16 October 2024
Island of Death (1975)
110 min.
Directed by Niko Mastorakis.
With Robert Behling, Jane Ryall, Jessica Dublin, Gerard Gonalons, Jannice McConnell, Clay Half, Mike Murtagh, Jeremy Rousseau, Nikos Tsachiridis.
The strangest thing to come out of Greece since Irene Pappas released a bouzouki singalong album. (Kidding).

An already-unstable couple (Behling, Ryall) visit the sensual Greek island of Mykonos on vacation and submit fully to murder, depravity and savagery of all kinds. Woohoo!

A crude crucifixicion, sword-slashing and a burning-by-aerosol-can & lighter are all highlights.

Believe it or not, this sleazy epic *can* be seen as a character study of two amoral voids (think Albert Camus' novel The Stranger)...

Or you *could* just sit back and enjoy the "human copulation with a goat" scene!

Considering the grimy nature of the premise, director Mastorakis does an admirable job of walking a delicate line between displaying our protagonists' horrible actions & degrading journey, but not asking us to sympathize with them. It's all beautifully shot.

Also known as Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou as well as A Craving for Lust.

Not to be confused with the Spanish horror flick Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), which also sometimes goes by the title Island of Death.

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