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» » Die Teuflischen von Mykonos (1976)

Short summary

A British couple on a break on a small Greek Island are spreading terror beyond anything the islanders could have ever imagined. Only stopping every once in a while to shag anything that moves, be it man, woman or animal. But will they go unpunished, or will the inspector from London be able to put an end to their killing spree?

Director Nico Mastorakis became inspired to make this film after viewing Kruvinosios skerdynes Teksase (1974). He noticed how much money that film was making and decided to make a film more violent and perverse in order to make even more money.

Nico Mastorakis saw that bootlegs of the film were going for large amounts of money so he decided to allow the film to be released on DVD and he supervised the transfer from the original negative.

Director Nico Mastorakis admitted in an interview on the DVD that money was his only motivation for making this film.

The budget was so low that director Nico Mastorakis took a small acting part in the film because the actor originally cast in the wanted what was equivalent to $80.

Nico Mastorakis wrote the script in 1 week.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Styphe
    This is one of the original 'video nasties', and still only available in a heavily cut version in the UK (although easily available in uncut R1 format). Apparently made quickly to make cash for its first time director Nico Mistorakis, it is the story of a young tourist couple, Christopher and Celia who arrive on the picturesque island of Mykonos. At first we think them innocents, entering a world of terror. Soon it turns out that in fact they are the monsters, Christopher in particular being concerned to rid the word of 'perverts', photographing the mayhem as they go through local acquaintances - at first for kicks, then to cover their tracks. Much of the film is just a pretext for a catalogue of imaginative slaughter. The acting is variable at best (Jayne Ryall, playing Celia looking particularly bemused at the whole business, and this was her only film). The film includes sex and rape, both human and animal but, like so much of its ilk, is ironically coy about these physical acts, showing only such nudity and rare bursts of pubes as would sit easily in a softcore sex comedy. The exception is perhaps the urination scene which, because it is so unexpected and rare away from porno cinema, does at least raise eyebrows. The much vaunted 'goat rape' is patently faked and unconvincing but, as it takes place very early on at least alerts viewers to the real nature of the psychopathic Chris.

    Surprisingly for a film with such a strong reputation, none of the violence really shocks today, although the range of deaths (by crucifixion and paint poisoning, hanging from a plane wing, heroin overdose, sword and scythe, bulldozer, etc) have an ingenious variety - a testimony to the director's plan to outdo competing exploitation films in range. Celia's bathtub rape is loud and threatening, but that of Susan George in the newly uncut UK issue of Straw Dogs is much more disturbing as well as actually being 'concluded' in the scene. It's another case, I would suggest, of sensibilities having moved on, leaving the BBFC unduly squeamish in cutting so much. Victims of the homicidal holidaymakers include homosexuals, lesbians, a middle aged nymphomaniac, 2 hippies, a Frenchman, a policeman (sent to track the notorious duo down) and so on.

    More of interest is the way in which the film provides continuous ironic inversion on a normal holiday narrative. The attractive island, full of native white buildings, blue skies and sunshine, looks to be straight out of a travel brochure, and our sense of place is aided by some reasonable good cinematography. Chris and Celia are the 'tourists' who are visiting, relaxing, and taking plenty of pictures. The difference being of course that they are snapping the humiliated, dead and dying rather than the serene landscape around them, making themselves a different sort of vacation altogether. `We do everything vice versa' as she says, and the film gains most of its power from the stream of atrocity-attractions visited upon the community in this peculiar context. It's their casual return to traditional holiday locales (the local taverna, romantic beach walks or cosy white washed rooms) between murders which is ultimately more disturbing than anything done in the meantime. Island of Death still bears watching, and is considerably better worked than some of the other 'nasties'. If you take this as a recommendation of course, that's up to you.
  • comment
    • Author: Steel balls
    Island of death has it all - sex, torture, racism, sexism, homophobia, Christian-ploitation, hippies, gratuitous nudity, gay sex, lesbian sex, rape, gay rape, golden showers, fart as an insult, mysogyny, drugs, bestiality...

    THIS is what exploitation cinema is all about. Before I continue, if you want graphic sex, look elsewhere, this is strictly soft-core (and includes bush in full frontal due to the era in which it was filmed), and the violence is not really graphic gore (gore-hounds look elsewhere too).

    But for trash auteurs, this will be the movie you've always wanted to watch (even if you didn't know it). It gets more and more obscene and ridiculous as the movie continues, breaking all rules of political correctness and taste. The madness is set to a wacky, funky, totally inappropriate 70s soundtrack and has moments of absolute hilarity, often coming from the dialog. I was very impressed with this film watching it for the first time last night and will watch it many, many more times. Of all the 'cult' films I've got from internet shopping stores, this is the most satisfying thus far, absolutely not a let down. Unless you have the wrong idea of what sort of movie this will be (ie: extremely gory, porn or an A-grade movie) you can't go wrong.
  • comment
    • Author: Unde
    Director Mastorakis is apparently the first to say that this film was made with one driving force - Money.

    It's clear to see that the director has sat down and said 'what's the most depraved, shocking and disgusting ways in which to rape, torture and kill a bunch of people' and on this level the film works.

