Absurd (film)

Lore & Background

Mikos Stenopolis is the result of a church-approved scientific experiment that grants him the ability to heal but also drives him insane. A Vatican priest who helped create him tracks him to a small American town, where he tries to kill Mikos by impaling him on railings, which disembowels him. Despite this, Mikos revives in a local hospital, murders a nurse, and escapes to begin a killing spree. The priest warns the hospital and authorities that the only way to stop Mikos is to destroy his brain.

After fleeing the hospital, Mikos attacks a motorcyclist and is hit by a car driven by Mr. Bennett, who is heading to a Super Bowl party with his wife. They leave their two children at home with a babysitter. Their daughter Katya is bedridden due to a spinal problem, while her younger brother fears the Bogeyman. Recognizing Mr. Bennett’s car, Mikos goes to the Bennett home and starts killing everyone inside.

The babysitter Peggy is stabbed in the head with a pickaxe. The nurse Emily, who cares for Katya, has her head forced into a lit oven and is stabbed in the throat with scissors, but not before sending the brother for help. Katya struggles out of bed to confront the killer. Mikos attacks her in her bedroom, but she stabs him in the eyes with drawing compasses.

She stumbles down the hallway as the blinded killer follows. He stalks her through the house, but she evades him. The priest arrives and fights Mikos, and Katya grabs an axe from a decorative suit of armor, decapitating him. Police and the family arrive to find Katya in the doorway, covered in blood, holding Mikos’s severed head.

Reader's Guide

The film was shot in May 1981, entirely at night. The two child actors, Katia and Kasimir Berger, were the children of William Berger. Michele Soavi, who played a biker, later became a successful Italian horror film director.

D'Amato produced the film with his company P.C.M. International, while Edward Sarlui provided additional funding with his Panamanian company Metaxa Corporation. The film was originally released in Italy as Rosso Sangue in October 1981. In the UK, it was placed on the DPP's list of video nasties in 1983 and was one of 39 titles successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Acts in 1984. In 2016, 88 Films Ltd conducted a crowdfunding campaign for a 2k restoration; the BBFC rated it '18' with no cuts necessary, and the Blu-ray was released on February 13, 2017.

In the US, it was released on VHS by Wizard Video under the title Monster Hunter, and on Blu-ray by Severin Films on September 25, 2018, limited to 3000 copies. In Germany, it was released on DVD by Astro. An uncut DVD was released in France under the title Horrible via Mya Communication on July 28, 2009, and in Germany under the title Absurd via XT-Video on December 15, 2010.

Did You Know?

• The film's working title was La porta dell'oltretomba (literally: 'The Door of the Beyond').
• The house used for most of the film was located in Fiano Romano, near Rome, and was later used for three adult films in 1981.
• The film inspired the name for German black metal act Absurd, whose members later switched their interest from gore films to far-right extremism and committed murder in 1993.