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  • Writer's pictureKelly M. Hudson

Island of Death and Perversion!


Christopher (Robert Behling) and his girl Celia (Jane Lyle) decide to take a sudden vacation in the Greek isles, picking a small island that is out of the way and apparently filled with churches. Christopher is a photographer and Celia is his girlfriend and they both have a wild, impulsive, and adventurous streak. They seem to be on the run from some kind of trouble back home in England, but they don’t appear a bit worried about it. We see just how strange they are when Christopher has sex with Celia in a phone booth, live and in person, while talking on the phone with his mother. “I’m having sex with Celia right now,” he brags, to his horrified mother. This is only the beginning. Soon we learn that all is not normal with the two lovers; in fact, there is nothing normal at all about them. They reveal craven and murderous impulses to go along with their oddly deviant sexual tendencies. They seem to have no problem being together and getting turned on by murder, torture and mutilation, but god help a woman who happens to be a lesbian. In any case, things turn sour quickly, and much is revealed about the pair, and none of it is comforting or good. The whole situation spirals into blood, chaos, and madness, and into an inevitable bad end for one of our main characters.

I had never seen this notorious film by Greek director Nico Mastorakis because for the longest time, I thought it was the retitled version of Who Can Kill a Child?, a movie I had already seen and dearly loved. When I found out just how wrong I was, I sought this out and found it on a region-free Blu and it sat in my stack of “things to be watched” for many, many months. When I finally cracked it open, I was delighted to find that it lived up to its vile reputation. This one sure is full of debauchery and gross, sickly things. There isn’t much redeeming about it, other than the beautiful shots and the terrific script and the acting. It’s a nauseating film, no doubt, and it plunges to depths most movies won’t even consider looking at, much less delve into. I mean, there’s a golden shower scene with an older lady (the awesome Jessica Dublin) who looks a bit like Phillis Diller, for God’s sake! And yes, while it unflinchingly stares down and, uh, pisses on dozens of taboos, it never once loses track of being highly competent and compelling. Despite this parade of perversity, despite wanting to turn away at times, despite when certain realities begin to settle in after you realize just who Christopher and Celia really are, you can’t help but see it through to the end. It’s smart, crisp, and oddly humorous at times, even if the humor is so pitch-black that a hidden cave chamber would seem like a sunny plateau in comparison.

So yeah, if you’re into weird stuff, mondo madness, and sheer guts and bravado, you’ve found a movie to watch. This one does Go All the Way, and while it isn’t necessarily gory, it is sickening. My only complaint would be that it’s a little bit long in the tooth, but really, that leaves more room for more depravity, doesn’t it?

★★★☆


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