Freaktana A Major Disappointment

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Michael_Elliott 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.

Mr_Ectoplasma "Island of Death" focuses on Christopher and Celia, newlyweds on a honeymoon on the Greek island of Mykonos; well, I suppose you could say honeymoon, if your idea of honeymooning includes bestiality, rape, urolagnia, murder, and other sadistic debaucheries.What can one say about this film, really? I've seen a lot of exploitation films, and this is the cream of the crop if we're talking schlock factor in terms of mere content. As I watched the film, I continually wondered what all involved were thinking when they made it, which is a question for the ages that will likely never be definitively answered. While the capturing of these horrific acts lacks the grit and realism of what you find in a film like "Cannibal Holocaust," the logistics of "Island of Death" are truly abhorrent. One may not get the sense of it because the presentation is not always entirely serious or especially raw, but you know you're in for a ride when the first scene features the protagonists having sex in a phone booth, ending with the man climaxing while on the phone with his mother.There is not much plot here, really—just a stringing together of murder targets at the hands of the central protagonists/villains. At times, I was reminded very much of Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers," minus the social commentary. That said, the film does have some artistic thought put into it, at least in terms of presentation. A stylish use of camera shutters and still photographs as transition pieces really give the film a unique flair, and the cinematography is lush and professional. The Mediterranean sets photograph nicely, and the film's sunny disposition is in stark contrast with virtually everything else about it. Jane Lyle plays the doe-eyed British wife nicely here, while Robert Behling is convincing as her abusive partner. In true exploitation fashion, both bear a considerable amount of flesh here, so if that's your thing, there's that (I can say Behling was one hell of a hunk, and he shows off virtually everything in this flick, as does Lyle).The film has earned a reputation as being one of the most widely-banned films in the world, which is unsurprising. It is severely politically incorrect, perhaps even more so today, and yet is rife with contradictions; for example, the main characters savagely murder a flamboyant gay couple for being perverted, and yet engage in various sexual dalliances, one of which includes penetrating a goat. One truly is at a loss for words.Overall, "Island of Death" is an engaging film if for no other reason than the audience is perpetually baffled (and horrified) as to what the two fresh-faced leads are going to do next. For as nihilistic and utterly grotesque as the content of the film is, it is not nearly as hard-hitting as one would expect it to be. I suppose this may have to do with the hokey '70s soundtrack, or the fact that the debauchery becomes normalized through the characters' consistent making light of it, which is probably the scarier answer. In any case, it's a revolting film; provocative, sometimes darkly funny, and so completely and utterly bizarre that one will likely never completely forget it. 8/10.

tomgillespie2002 A British couple, Christopher (Bob Behling) and Celia (Jane Lyle) arrive on a peaceful Greek island to seemingly indulge in photography and the sun. We come to discover that Christopher is a religious fanatic, who, when he's not taking photos and sleeping with his sister, enjoys a spot of goat-raping (goatsploitation?), gay-bashing, and feeding paint to sleazy decorators. He enjoys watching his soon-to-be-victims fornicating with Celia from a distance before flipping out and doing a bit of the ol' murdering. Complete with electronic sound effects, bad camera-work, and terrible acting, this is probably Tarantino's wet dream.For the rest of us (I hope) this is bottom-of-the-barrel guff. I mean, this is shockingly bad stuff. I like a bit of cheap, guilty-pleasure crap as much as the next film fan, but this is just beyond explanation. Things just don't make sense. The aforementioned paint-feeding scene shows the victim being nailed to the floor, crucifixion-style, with the nails going barely a couple of millimetres into the ground, and then he proceeds to willingly opening his mouth and swallow the paint without struggling in the slightest, just making the odd murmur. Oh, the pain! It's a scene that Herschell Gordon Lewis would probably turn to his assistant and say 'listen, this is just too f*****g s**t!'. The film is basically this over and over again for 90 minutes, and it stops being funny after about 10. Avoid at all costs.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

lastliberal This video nasty, banned in Britain, was originally titled Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou. It was finally released with 4 minutes and 9 seconds cut in 2002.If you like them nasty, this is certainly one for the books. Robert Behling (Cujo, The Enforcer) is a psycho of the first order who thinks he is on some mission from God to clean up Mykonos, a Greek island that today is the gayest of the Mediterranean.Even in 1975, it was a haven for gays, lesbians and hippies, so he had a lot of cleaning to do. His partner (wife? girlfriend? sister?) Jane Lyle (Land of the Minotaur), was a reluctant participant, and she managed to get even at the end.All sorts of gruesome murders of gays and lesbians, golden showers, a decapitation with a bulldozer, and brutally stabbing a young goat are included. A couple of very nice bodies, including Lyle's added to the interest.Christopher claimed that the land belonged to the simple people, and he found that out at the end.