island of death (Mykonos)

[alfred]

First time i came across this movie was a year ago, when accidentally i found its title at xploitedcinema. Feeling curious about the title island of death and about locations shot in Mykonos, I read some reviews and firstly decided don’t give it a shot…, but a week ago I watched it and realized that its reputation worths the price. Concerning a couple on travel through greek islands everything is good till the man, Christopher begins to act and talk like a mad man. No reason is given and we don’t understand why; as the girls who firstly seems alarmed by his behaviour but then (we don’t know why) begins too to act in the same way… Among the scenes of death, rape and murder, there is one in which the couple make love in a boot HAVING CALLED HIS MOTHER AND LETTING HER HEARING ALL GROUNTING AND SHOUTS…, ey, really bad taste…, later, he makes love with a lamb, damn, a lamb, cause the girl is not in the mood early in the morning…, then, he is obsessed with a man suposedly peering at his girl and then he kills him in a very unpleasant way…, All the movie is so…, from four minute till its end at 104, is a series of murders committed by no reason…, and the problem with this movie is the fact that is well done, well shot an edited and well acted.., and the way the players go into madness is so quick and usual that you don’t realize that they are killing and acting like jerks until you think “ey, these are the same couple of the beginning?”…, why they act like this?, are they mad?..., everything happens as it was always have been so…,
A movie that deserves its cult status and not dated…

[Jack J]

Yeah, it's a very good film but also very unpleasant.

Well, I guess it's the same with serial killers or the characters in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE; are they mad? Or have just just got no limits?

Btw, it's interesting there is another film by the same title, ISLAND OF DEATH (aka Who can kill a child) directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador and that film is set on the same premise; a couple comes to an island, but in this movie it's the people (kids) on the island that try and kill the two visitors. So it's the same premise but in reverse.

[alfred]

hi, jack

i myself live in spain and never heard of this movie by Serrador.., have you seen it and if so, deserves watching?

[Jack J]

Yes I have, Alfred. The Spanish title is ¿Quién puede matar a un niño? and I think it's very good. I have it on a Greek VHS but it's also out on a reg. 1 dvd.

[cinehound]

The Spanish ISLAND OF DEATH is a really good horror film with the clever and scary idea of killer kids. WOULD YOU KILL A CHILD? is an alternative title...

As about Mastorakis' film an alternative title is ISLAND OF PERVERSION. In fact Mykonos was really an island of crazy life of high society, nudist beaches, many gay bars, travesties and homosexuals who don't be affraid to kiss each other in public. In the glory days a lot of happenings and crazy parties took place! (Now things are not really the same and Mykonos has lost a lot of that "shine" - but still a lovely place )

So I think Mastorakis wanted to do a sick film with everything included - perversion & murders - and chose this island because of its fame...

I agree, a very well-made sick flick indeed! By the way the couple in the film are brother & sister and this make the situation more bizarre.

I saw a Mastorakis' interview on Greek TV (part of a long documentary about his film career) and he said that he tried top put "everything" into this film but he would never try this thing again - it was clever that he tried to avoid a lot of talks about it...

The most sick scenes are the rape of the lamb and the piss on Jessica Dublin's face!

[A.N.]

I love Greek cinema and particularly Greek sexploitation.
I love Greek people.
Up with Greece !!

[alfred]

Almost everything is sick in this movie..., for example, the way the gay couple is shown.., the older man with all his makeup and the other man, probably in his twenties..., dont forget the lines: "boody homosexuals dont deserve to live"..., and how they kill the painter?..., they crucifixied him and them fed him to kill..., only a sick mind can think about such a way to kill people...
by the way, mykonos seems cool place..., beautiful...

[vortexx]

Nicos Mastorakis is now an executive and owns part of the Antenna (Ant1) channel. He's probably filthy rich. I had a run-in with his rude lawyer once.

[POP]

I didn't like ISLAND OF DEATH the first time I saw it, but the more I see it, the more I appreciate its bizarre nihilism. Nothing much is explained about the couple's descent into psychopathology, but that's what makes it frightening and believable for me. You read about people like this all the time.

Serrador's WHO COULD KILL A CHILD? aka ISLAND OF DEATH is a model of menace done subtly and with great skill. Recently (and not so recently), it has been copied by PLAGUE TOWN, THE CHILDREN, and CHILDREN OF THE CORN. The ending is very NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Both films are good for a double bill with well chosen "friends".

Mastorakis is interviewed on the Image DVD.