Island of Death is among the most sought after cult classics I know. The film has many different names created mainly for video releases. The most usual names are Island of Death (I use this name on this review), Island of Perversions, Psychic Killer 2, Craving for Lust and Devils In Mykonos, the latter being the intended name for the film, according to the director. The film is one of the most notorious video nasties in Britain and has been cut, banned and loathed everywhere during all these years, and it hasn't lost plenty of its power to shock and disgust and it is now as sleazy as it was back then in 1975. The "story" is about a couple, Christopher and Celia, that arrives in Greek island Mykonos and start to kill and torture people they consider sinful or dirty. This includes homosexuals, lesbians, nymphomaniacs and other sexual minorities. The film hasn't any significant plot and all that happens is just from one victim to another, from one violent/perverse act to another.
At this point, I'll tell you that there is one little and nasty plot turn at the end of the film, so BE CAREFUL when/if you read other reviews on IMDB and elsewhere, because I've noticed couple of "reviews" that SPOIL that end twist and by knowing what the twist is, the whole viewing experience will be toned down and different. So please NOTE THIS WARNING ABOUT SPOILERS FOUND ON SOME REVIEWS ON IMDB AND ELSEWHERE!! I definitely won't even hint about what the plot turn is, and I'm glad for being able to warn you others who haven't seen the film yet!
Back to the film: It is obvious that these cheap exploitation films usually haven't got any cinematic merits as great photography, atmosphere and so on, but Island of Death is a little exception, as the photography is at times very beautiful as some scenes were shot at the beach and at night, and their visuality show that director Mastorakis is pretty noteworthy film maker. Also, camera angles and use of camera is occasionally interesting and again prove the talent of Mastorakis. But those are perhaps the only cinematically positive things I found in this film, and since the film was originally made to be disgusting and perverse, on that level it definitely works!
It is interesting to know that Mastorakis has made many noteworthy productions, too, with stars like Nastassja Kinski and George Kennedy, and he has said, that Island of Death was made ONLY because of money and he had to get it at the time. That is exactly the case also with Umberto Lenzi and his rough and sadistic cannibal films Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, which the director has said he made only because of money he needed badly that time, in the early 1980's. Mastorakis knew that, at the time he started to think about Island of Death, there were many nasty and cheap exploitation films (like Ilsa series etc.) making money, so he decided to try the same and write movie as perverse, violent, nasty and sadistic as possible and then sell it and make plenty of dollars for more ambitious and interesting future film projects. That succeeded, and he has never done anything like Island of Death again, but still he is willing to talk about the film and telling interesting things about it. He says that the film is not his look of life and he is not some sick psycho who likes stuff committed on screen, and he did the film entirely because of monetary reasons. The inspiration for this kind of thing came when he saw Tobe Hooper's Texas Chain Saw Massacre and understood how cheap it was to make and how much it made money for its makers. Texas and Island are of course very different films and Texas is great and artistic overall, but the inspiration for Island of Death came after the director saw Texas and realized that similar (distantly, though) film could be made by him, too.
*MINOR SPOILERS DEPICTING THE ACTS OF VIOLENT MAYHEM COMMITTED ON THE FILM COMING; NOT ANY HUGE SPOILERS, THOUGH!*
The film was intended to shock and disgust and that it definitely delivers. There are scenes of rape, bestiality, goat sodomy, sword slashing, decapitation by bullzoder (!), impalement, urinating on old and horny female (yuks!) and other similar acts of violence and perversion. There is also pretty disgusting scene where man is forced to drink paint while crucified to the ground. This all sounds pretty vile, but the film is not as bloody or gory as one might think by now; of course it is sick and offensive, but not any gore fest blood bath so no one should raise the expectations too high. I wasn't disappointed as all I had in mind was to see this rare gem, but I know some may think it was too "soft" which is definitely isn't. If you still think - having seen the film - this is not nasty, read the beginning of this paragraph again and ask yourself: doesn't this really sound sick to me? The most politically incorrect scene is of course the scene where Chris rapes a goat and then kills it with a knife. For all the animal lovers out there (like myself), I can confirm that the director himself has said that the animal was NOT really killed (or raped) and they only stunned it for couple of hours and then shot the scene with fake blood and effects. And also, no human was hurt or abused during the making of Island of Death!
*NO MORE SPOLERS!*
Island of Death is definitely worth tracking down for all the exploitation/trash/nasty cinema lovers out there but others stay far away, as always from these films. This is after all pure trashy exploitation, but that genre has also fans and lovers and there are great films in that genre, too. Island of Death is not the greatest exploitation pick ever made, but still it's placed on pretty high position on that long list of exploitation films. The film is too slow moving at times (the run time of the fully uncut director's version is +102mins PAL) so the run time is longer than usually in exploitation films. Also, couple of scenes are too dull to be taken seriously and I think they could've been done with greater concentration. Still, as the film is so vile and over-the-top and breaks all the possible taboos ever on screen, this is definitely great experience for twisted minds like me, and therefore I give this definite 7/10!
