Island of Death (1978)
** (out of 4)
Christpher (Robert Behling) and Celia (Jane Lyle) arrive on a small Greek Island where their lust for rape and violence soon terrorizes the entire community.
Nico Mastorakis' ISLAND OF DEATH is one of those notorious films that you often read about yet no matter what you read it really can't prepare you for the madness that you're walking into. This film was obviously trying to be another Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and I'd also think that something like THE WICKER MAN had an influence. Does the film live up to its notorious reputation? You bet it does and I'd argue it's even crazier than its reputation. Is the film any good? Umm...not really.
If you're a fan of the ultra bizarre then there's no question that you'll want to watch this but at the same time there are all sorts of problems with it. For starters, this here clocks in at 106-minutes, which is at least twenty-minutes too long. The pacing is incredibly slow throughout but the biggest issue is the fact that there's really not much of a story. The entire film is just a set-up for one shock after another and the lack of any real story helps it drag at times. In fact, all of these people are being raped and butchered yet no one on this small island starts to get concerned.
As I said, there's a lot to recommend here and especially if you're a fan of exploitation. I lost count of how many rape scenes there were. You had straight rape. Gay rape. Lesbian rape. Hippie rape. Hell, there was even goat rape! You've got a wide range of bizarre killings with plenty of blood flowing. Obviously there's a ton of nudity scattered throughout the film as well. It really did seem that Nico Mastorakis just wanted to shock viewers by throwing one bizarre scene out there after another and on that level the film is a success.
ISLAND OF DEATH is certainly a nutty little film that has several good things but also plenty of bad things. I would add that I enjoyed both Behling and Lyle in their roles.
