An absolute waste of money

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

"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.

I am an enthusiastic fan of European Exploitation cinema, especially from the 70s, and I therefore cannot really explain while I let "Ta Paidia Tou Diavolou" aka. "Island of Death" (1975) rest on my DVD shelf for ages before finally watching it recently. Having seen it, I must say that I do not agree with the majority of my fellow Eurocult fans, who seem to be regarding this film as an essential little gem of cinematic Euro-nastiness. The film has disturbing sequences and imagery, all right, but I never was disturbed or shocked, nor darkly amused.The young couple Christopher (Robert Behling), a psychotic religious fanatic who thinks he is on god's mission to cleanse the earth of the perverted (even though he is the biggest perv himself), and Celia (Jane Lyle), a demented and almost equally murderous nymphomaniac, are on a murderous rampage on the Greek island Mykonos. Devoted to killing as many perverts as possible, Christopher murders a womanizing French guy, a gay couple, an aging nymphomaniac, a lesbian, and others...There isn't a lot more, really. As said, the murders may be sadistic and disturbing and the murder methods cruel and demented. However, the film is never shocking, as all characters in the film are annoying as hell, and none of them is introduced long enough to give a crap about their fate. The murderous couple is annoying too. Some super-nasty sequences like one in which Christopher has sex with a little goat, are obviously thought of as shocking by many. But they aren't really, in my opinion. The shock-sequences here aren't really shocking, nor do they have any other effect. They just happen, and, personally I couldn't have cared less.The nastiness of the murders, the beautiful Greek setting, the good score and some amusing stuff towards the end are some redeeming qualities. Islands are usually great Horror settings, as they have such an inescapable character. While the setting here is maybe the films greatest aspect, "Ta Paidia Tou Diavolou" is never creepy, scary or even remotely suspenseful. It isn't really boring, but it is never exciting, nor shocking or disturbing, nor darkly humorous. By the way,"Island of Death" shares its English a.k.a. title, but must not to be confused with Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's 1976 masterpiece "¿Quién Puede Matar a Un Niño?", which actually IS one of the greatest Eurohorror films ever made.Overall, "Ta Paidia Tou Diavolou" is worth watching for my fellow Eurohorror fans as it IS one of the nastier films from the mid-70s. The murders are brutal and there is a certain range of redeeming perversions. However, I find it to be immensely overrated among my fellow fans of Euro-Exploitation. To those who want to see a truly disturbing film set on a Greek Island, I recommend Joe D'Amato's "Antropophagus" (1980). A brilliant storyline isn't the most obvious characteristic of that film either, but it is scary as hell, gory and thoroughly shocking and disturbing. "Ta Paida Tou Diavlou" just isn't, at least not in my humble opinion.

Island of Death, Nico Mastorakis' much-banned exploitation horror, sees a pair of sadistic lovers, Christopher and Celia (played by Robert Behling and the lovely Jane Lyle), travel to Mykonos where they proceed to punish anyone they deem to be perverted, a definite case of 'the pot calling the kettle black' since the murderous couple are easily the biggest deviants on the island: their numerous killings aside, Christopher calls his mother whilst having sex with Celia in a phone booth, Celia shags a French painter as Christopher watches from a distance, the couple masturbate over photographs of their victims, and a goat gets a good seeing to from Christopher when Celia turns hims down for nookie!On top of all of this, Mastorakis' delightfully trashy film also tackles such unsavoury subjects as rape (both female and male), drug abuse, incest, and water sports (and I'm not talking about scuba-diving and wake-boarding), offering oodles of nekkid flesh and soft-core humping in the process, making it perfect viewing for anyone who likes their entertainment to constantly challenge the boundaries of taste.Despite none of this dodgy content being overly explicit (and in the case of the goat sex, I've got to say that I'm rather glad!), the mere fact that the film even dared to explore these usually taboo themes qualified it for a place on the official DPP Video Nasties list during the 80s, and it is these high levels of extreme wrongness that still draws fans of such fare to seek out the title. The direction may be uninspired, the story not exactly riveting, and the gore rather tame, but I still recommend Island of Death simply for being so depraved.And if you don't believe me, the end of the film reveals that Christopher and Celia are actually brother and sister, which makes that phone call to their mother all the more indecent!