Oh yeah, and definitely don't watch this with your girl/boyfriend (unless they happen to like exploitation films, too!), no matter if you're homosexual or "straight"; your companion is NOT going to like what he's/she's seeing! I think that's pretty likely to have come to one's mind by now, though...!
At this point, I'll tell you that there is one little and nasty plot turn at the end of the film, so BE CAREFUL when/if you read other reviews on IMDB and elsewhere, because I've noticed couple of "reviews" that SPOIL that end twist and by knowing what the twist is, the whole viewing experience will be toned down and different. So please NOTE THIS WARNING ABOUT SPOILERS FOUND ON SOME REVIEWS ON IMDB AND ELSEWHERE!! I definitely won't even hint about what the plot turn is, and I'm glad for being able to warn you others who haven't seen the film yet!
Back to the film: It is obvious that these cheap exploitation films usually haven't got any cinematic merits as great photography, atmosphere and so on, but Island of Death is a little exception, as the photography is at times very beautiful as some scenes were shot at the beach and at night, and their visuality show that director Mastorakis is pretty noteworthy film maker. Also, camera angles and use of camera is occasionally interesting and again prove the talent of Mastorakis. But those are perhaps the only cinematically positive things I found in this film, and since the film was originally made to be disgusting and perverse, on that level it definitely works!
It is interesting to know that Mastorakis has made many noteworthy productions, too, with stars like Nastassja Kinski and George Kennedy, and he has said, that Island of Death was made ONLY because of money and he had to get it at the time. That is exactly the case also with Umberto Lenzi and his rough and sadistic cannibal films Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, which the director has said he made only because of money he needed badly that time, in the early 1980's. Mastorakis knew that, at the time he started to think about Island of Death, there were many nasty and cheap exploitation films (like Ilsa series etc.) making money, so he decided to try the same and write movie as perverse, violent, nasty and sadistic as possible and then sell it and make plenty of dollars for more ambitious and interesting future film projects. That succeeded, and he has never done anything like Island of Death again, but still he is willing to talk about the film and telling interesting things about it. He says that the film is not his look of life and he is not some sick psycho who likes stuff committed on screen, and he did the film entirely because of monetary reasons. The inspiration for this kind of thing came when he saw Tobe Hooper's Texas Chain Saw Massacre and understood how cheap it was to make and how much it made money for its makers. Texas and Island are of course very different films and Texas is great and artistic overall, but the inspiration for Island of Death came after the director saw Texas and realized that similar (distantly, though) film could be made by him, too.
*MINOR SPOILERS DEPICTING THE ACTS OF VIOLENT MAYHEM COMMITTED ON THE FILM COMING; NOT ANY HUGE SPOILERS, THOUGH!*
The film was intended to shock and disgust and that it definitely delivers. There are scenes of rape, bestiality, goat sodomy, sword slashing, decapitation by bullzoder (!), impalement, urinating on old and horny female (yuks!) and other similar acts of violence and perversion. There is also pretty disgusting scene where man is forced to drink paint while crucified to the ground. This all sounds pretty vile, but the film is not as bloody or gory as one might think by now; of course it is sick and offensive, but not any gore fest blood bath so no one should raise the expectations too high. I wasn't disappointed as all I had in mind was to see this rare gem, but I know some may think it was too "soft" which is definitely isn't. If you still think - having seen the film - this is not nasty, read the beginning of this paragraph again and ask yourself: doesn't this really sound sick to me? The most politically incorrect scene is of course the scene where Chris rapes a goat and then kills it with a knife. For all the animal lovers out there (like myself), I can confirm that the director himself has said that the animal was NOT really killed (or raped) and they only stunned it for couple of hours and then shot the scene with fake blood and effects. And also, no human was hurt or abused during the making of Island of Death!
*NO MORE SPOLERS!*
Island of Death is definitely worth tracking down for all the exploitation/trash/nasty cinema lovers out there but others stay far away, as always from these films. This is after all pure trashy exploitation, but that genre has also fans and lovers and there are great films in that genre, too. Island of Death is not the greatest exploitation pick ever made, but still it's placed on pretty high position on that long list of exploitation films. The film is too slow moving at times (the run time of the fully uncut director's version is +102mins PAL) so the run time is longer than usually in exploitation films. Also, couple of scenes are too dull to be taken seriously and I think they could've been done with greater concentration. Still, as the film is so vile and over-the-top and breaks all the possible taboos ever on screen, this is definitely great experience for twisted minds like me, and therefore I give this definite 7/10!
Oh yeah, and definitely don't watch this with your girl/boyfriend (unless they happen to like exploitation films, too!), no matter if you're homosexual or "straight"; your companion is NOT going to like what he's/she's seeing! I think that's pretty likely to have come to one's mind by now, though...!