Kannibal (2001 Video) User Reviews

Curious.

[parry_na · 4/10 · 12 July 2015]

Richard Driscoll writes, directs, produces and has the starring role in this homage to Hannibal Lector films. I use the word homage loosely, because it veers on being a reimagining, parody, imitation and curio. To take on such a variety of roles, there must be a certain amount of self-belief, especially as the film being interpreted is one widely recognised as a classic, with a world famous, award-winning actor playing the role Mr Driscoll has given himself.

Like Driscoll's other horror, 'Evil Calls/The Raven/The Legend of Harrow Woods (2008)', there are moments of a good production, but here they are less refined and fewer in number. The acting varies, but one thing is for certain, Driscoll's performance as Kavanagh is woeful. He is simply a non-actor trying to speak like Anthony Hopkins. Whatever scene he is in, it is sunk by his performance.

And yet his is not the worst performance here. Lucien Morgan's monocle-sporting Inspector Reed is impossible to describe. So far off the scale that it defies words.

The story is of a man's killing spree in revenge for his wife's death. The story is sprawling, but not uninteresting. And the look of 'Kannibal' is mostly very impressive – this isn't a slipshod effort in directorial terms by any means, and has clearly had a great deal of time and money placed upon it. The effects, of which there are many, are delightfully gruesome and the smattering of vivid sex-scenes add further sleazy spice. What emerges is a picture that is a bit of an enigma – a mixture of the obscure, dramatic, blatant, graphic, confident and bizarre.

Gory Horror

[AnabelleChrighton · 3/10 · 11 April 2013]

This is one of the most unusual horror films I have ever seen. The film contained a lot of gore and lesbian S&M sex scenes Obviously a vast budget was spent on the set and costume. This over stylishly designed film did not deserve the dreadful script which was obviously a shameless pastiche on the Silence of the Lambs. In fact Richard Driscoll was trying to act like Anthony Hopkins which was just plain silly. However the scenes between Linea Quigley, the Russian lady mobster boss, and Lucien Morgan, the English Marlon Brando, playing the police inspector, were hauntingly enthralling. Lucien Morgan's performance was mesmerising. This film is destined to be a horror classic, but I don't know why.

Wish I could have given it a lower rating

[Seanette · 1/10 · 31 October 2002]

Absolute garbage. The "plot" is incoherent, sound quality is so bad that dialogue is unintelligible, background music choices are bizarre at best [such as in the opening sequence, with several police cars rushing to their destination on a rainy night with lights and sirens, with bright, sprightly, cheerful music playing], the music tends to be so loud that it drowns out dialogue [which is probably a good thing. Judging by the garbled "plot", the "writing" was so bad that a better result could have been achieved by throwing alphabet soup at blank paper] and the "actors" seem to be sleepwalking or to hate the movie about as much as the audience does.

Delusion beyond a joke....

[Ax-London · 1/10 · 11 June 2007]

I've seen better things come out of the rear end of a horse... I love rubbish films but this one is so dire its unwatchable. If there's one thing that ruins it is has to be Richard Driscoll, unfortunately seeing as he wrote, directed, produced and starred in the lead role then there's very little without his 'terrible' input. Just watch the extras making of documentary to see how bemused this guy is, does he really believe all of the garbage he spouts? From the look of his body language I should say not. This film is a blatant rip off of Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal without any of their qualities, Driscoll eludes to this briefly by stating he borrowed a few things in a tongue in cheek manner.. hmmm so he borrowed lines (washed down with a glass of chianti etc), sets (eg poorly copied cell scene), plot (well that's a bit rich as the plot of this movie is unintelligible)... oh and to add the final insult, lets not forget, the horrific acting of Lucien Morgan who attempts to copy Anthony Hopkins acting... It was claimed Morgan was a fantastic theatrical actor, well stick to the stage mate. My only hope is that the fact Driscoll has not been able to finance the sequel (was it a trilogy he claimed?), and has thankfully been off the scene for a long time, means he's realised he has no ability at any of his 'talents'... perhaps, hopefully, he and the Kannibal sound producer are still arguing, at the bottom of a very deep bottle of whisky, over why their talents have not been recognised. It would be sad to note that the highlight of Driscoll's career is the lowlight of everyone else's opinion, however he's not even charismatic enough to warrant ones pity. Its a shame on today's society that such deluded people are allowed to roam so freely.

What a piece of crap!

[TheBob · 1/10 · 31 October 2002]

Can't make up its mind whether it's a low-quality porno flick or a low-quality `slasher'-type horror flick; but it does very, very poorly at being either. A total, complete, unmitigated, inexcusable waste of the batteries used to power the cheap camcorder with which it was apparently filmed.

