not to scare us -- his aim seems to change the anticipated manner in which something this horrific is captured.

Antonio de la Torre delivers a highly effective performance that is at turns sad, lonely, concerned, caring, cruel, sadistic and a man without any level of remorse or guilt. It is an interesting balancing act for an actor if you think about it.

Cuenca is not interested in presenting his lead character as a "monster" or even as easily perceived insane person. Carlos fits into his world. He is respected and successful. He appears to be religious -- though we really never know.

He seems to care about some of the people we see him encounter. But he is also a deliberate, cold, cruel and unapologetic hunter of people. And he has fastidiously created a careful and methodical method to butcher, seal parcels and refrigerate his female pray.

His evil is portrayed with no pursuit of horror. These moments are shot with the same patterned style as everything else. In the end we are left with the uneasy feeling that what we have seen could very easily happen and probably does.

This, of course, is the truly horrific aspect of the film: The most benign and seemingly kind people can turn out to the darkest example of human evil. This film is provocative without being explicit.

Whether or not a viewer will be able to walk away from it and form an honest evaluation is entirely dependent on how comfortable the viewer is with a film about a serial killer that offers no answer or clear motivation.

In it's own way, Cuenca's film is one of the scariest non-scary film I've seen.