*** LOTSA SPOILERS ***
Bit of an odd one this week, a contradiction if you will. This is a pretty nasty movie with nasty ideas, nasty people and nasty kills, but it still manages to be quite tame in how much it shows. You get an 'idea' as to what is happening a lot of the time, but not the full picture. This is a bit odd for a Video Nasty, as surely the whole idea is to show to nastiness? Don't get me wrong, I don't think you always have to see everything to make a good movie, but I struggle to see why they come up with some of the ideas they do, only to edit the movie in such a way that it actually looks like its been cut by the censors.
So what did I think of it? Well it seems a bit sick saying it was ok given various scenes in the movie which include our main character having sex with a baby goat when his wife is feeling too tired to oblige, he then proceeds to slaughter the goat. This may have been the first obvious proof that the main male character (Christopher) was a sick, sick man, but we get hints that he's a little 'angry' early on from his rather humorous name calling of a man who dare look at his wife in a restaurant of 'Bastard' (this guy is later seduced by his wife, Celia, all while Christopher watches and photographs them having sex. When they are done, he is nailed to the ground and force-fed paint).
He also gets rather animated when he see's a woman cheating on her husband, calling her 'Bitch' over and over. Its appears that he thinks the acts he carries out in the movie are 'cleansing the Island' of its sinners. He is sitting on some kind of moral high ground and his slightly warped wife (who it seems is losing her taste for cruelty as the movie progresses) is along for the ride.
They go on to murder a gay couple, one by sword at Christophers hand and one by gun at Celias hand following a rather uncomfortable sexual scene at gunpoint between her and the young gay man. All of these are again photographed for the couples use afterwards. I'm sure you can imagine the 'use' of a couple of sick indivduals.
As the movie progresses Christopher promises Celia there will be no more deaths, as she has made it clear she is not enjoying what they are doing any more. They agree to continue their sexual exploits and photograph them.
The first 'victim' of this randy twosome is an older woman who has the hots for Christopher.. and when I say older, I don't mean sexy older woman, I mean granny.... this scene is probably one of the most disturbing for me and had me yicking and yucking from start to finish.... both at the tongue waggling and come-ons of the old dear and the golden shower that follows.. rather than be disgusted however, granny loves it and rubs it all over her droopy, loose-skinned body. A bit put out by this and the fact that she bit him where no man wants to be bitten, he beats her to death.
The no death agreement didn't last for long, as Christopher walks in on 2 men attempting to rape Celia in the bath. He makes short work of them and more bodies pile up.
I'm beginning to feel a bit desensitized to it all by now. I don't know... this movie just doesn't seem disturbing now. You're just wondering who is going to be next and how. So we're getting bored... what better way to wake the audience up by having our beautiful leading lady get it on with a lesbian (would you believe it, called Leslie!!) again Christopher is outside taking photos... do none of these people have curtains?? I say get it on.. she pretty much just doesn't protest, but there doesn't seem to be much interest coming from her side.
Of course poor Leslie meets her demise by being forced to drink something (I wasn't sure what) and is given a lethal dose of heroin. Christopher then delights in blow-torching her body for fun. Delightful chap!
If we are not already enamored with Christopher, he comes upon a naked young woman having a shower and attempts to rape her. She manages to escape so we are 'treated' to her running about all over the place naked, with Christopher in pursuit with a sickle for some odd reason.... this ends in the girl being killed by way of sickle penetration to the chest, through a door....
The rest of the movie is just Christopher and Celia running all over the island to avoid capture. They end up hiding out in an old barn. Christopher wakes in the morning to Celia being raped by a simple farm hand and rather than help her, he gets out his camera and takes photos!!! In a sick twist of fate, the guy (who is obviously a bit camera shy) then knocks Christopher unconscious rapes him also. He dumps him in a pile of rocks and leaves him half buried and returns to Celia who sleeps with him (I wasn't sure if she was feigning enjoying it to save her life or if she actually did).
In a final twist we find out that Christopher and Celia are actually brother and sister.... Wheres the moral high ground now??? The movie ends with Celia having sex with the simpleton while Christopher is still buried in the rocks in the pourng rain.
So what did I think? Well it wasn't awful, but it wasn't shocking or frightening either. While some of the subject matter maybe deemed suitable for the DPP list, the actual execution of it did not. Given the subject matter, we could all imagine much, much worse in our heads... or is that just me?
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