La semana del asesino (1972)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Eloy de la Iglesia

Writers:

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

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)
José Félix Montoya		(as Felix Jose Montoya)
Ángel Blanco
Manuel Calvo	...	Viajero en el metro
Emilio Hortela
Paca Gabaldón		(as Mary Francis)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Inés Morales	...	Secretaria (uncredited)

Directed by
Eloy de la Iglesia

Writing credits
Eloy de la Iglesia		(story)
Eloy de la Iglesia		(screenplay) &
Antonio Fos		(screenplay)
Dick Randall		(dialogue: US version) (as Robert Oliver)

Produced by
Vicente Parra	....	associate producer
José Truchado	....	producer

Original Music by
Fernando García Morcillo

Cinematography by
Raúl Artigot

Film Editing by
José Luis Matesanz

Makeup Department
M. Gregory Gudiry	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Luis Lasala	....	production manager (as Luis Maria Lasala)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Louis Gomes	....	assistant director

Special Effects by
Baquero	....	special effects

Other crew
Pedro Escuder	....	production assistant
Marisol Martinez	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Atlas International Film

Distributors

• Hallmark Releasing Corp. (1973) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1976) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Astro Distribution (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Blue Underground (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Intervision Video (1981) (UK) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The Apartment on the 13th Floor (USA) (dubbed version)
The Cannibal Man (International: English title)
Week of the Killer

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)

You made yourself a whole lot of trouble, you idiot!

This was one of the infamous video nasties that was banned in Britain. It was released there in 1993 with just 3 seconds cut.

I am not a Spanish expert, but Week of the Killer is a more accurate translation of the Spanish title: La semana del asesino.

Vicente Parra is Marcos, who works in a slaughterhouse. If you don't like scenes of animal slaughter, be warned. He gets into an argument one night with a cabbie (Goyo Lebrero) and hits him with a rock, killing him. His girlfriend Paula (Emma Cohen) wants him to go to the police, but he has other plans. Now, he has two bodies under his bed. At least he had one last night of fun with the luscious Barcelona beauty.

He tells his brother Nestor (Eusebio Poncela), who sings the same song as Paula, and now there are three. That apartment is going to be stinking soon! Nestor's fiancée (Lola Herrera) comes looking for him and unfortunately for her, she finds him. The kills are getting more and more bloody. He seems to be enjoying it now, even if he is becoming anxious.

The future father-in-law shows up looking for his daughter. I imagine this kill is the 3 seconds they cut from the British release. That room is getting rather full and flies are buzzing.

I remember that old Johnny Cash song "One Piece at a Time, where he snuck Cadillac parts out of the plant in his lunch pail. Well Marcos decides to smuggle in a bagful at a time to the plant and mix it with the beef in the hamburger machine. He better get hustling as the neighborhood dogs are gathering at his door, and he will go broke buying air freshener and cologne.

Rosa (Vicky Lagos) is hot for Marcos, and so is Estaban (Charly Bravo). One dies and the other lives, even after Marcos discovers his secret is no longer secret.

Again, it is a misnomer to call this Cannibal Man, and I hated to have to watch a dubbed version, but Vicente Parra and Charly Bravo did an excellent job, while Emma Cohen was a real delight in this neo noir Spanish thriller.