Tower of Evil (1972)

That was an excellent one.

Fantastic!

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

An old sailor and his son Hamp (Jack Watson) travel to fog-bound Snape Island where they discover the mutilated bodies of three young Americans, before encountering a deranged naked girl who attacks and kills the father with a dagger. Knocked unconscious by Hamp, the girl, Penny (Candace Glendenning), is taken to a secure hospital in a catatonic state where a doctor uses a large set of disco lights to try and unlock the secrets of her mind.Meanwhile, a team of archaeologists with complicated love lives pay a visit to the island to try and locate the rumoured 3000 year old burial chamber of a Phoenician captain; they are joined by private investigator Brent (Bryant Halliday), who has been hired by Penny's parents to prove their daughter's innocence, and Hamp, who brings along his randy nephew Brom (Gary Hamilton). Once on the island, the group find themselves in mortal danger, hunted by a cackling unseen madman.What Tower of Evil lacks in logic and finesse, it sure makes up for with gore, gratuitous nudity and atmosphere. No more than a few minutes have passed before we are treated to the sight of two naked corpses, one missing a hand and one of which has been decapitated, the severed head rolling down a flight of stone steps. A third body (Robin Askwith of Confessions fame) is pinned to a wall with a golden spear. Penny's flashbacks offer up further nudity, as she remembers frolicking outside in the raw with her boyfriend (despite the clearly inclement weather) while Askwith takes yet another opportunity to show us his bare ass.With a really eerie location at his disposal, director Jim O'Connolly (The Valley of Gwangi) achieves some genuinely suspenseful moments, wisely keeping his killer heard but not seen, and maintains a decent pace throughout, even when the action is limited to characters wandering aimlessly around the rocky island and its network of caves.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the delectable Anna Palk as Nora, who has a gratuitous sex scene with Brom, and for the wonderfully icky putrefying corpse of Hamp's dead brother's wife Martha.

SPOILER ALERT! A group of researchers travel to a remote island of the English coast to investigate the brutal murders of three Americans. They uncover a half-dead man, his completely dead wife and their cycloptic son. Also in the mix is an ancient ruin where sacrifices have taken place. A real piece of junk directed by Jim O'Connolly. The island, in long shots, is a miniature and the whole film is decidedly, and obviously, studio-bound. The cast is a bland mix of no-names save for Jill Haworth, slumming it after working with the likes of Preminger, Marais and (on Broadway) Hal Prince. Anna Palk, a Stephanie Beacham lookalike, adds some spark as a bitchy pothead. As bad as they come.

A bunch of kids are found murdered on a remote island. Only one is alive and totally insane. It's determined that she killed everyone else. Another group travels out to the island to see what happened and find out that she didn't do it. Something is loose on the island and starts to hunt them down...A pretty dull horror film. All the characters are unpleasant (you WANT them all dead), the acting is bad, there are horrible 1970s fashions and the killings are (for the most part) pretty mild. Also you see a bunch of British actors all trying (badly) to fake American accents (the kids who are killed first). Heck, one guy had to be dubbed in! There is plenty of nudity--the girls show their chests, the boys only their butts. What really kills this film though is the confused script which has the characters doing incredibly stupid things.SPOILERS AHEAD!!! They all know a killer is with them on the island so they immediately separate leaving the women alone; a woman stands and just screams endlessly as her boyfriend gets hacked up in front of her (this happens TWICE!) and a woman tries to escape from the killer by running upstairs. Also these people seem to get over the deaths of their companions very quickly. Look how Dan gets over his wife's death and how they all react to Bron's dead body. SPOILERS END!!!The DVD transfer from Elite is great--widescreen, good print and in strong color...but the movie just isn't good. I heard this helped kill the British film industry--it's easy to see why! I give it a 4.

Sexy vintage British horror tale packed with traditional atmospheric fog, shades of Gothic and hot young flesh. From the firm buttocks of the hunky men to the smooth perky breasts of the women, this film exploits the 70's free love era. Three interconnected tales revolve around an old lighthouse island purported to be closed but hiding deep secrets. They are . . . First: A man, his wife and their child escape the near by village to live in isolation. Something happens. Second: Free spirited young Americans who are for the most part naked during their flashback sequences, and we're all happy about that, visit the island for a little hot sex and weed. Surely this movie was made by content bisexuals because both sexes bare enough flesh to make your engine hum. Someone murders three of the hot and horny kids (while they're all naked). Third: A research team is sent to the island because one of the boys was murdered with an antique sword only found in southern Europe. The sword it appears belongs to a cult that worships the God of Orgies, lust and firm male butts. The team is comprised of four young hot archaeologists, and two locals, one in particular is a hungry stud (Gary Hamilton) who is by far the best looking 70's hunk I've ever seen naked on screen. There's a lot of "whose been sleeping in my bed" antics before the truth about the island is uncovered.The underground worship chamber is by far the funniest horror set I have ever seen.All in all for film history's sake and a nice slice of 70's nudity mixed with chills and thrills, this is the best of it's kind.Did I mention hot men and sweet women are starked naked most of the time? Catch it!