    However, don't go looking for some deep underlying message to whats going on. I find it impossible to find any way of excusing this nasty little piece of cinema by saying that it has some thought provoking undercurrent quite simply because it doesn't.

    The story is of a couple arriving on a Greek island and instantly punishing the local residents for what the male lead see as sinful behaviour. Amongst the supposed sins are adultry (an ironic one given the nature of the stars vengence), homosexuality, lesbianism, drug-abuse and....well being a goat.

    The scenes of violence are rather tame compared to many films of its time let alone some of the blood-soaked mainstream movies about today. But it is not the violence that shocks about this film still today. It is more so the notion of the acts commited and the seemingly pointlessness of them.

    Some have called it a nasty little gem, others have found it to be over-hyped and rather dull, I however found it to be a classic piece of exploitation cinema. If you can't enjoy the film for it's visual acuity, I defy anyone not to enjoys its heavy seventies kitsch soundtrack, Classic.
  • comment
    • Author: Goltizuru
    This film touts that its been banned the world over and its easy to see why, its a film that plays with your head from beginning to end and leaves you feeling unwell for days. Odds are if you see it you'll understand why people don't want you to see it.

    The story of a pretty young couple on vacation in Greece turns more and more twisted as time goes on. Rape, murder, sadism and a few other delights get taken to the next level as more and more depravity is revealed. The film was made with the intention of disturbing the viewer and it disturbs almost from the outset as things very quickly are revealed to be seriously amiss. Its gets to the point where you're sitting on egg shells waiting for the next terrible thing to happen.

    You'll forgive the lack of details but anyone who is interested in seeing this are best left to fend for themselves. I think that plot-wise the less known the better so that you can truly enjoy, if it is enjoyment, the twisted twists.

    I don't know if I like it or hate it. The film certainly provokes a reaction but I'm not sure thats a good thing or bad thing. Certainly its not for anyone with gentile sensibilities. Its well made but beyond that you're on your own.

    6 out of 10, though I'm not sure how to fairly rate it.
  • comment
    • Author: Jogas
    Island of Death is a true ungodly video nasty coming to you straight from the best euro-exploitation period. This year 2003, the movie received a complete digital remastering and it finally got released on special edition DVD. The box showed nothing but a red background with the explicit words : "The one movie that the censors didn't want you to see" and "sorry but we can't display images of the film on the cover since they're too gruesome". A bit exaggerated of course, this movie is far from being the goriest or most shocking film I've ever seen. Nevertheless it's mean-spirited, raw, brutal and pretty disturbing from time to time. "Island of Death" doesn't take the rules of humanity too strict and it isn't exactly what they call "politically correct". The movie seems to start like a lovely romantic comedy when a young couple arrives on a Greek Island. They look average but in fact they put other famous cinema couples like Bonnie & Clyde and Mickey & Mallory to shame. They brutally slaughter every person they come into contact with (mostly right after sexual intercourse which give the killings a nasty effect) and they have a few bizarre fetishes.

    Island of Death doesn't contain much humor unless you see the irony in many things. For example: the guy kills homosexuals because he thinks it's pervert and against the will of God, while he himself has sex with a young goat! I thought that was pretty ironic, and there are lots of similar "jokes" to discover in "Island of Death". Even though there are a lot of horrible scenes, the movie itself is pretty light and not at all difficult too watch. Excellent stuff for exploitation fans. The leading actress (Jane Ryall) is a beauty but she never played in movies again.
  • comment
    • Author: Cordantrius
    Island of Death is the Video Nasty equivalent of the story of Bonnie and Clyde. This film has an elevated status on the Video Nasty list as it's often seen to be one of the more nasty entries. This is certainly true, as the film features all manner of gory and sadistic sequences, and it really isn't hard to see why it got banned. As far as I'm concerned, Island of Death is an absolute treat, as the film is a constant stream of highlights and it's a great deal of fun seeing our central couple skipping from one murder to the next. It's obvious that the film is not meant to be taken completely seriously, as director Nico Mastorakis implements a pitch black sense of humour into most sequences; the fact that the central duo are complete and utter hypocrites is perhaps one of the most amusing things about the film. The plot simply follows a young British couple who travel to a small Greek island. After a phone call to the man's mother, it soon becomes apparent that these aren't normal people; and when they start murdering their way through the island's perverted inhabitants in the name of God, this notion is confirmed!

