Island Of Death

Arriving on Mykonos for a well earned break, Christopher and Celia are greeted with buckets of warmth and hospitality. They are a young, married couple who seem to want to get to know the place and its people. make friends and relax. however after a day or two, the locals begin to be bumped off for apparent ills against a abstract moral code. From sex with a woman, to homosexuality nothing is acceptable to this pair of deranged lunatics. Murders galore, desire of beasts, sex, sun, stabbing...its a holiday never to forget!

Welcome to Mykonos, that is how the tag line reads to this vulgar delight. Why some may ask is this film being re-released on this dual format from the superb label Arrow. What is the point of another addition? The film was originally titled as 'Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou' or translated as Children of the Devil. On its actual first run it suffered cuts when released in cinemas in 1976. Well 5 years after its initial release something happened in our country that changed the face of this and many other films. It was called the video recorder and its introduction allowed many exotic and unusual films to filter out and into mass circulation. Films like 'I spit on your grave' and 'Cannibal Holocaust' became over night sensations. This changed the lives of some very different and unusual films. This film life story was altered beyond recognition. It became an overnight must watch for scores of kids and I saw a very grainy version at a tender age, which in fact I never really understood. Thanks to video recorder it was released uncut and just like the internet, this freedom scared many in government and in power. Now the following uproar of fear about films that were uncensored and out in the world, created what became called the 'video nasties' list. This film was caught up in its whirlwind of ban and extreme censor, finding its way onto the ultimate list of culprits that depraved and corrupted viewers (mainly younger viewers) or people loitering in its space. Now, even until recently Island of death was cut by 4 minutes on its released in 2003. I have seen this film on that release as well and the later uncut Arrow release crossed my view also.

This is not a politically correct piece and in truth does not set out to be anything other than a shock fest. You should see this film as what it is. Its a poor mans cheaply produced tale of religious fanaticism and murder that is a little extreme. The subtext would be that it is a out and out, very direct attack on the ideas of extremism and fanatics. What it is, can be summed up thus. It is a crowd draw for the perversions on offer and the simple shock value of watching all manner of horrors loosely knitted together. The horrors on display are DIY crucifixions, bestiality, sexual peeing and voyeurism galore. These are all very tame compared to that of Gasper Noe or the like and where these films are interesting, this is very camp and comical. Acting dull, script awful but the film is well edited and shot with occasions of gusto. It is about a time when extreme ideas and opinions allowed for censorship and funny as it was, it was caught up in it elsewhere. What I want to simply say is that the film cant be reviewed by me in a way that is simply a 'what I saw', 'what I liked'....it must be experienced....