Recollections on an overlooked Klassic

[Scudpipes · 1/10 · 27 May 2007]

Good old Richard Driscoll, or 'Dick Risk-all' was we like to call him down the job centre, he did such a sterling job writing, producing AND directing this movie, not to mention starring in as well, the lead role no less! I said to him, I said 'Dick, it's a hell of a stress to write, produce, direct AND act in a film - why not make it easy on yourself and the audience, and get someone else to write, produce, direct and act in it. You have a sit down old chap'. He took this in good humour. I then probed him about all the female nudity in the film, his 'tribute' to Thomas Harris, or, as he puts it 'an opera version of Tosca'. 'Well,' Dick-all told me, 'there was no budget for costumes. Lucien had to supply his own'. Indeed, Lucien, Harrison Ford lookalike, one of the foremost theatre actors of his generation, supplied fedora, scarf and monocle for an extraordinary performance as a harried cop chasing a serial killer - remember, this is a good seven years before Fincher's 'Zodiac', and I'll bet Jake Googlegall didn't supply HIS own costume. That's devotion. And this film doesn't so much have an audience, simply devotees. You can tell a 'Kannibal' fan by the fact they are only let out of the home once a week. What more can be said about Kannibal that hasn't already been scrawled in excrement on the toilet walls of the Bellvue Institute for the Deranged? Kheck it out.

tries hard but it does not quite work WARNING!!!!!!!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!!

[callanvass · 18 July 2004]

not that good it tries hard but misses the mark it has TONS of blood and gore and has a pretty decent score and a couple of good performances Richard Driscoll is great here and plays a great madman i liked him a lot it's always good to see Linnea Quigley in anything and she does good here and it was great to see her again although her accent is just awful and didn't convince me one bit! this also has some laughable dialog and this just seems to be a movie with lots of nudity and gore sequences and it seems like a rip off of Hannibal but it's as good as that one even though that one was only barley above average however this one is quite below average as the scripting is horrible and it gets quite dull at times i found myself wandering lots of times and it also suffers from a poor ending and finale it does have some decent effects but is quite poorly directed and made so overall not worth it * out of 5 almost a *1/2 out of 5 because of the good performances and good effects

For fans of the sexy LINNEA QUIGLEY only!

[JimSthers · 7/10 · 13 September 2002]

Linnea Quigley is the best thing about this movie...As always she is sexy and stealing the scenes she's in, the plot of the movie was ok, but I honestly only enjoyed the movie when Linnea was on screen, also fans of Eileen Daly might enjoy this movie, since she appears naked a lot, along with many other cute girls.

Hmmmm...not bad

[Katatonia · 20 September 2002]

Not a bad movie, but not a great movie. If you like a lot of gore in horror films you'll love it. Quite a lot of female nudity featured. Some of the sequences are quite disturbing, someone with a very weak stomach would not enjoy watching this movie! Linnea Quigley is great as the Russian "lesbian" crime figure, along with Eileen Daly as her companion. The plot is interesting at times, although it never completely makes much sense. I'd say this was most likely shot on Digital Video and the 5.1 Sound Mix is often hard to decipher, a lot of times i could barely make out the dialogue. All in all, interesting for a single viewing.

I liked the film a lot

[richard-456 · 6/10 · 25 July 2005]

When I first picked up the box I thought it was going to be a low budget rip off of Hannibal/Silence of the Lambs but it was more interesting than that. OK it isn't a big budget movie but give it a try. With most of the rubbish coming out of the studios today it is good to see someone getting off their arse and making something entertaining. I don't understand why some of the people on this site don't like the film, unless they are brain dead. There are some good effects and the acting is good especially Richard Driscoll aka Steven Craine who I understand was in Star Wars. Linnea Quigley is as good as always and I understand that the producers have announced that they are making a sequel, Well me for one can't wait. Keep them coming.I would give the picture sequel a look as well when it comes out. You have my vote.

Explores its, the movie, genre.

[edhe · 13 April 2003]

My first impression on reading the promo on the video cover was that this has to be a spoof, Kannibal - Hannibal. Viewed in this genre the film comes off, not notably, but, decently done as these are professionals doing, well, what they do. I do get another underlying theme here, assumingly promulgated, by the director / cast : You Americans like sex and gore, we'll do our best satiate your appetite. And there is, of course, the obligatory swipe at the rather bumbling and pathetic whining "What's this all about," lead detective, also decently cast. I suppose my summation is that this film is more of a social commentary about the audience than about any permissiveness, or poor taste, of movie content.