Island of Blood

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Island Of Blood; before launching into my critique, here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 0.50 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 0.75 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 4.75 out of 10

The story is a mess. The writer and director, William T Naud, tried too hard to add the mystery and overcooked it. I believe he thought he was casting red herrings throughout the story to throw the audience off the killer's true identity. What he was doing was supplementing illogical dialogue and narrative, which made it confusing and silly. For example, the casting director keeps oversimplifying the cast's lines and then blatantly comes out with a quip to draw the audience's attention to him, "They'll know whose dying when they see it." The subtlety of this pretence is as subtle as getting hit in the head with two gold bricks. Then, there's the section where we learn how the performers obtained their roles. They didn't audition: They simply received the invite in the mail. We're intended to assume these people have something in common. It would have been a good ploy had Naud built upon it. But he doesn't. The ending is the worst thing about the picture. When the murderer is exposed, we realise that unless we had psychic abilities there was no way for us to deduce the killer's identity. I didn't feel too bad because I'd pretty much given up on the Whodunnit side of the story by then. And that is a botch-up in itself as the alternate title is Whodunnit. That title alone says, get your thinking caps on and notepads out; who'll be first to get the murder?

Naud is a smidgen better behind the camera. Generally, his technique is above average. There are a few enticing and eerily low lit scenes where he uses shadow and light admirably. His major pitfall is the pacing of the film. Island cried out for a varied tempo to add extra power to the scene's mood. The single pace is too slow for most of the film, which makes it less exciting and scary than it should be.

The cast isn't brilliant. Most miss with their portrayals of the characters. Franklin Phlem needs to be more of a presence on the screen. He needed more charisma and oomph. You see Ron Gardner trying to flesh him out, but he mainly comes across as dull. A couple of the characters need to be more menacing. One needed to be more of a diva. Though the story was overcooked, the performances were underdone.

I couldn't in all integrity recommend the Island Of Blood. It could have been such a good movie had the story and cast been more robust. Should you stumble across it someplace, then it will pass an hour or so, but don't expect too much of it.

Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked the Island Of Blood.

Take Care & Stay Well.

A film crew set out for an island that will be the perfect location for their positive comedy/crap movie.Unfortunately the unknown killer starts slaughtering them with the aid of a chainsaw,machete,acid and nail gun whilst catchy punk song "Face to Face" is playing in the background.Very entertaining and watchable slasher based on Agatha Christie's famous novel "And Then There Were None".The song "Face to Face" is fantastic and it's played about a hundred times,so you will remember it long after the film is over.Someone's killing our crew members according to the lyrics.The acting is flat,the night scenes are badly lit and the script is routine,but after watching "A Serbian Film" I enjoyed loopy final twist of "Island of Blood" even more.A generous 7 out of 10.

My review was written in October 1986 after watching the film on Vestron video cassette.

"Whodunit?" is a very trite slasher film shot in 1981 and finally surfacing for home video fans. Pic's alternate title "Island of Blood" is more appropriate.

Dated horror formula is rigidly adhered to: a group of youngsters arrives at a remote island on the California coast where they expect to act in or provide music for a feature film. Pic's director Franklin Phlem (Ron Gardner) and fast-talking producer Steve Faith (Terry Goodman) arrive for a weekend of rehearsals, during which the cast members are gorily killed off one by one, with a portable cassette player blaring a rock song each time that describes the method of each murder.

Despite the title, film offers little suspense and the final twist (involving the making of a snuff film) is disappointing. Acting and tech credits are weak. Irony is that the awful feature being rehearsed, namely a goody-goody up with people message pic, is subjected to satirical barbs, yet is no worse than the actual feature "Whodunit?".

A group of either annoying or bland actors are taken to an island to film a low budget movie and are killed, one by one, by someone obsessed with the lyrics of a punk rock song a la And Then There Were None.

It's not the concept of Island of Blood that's bad, but the execution is as uninspired as murder mysteries can get. It's impossible to feel anything for the victims as they're barely given names let alone character development and even though some of the murder scenes try to be a little creative, that's about the only thing I could recommend this film for. If you're interested in seeing a guy boiled alive in a pool, a guy getting a spear through his eye, and a woman being brunt with battery acid while showering, go ahead and give it a shot, but keep your finger on the fast forward button for everything in between.

In the movie's best scene, a girl is showering and we are treated to an amusing killer's point of view shot. He is looking at her through a hole in the wall, but then turns to the pipes where a make-shift plastic jug labeled "battery acid" is attached. Soon the girl is covered in black goo and blood and dies an agonizing death. "Island of Blood" is not one of the most gory slasher, some of the deaths are pretty sick, while others are more standard. Sure enough there is a twist ending and horror fans will be pleased since it involves exploitation films. I won't say how. The movie did finish on an exciting note, but it saves all its clever moments for the end. Not totally crazy from start to finish like I had hoped.