Director – Mel Welles (Lady Frankenstein, Code of Silence)
Starring – Cameron Mitchell (Jack-O, Terror Night), Elisa Montes (Battered Flesh, Blaues Blut), and Jorges Martin (Death Carries a Cane, Professionals for a Massacre)
Release Date – 1967
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 3.5/5
Mondo Macabro has been my go to for international horror, especially Bollywood/Hindi horror. I may not always like their releases but I always have fun experiencing films from different countries and decades. A few weeks back I was sent several films from Mondo Macabro with one of them being the 1967 co-production between Germany and Spain.
The film, Island of the Doomed, was also released under the title The Blood Suckers and Maneater of Hydra. I had never heard of this one before but was really looking forward to checking out this late-60s horror flick. Like always, I want to thank Mondo Macabro for sending this one over!
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a group of tourists that find themselves invited to tour an isolated island with promises of beautiful sights. They agree and go where they meet an estranged scientist and his hired help living in an old mansion. He has been working on mutating carnivorous plants and succeeded in creating something with a taste for human flesh. **Spoiler Alert**
I didn’t know anything about this one when I tossed it in the Blu-ray player. I was expecting something rather different but the film I found before me was actually pretty enjoyable. It’s not going to be a film that will stick with me for years but I can see myself revisiting it again sometime down the road.
The acting in this one is pretty solid. Some of the characters are throw aways with no purpose other than filling the screen. These performances are not bad but these characters did nothing for the story and was not that memorable. However, screen legend and b-movie staple Cameron Mitchell delivers the best performance of the film as the evil Baron creating the carnivorous plants. He made the film for me and I could absolutely see this character becoming an evil villain/scientist in several other films.
The story for this one is extremely campy but that is exactly what I’m looking for when I toss in a film from the 50s or 60s regardless of the region it was from. We have a movie with an evil scientist slamming radiation on a plant to mutate it into a man-eating creature is pure drive-in era camp. It’s not something that will be on anyone’s best of list but it’s cheap fun regardless of what kind of film you enjoy.
Finally, we get some cheesy practical effects with the plants and some not-so memorable deaths. This was easily the weakest part of the film but it doesn’t take away from the experience. Overall, Island of the Doomed is a fantastic drive-in era cheesefest for those of you that dig the campy flicks of the 50s and 60s. We have a fun performance from Cameron Mitchell and a solid story. Check out this release from Mondo Macabro, it’s well worth it.
Special Features:
Interview with writer/director Mel Welles.
Audio commentary by David Flint.
Documentary on career of actor, George Martin.
Documentary on horror films produced in the Costa Brava area.
Original trailer.
Publicity Parade of still and posters.
