Powerful

Must See Movie...

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Hmmm... I don't think I've ever seen such polarized reviews of a such a basic, straight forward film. We either have reviewers who apparently have dropped Acid who say,'WOW, MUST SEE!', etc., or we have reviews saying, 'It's Total Crap!' I've seen many films where the reviews are extremely polarized, but usually there is a clear reason why. Such as a movie that has a peculiar slant, or a Supernatural film where some love and some hate that kind of thing. But, this film here is just a VERY basic, simple British Gothic Horror film, somewhat like Hammer's movies, just not quite as good. So, the reason for the extremes is quite a mystery...Anyway, sorry to get sidetracked by that. Now to the film... I can see why many really liked the look and atmosphere. I also did appreciate that too, since I generally love films with lots of mood and atmosphere, especially ones that are set in a real Gothic area like the moors for example, where 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES' takes place. So, there IS that... But, honestly, other than a real nice looking island and a sort-of castle (tower...?) and a pretty good creepy atmosphere, and admittedly some nudity and some semi-graphic violence for the time, still when all is said and done, there really isn't that much to the story, at least in my lowly and wretched opinion.One thing that does help greatly is that the acting is pretty decent throughout; I mean, it could have been a HELL of a lot worse for such a low-budget film. And, everyone at least takes the story seriously and seems like they are trying their best.It's just at the end you are kind of going, 'That's it...?' I pretty much guessed what was going on, and even when you do find out for sure, it really isn't that big of a deal. I think that even with the story as it is, if they could have somehow built up more about the family who had been staying on the island and given us some depth and background, that might have gone a long way toward involving us more in the story, I don't know...Well, going by most of the reviews, I guess what will help you decide whether you want to take the time to see this or not, would be if you REALLY love the old Hammer films or old British Gothic Horror stories in general, then you might have a good chance of liking this movie. However, even with that said... I frigg'n LOVE those kinds of films, and it still kind of left me rather limp after watching it (uh, metaphorically that is...)The atmosphere and look are very good. The acting is decent for this kind of film. It's just the story really isn't that big of a deal and the 'Scares' and S & V really aren't done well enough to keep the audience really engaged. I WILL say though that I was TOTALLY blown away by how absolutely stunning the Blu-ray looks for a minor film like this one that was made over 43 frigg'n years ago! WOW...! Seriously. I have a LOT of Blu-rays, and even compared to many films that are 20 to 30 years newer than this one, this one looks SO damn detailed and sharp and real, that you feel like you can literally just walk right into the screen and onto the island. The detail in the texture of the walls, sets, and scenery is just flat out amazing! The Blacks are SUPER deep and impressive and the sharpness is breath-taking. So, if you are a fan of the film at all, you will be delighted with the quality and presentation of the Blu-ray.This is one of those cases where I rated the film to fit what I think will help MOST people in an objective way. To me personally, the movie MAYBE barely rates a '5' But, I gave it a '6' because many here genuinely seem to like this film. And, IF you can be kind of forgiving for it's flaws, you might end up liking it more than I did. Normally it's the other way around. Usually I really like a film more than I think most others will, so I feel that I should temper the rating and give it 1 less than what I feel personally it merits...So, I hope that that gives you enough to go on and will help you somewhat in deciding whether you want to watch this atmospheric Gothic Horror story or not...

The plot = Two teenage couples arrive on Snape Island, to party and have sex, but not for long as they start to get victimized by an unseen killer who disposes the victims with an axe. One of the girls survives the massacre but is driven mad with fear and actually kills one of the sailors who tries to rescue her. As she's in a traumatised state, the police decides she's the killer, so the girls parents hires a private detective to travel to the island of doom to prove her innocence. He teams up a group of museum types, who believe that a temple for the Phoenician god called Baal resides in the caverns underneath the rocky island.I can across this little gem late one night on BBC 2, and not expecting much to come from this, well I was actually pleasantly surprised. This movie came out in 1972, and definitely sets the tone for what's to come later with the slasher craze that was to follow within' the next couple of years. The setting of the island is very dark and Gothic and sets the perfect tone and atmoshere. The effects are also surprisingly realistic for a movie this old particularly the headless body and the severed hand - are very realistic.Tower of Evil is fast-paced and entertaining, full of solid performances and shocks. But is also has many cheesy moments that undermine the atmosphere. And there are one or two cheesy moments like when the girl is the hospital in a special machine with disco lights, I mean thought that scene was hilarious. There are also red herrings, blood-lettings, occasional bouts of madness, explicit sex scenes, and the extended use of fast-cutting, with subliminal shocks.All in all a solid British slasher that has aged reasonably well, definitely worth checking out.

You can count the number of truly talented screenwriters at work over the years on two hands - and that might be pushing it. I love Gothic horror films from the 1960's and '70's, therefore I enjoyed this film but couldn't dismiss the quality of the script. The dialogue was poor but the most glaring deficiency in the script was the absence of tension building. Granted, there was some tension being built in the film, but the writer should have used Penny's character, in a flashback sequence, at the climax to better build the tension. Instead, Penny was forgotten.To fill you in on the plot, and who this Penny lady is I am referring to, I shall start from the beginning. The film opens with two sailors searching an island. They stumble upon three corpses of young Americans (British actors portraying Americans that is) before they meet up with Penny (Candace Glendenning). Penny is so visibly shaken, she kills one of the sailors before the other knocks her out with a crowbar. Penny is then taken back to the mainland where she is in a near catatonic state. A doctor tries to enter her mind and find out what happened at the island while the police are content with labeling her the killer of the three corpses - since she did kill one of the sailors. However, Penny killed the sailor with an ancient sword made of gold which interest some archaeologists. They gather into a boat and set to the island to find more ancient artifacts.On the island, the archaeologists, who are involved in a love rectangle, get dispatched one-by-one while trying to unlock the mystery of the island.STORY: $$ (No new ground charted here, and like I mentioned before, Penny should have been used more appropriately to convey dread for the archaeologists on the island. Some of the dialogue is atrocious. The female characters are depicted as sexually open, especially Anna Palk, yet they are written as the typical screaming, stay at the house type damsels when terror is presented).VIOLENCE: $$$$ (Violence hounds won't be letdown. There are multiple stabbings and a decent amount of gore, but that stuff isn't my cup of tea. There is also an explosion and a decapitation mixed in with the stabbings and occasional gun-play).ACTING: $$ (The acting is quite stiff with Anna Palk shining as the promiscuous vixen. Candace Glendenning does a fine job with the unstable Penny but I found it difficult to care for any character in this film outside of Penny - and again, the character was used poorly).NUDITY:$$$ (There is plenty of the flesh in this film. When the sailors encounter Penny for the first time, she is stark naked. Her chum also has a nude scene as well as several guys in the film).

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.