Tower of Evil / Horror on Snape Island

This had been on Turner Classics Underground in December of 2008, and my user comments included in this write-up were after watching a recording of it just a few days later. I had a chance to revisit it today after work, having noticed it was showing on MGM film channel last month, just getting to it. Not a bad little horror time waster, but I wouldn't say it was anything extraordinary. Slasher aficionados might find this quite interesting and those who like horror films set on islands or near / on a lighthouse will be of interest, I presume. Even in this second viewing I remain quite taken aback by the sexual frankness of the women, especially Nora. Nora scratches the back of a young man fucking her just to provoke him to plunge his member in deeper and harder. There's talk of adultery, catty exchanges about infidelity, blunt, open conversations about deteriorating relationships, marriages, and sex. I think the Shepperton Studio sets of Snape Island, inside the crumbling, decaying lighthouse, and caverns underground with Baal related Phoenician worship artifacts aren't too shabby, recreating the real things as accurately as allowed. The story about a loon--very much living as a neanderthal, filthy and mentally far gone, attacking anyone who visits the island, his wife very, very dead, with a son thought to be dead--wasn't necessarily any great shakes, the violence can be quite startling and visceral. The nudity still surprises me, too. This was very much abandoning the same restraints Hammer had. 2.5/5

The title of "Tower of Evil" (1972) just didn't really feel right. It has undergone a number of title changes, but the island really is as much a selling point and most of the horror is around the lighthouse, not inside its tower.

Snape Island, containing a lighthouse, with caves underneath containing artifacts/treasure(..basically a few necklaces, ancient sword, sarcophagus, & idol statue) of a Phoenican god, is the setting for this horror film(..which also goes under the title, "The Tower of Evil")from director Jim O'Connolly(The Valley of Gwangi). This island is supposedly accursed and a group of young adults are found there, three brutally murdered with a fourth in a state of catatonic shock, having stabbed a fisherman's father out of hysteria. An archaeological team, along with a detective, and the fisherman(..with a new assistant, a hippie family member whose the kind of person who likes to move around a lot with no goals or care for what the future holds)decide to boat to Snape Island to seize the Phoenician artifacts, but run into the very one responsible for the previous murders. The fisherman, Hamp(Jack Watson)tells the group of his kin, a relative who was not right in the head, his kind, doting wife and their child who lived on the island which ended in tragedy. Ambiguous regarding his relative's fate, the others wonder what happened to him, finding out the hard way that this lunatic resides in the caves below, surfacing to possibly coordinate attacks on them. Dan & Adam(Derek Fowlds & Mark Edwards) are at odds with each other over the pretty, slender, tender-voiced Rose(Jill Haworth). Adam was once attached to Rose, but she broke off their engagement. Rose has been having an affair with Dan, but he's married to luscious nymphomaniac Nora(Anna Palk, who is quite a lusty, tasty dish)who won't grant him a divorce. Brent(Bryant Haliday) is a detective hired to prove that the only witness to the killings was indeed innocent of the crimes, committing the one murder because she was in total shock believing she was defending herself against a madman out to kill her. Hamp's nephew Brom(Gary Hamilton)eyes Nora, hoping to score with an older, experienced woman, and I certainly can understand the logic considering she's a total babe. Not long after landing ashore, they begin hearing a flute and perhaps whimpering. They know someone is on the island and this could very well be the real killer. Considering the power it'd take to stick a young man through a wall with a golden sword, the suspect, a gentle, beautiful virginal innocent(Candace Glendenning)seems to be unable of such a feat of strength. We watch as the group attempts to find the location of the caves and the killer. After their boat has been dynamited and radio smashed, the group are in dire shape, needing to survive first and then find a way of getting off the damned island.

I was startled at the sexually frank dialogue and overall nature of the film. Being that it was British(..normally reserved filmmakers)I was taken aback at how naughty Nora was in her approach to men, both her downgrading of husband Dan and subtle seduction of young stud Brom(..she doesn't have to do much, but has a keen way of inviting lust). The film features a great deal of nakedness and graphic violence. The traumatized girl, Penelope, for instance, is naked on the Snape beach with her new boyfriend, both battling the temptation of sexual activity. When Penelope attacks Hamp's father, she's naked with a knife. A curving dagger, a Phoenician weapon, is used to stab and sever heads. The film yields an entertaining twist regarding who might actually be the killer, although I think astute viewers will see it coming. When a possible suspect unveils his hideous condition after living in the caves for such a long time(..carrying the appearance of a Neanderthal with a speech impediment)we get a sense of his power when provoked by a flaming torch..he snaps a victim's head like a twig once he gains an advantage. The island and tower are clearly studio built losing a bit of authentic realism I feel was needed for atmospheric purposes. Still, I had some fun with this one but wouldn't call it a good film by any stretch of the imagination. It sure isn't boring, though. Great scene where a female corpse features prominently in moving towards the direction of who the killer(s)might be.