The Year of the Cannibals (1969) Pressbook

While It Came From Hollywood, some films in American theaters from AIP in the 1950s through 1970s came from Italy. American International Pictures had a successful formula for making budget productions that made a profit by targeting male teenagers. But competition latched onto the Arkoff Formula (Samuel Arkoff and James H. Nicholson started AIP as American Releasing Corporation), leading AIP to look to foreign movies for a fresh, cost-effective source of movies. Part of that formula included releasing two B movies on a double-bill, when the usual approach was to release one A and one B.  A movies were more expensive, so having two Bs kept costs low. Their competitors, other independent companies, followed suit and AIP looked to Italy to distribute Italian productions while they figured out a new approach for production at home. One notable success from Italy, for horror fans, was Black Sunday 1960. By the 1960s, AIP teamed with Roger Corman to produce another successful run of horror movies with Vincent Price, and of course, there were the beach party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Then came the motorcycle cycle and the psychedelic cycle of movies. Notice a trend here? AIP used focus groups to keep on top of what movies their target audience wanted to see.

The Year of the Cannibals is an updated retelling of Antigone, the Greek play by Sophocles, where two warring factions leave the dead in their wake. Britt Ekland plays Antigone. In this version, bodies are left openly in the streets and young people start to defy authorities to bury them. AIP distributed the dubbed movie in 1971 (IMDb).