    The film is notorious for a few scenes, the one involving a goat being of the most well-known. However, aside from this; the film features a plethora of gory highlights to delight the exploitation fan, favourites of mine involving a man hanging out of a plane and a rather one-sided swordfight. As you would expect from a Video Nasty, the acting is rather poor; with the central duo putting in particularly horrid performances. It really doesn't matter, however, as director Nico Mastorakis makes up for his actor's lack of talent by selecting a beautiful lead actress; and the stunningly clean Greek locations, which brilliantly offset the gritty scenes of slaughter. Films like this are quite common, as aside from Bonnie and Clyde, we've also had Badlands, Natural Born Killers, True Romance and more; but this is the one that is relentless and really gives the audience the impression that anything can happen. The film boils to down to an excellent climax, which delivers a brutal final twist to the tale as well as serving up comeuppance...well, almost. Typically for this film, the comeuppance isn't dished out in the most immediately obvious way, and overall; for its imagination, brutality and daring - I don't hesitate to recommend this film!
  • comment
    • Author: Tejora
    This movie is really twisted, I loved it! If you're easily offended by extreme sexual and violent content, don't see it! Death scenes are numerous and sometimes very original. The lead female is never dressed for more than 3 minutes (she's a beauty) and when she takes it off prepare to see something pretty BAD happening. She and her "husband" hate deviant people, they want them all dead. The only problem they have is that they ended up on an island where almost no one is "normal", it's like a perverts heaven so the job is never finished... Acting isn't so bad and the landscapes are so beautiful they made me want to see the island of Mykonos with my own eyes. The ending is a must see, I can't even find the words to explain it but its some kind of a sweet revenge for the goat that we see in the beginning of the movie...
  • comment
    • Author: Kulalbine
    Island of Death is not really a good movie, by any standard, but it is a curious one. Imagine if Natural Born Killers had been made 20 years too early, as a Greek Eurotrash porn film. That's what you get here - the quaint story of a young, sociopathic British couple cutting a deadly swath through the population of a lovely little Greek island.

    I'll spare you a detailed breakdown of the plot; it's not really important except to set up increasingly perverse or violent sex scenes followed by disturbingly brutal murders, often lovingly photographed for posterity by our charming young couple. It could have been brilliant, in its own sick and nasty way, but instead...

    Instead, I found myself impatiently checking the run time and chapter index to see how much longer the parade was going to last. Sluggish pacing and listless, bland acting turn even vilest perversities into pablum, and connecting scenes into an eternity of dull plodding. Ah, well. You can't win 'em all.
  • comment
    • Author: Swiang
    Nico Mastorakis "Island of Death" has to be one of the most mean spirited movies ever made.A young couple,Christopher and Celia,arrive from London to spend some time on Mykonos,an island off the coast of Greece.Soon the series of brutal murders is set in motion."Island of Death" is a sleazy exploitation film which contains some of the most disturbing and downright degrading moments in the history of cinema.All the sex scenes end in death.This picture is pretty notorious due to its gore and sexual violence,not to mention the sequence involving the rape of a young goat and its simulated killing.So if you like exploitation cinema give this one a look.My rating:8 out of 10.
  • comment
    • Author: IWAS
    English couple Celia and Chris travel to a picturesque Greek island to spend their holiday killing perverts (of which, fortunately, there are vast numbers on this island - you know the type of perverts I mean - homosexuals, lesbians, rapists, hippies, drug addicts, middle aged women...) It seems to have slipped Celia's and Chris' notice that they themselves are far worse perverts than their victims, what with their vaguely incestuous relationship (they are brother and sister), Chris having sex with goats, urinating on people - oh, and killing people.

    This sleazy little exploitation movie is very much a product of its "video nasty" era. It is professionally put together, nicely photographed, with attractive and sunny scenery, and an attractive leading lady who frequently sheds her clothes (collar and cuffs don't match, by the way). Unfortunately she, along with everyone else in the film, can't act to save her life, and the meretricious content of the film doesn't have the saving grace of a moral, a decent payoff, or even any sense. It is perhaps worth watching as a kind of twisted travelogue, or even just to experience it but, make no mistake, it is not a very good film. Not even if you savour bad films.
  • comment
    • Author: Mallador
    Of all the infamous nasties out there Island of Death, for me seemed to be one of the more luridly attractive ones. I.e. contained the most depravity! Having finally tracked down a reasonably priced and uncut version of the film I finally got to see what all the fuss is about.

    It is certain from the outset that explicit violence and gore are not what got this film banned. The nails through the hands and force-fed paint scenes are certainly no worse than what you see in glossy 15-rated Hollywood horrors now. I think what offended with this one is not so much the actions of the film's murderers, Celia and Christopher but the lifestyles of their victims.

    Oh yes, gay, lesbian and straight, the promiscuous and the drug users are all in the cross-hair here. The film maker even takes time out to execute a black detective. Just for having the audacity to try and bring good old Chris and Celia to justice.

    While the violence is muted the sleaze certainly isn't. Things bash along in a fashion that stops a little shy (a little too shy if you ask me) of softcore porn. But don't worry, what it lacks in explicitness it more than makes up for in frequency. You will be pleased to know that the absolutely gorgeous heroine (or should that be villainess) played exceptionally woodenly by Jane Ryall only ever keeps herself covered up for thirty seconds at a time.

    In truth Island of Death is worth it for Ryall alone. She genuinely looks good enough to eat and that whole ditsy, can't act thing that she does only serves to heighten her appeal! For me anyway. Rather disturbingly, the comely Ms Ryall appeared briefly in one other crap Greek film and then was never heard from again. I mourn.

    The story of Island of Death is the usual poor fodder, although certainly superior to many. The Bonnie and Clyde thing is never fully realised however as it is implied that Christopher is the real psycho and Celia is just meekly caught up in his wake - occasionally looking wretched and criticising his actions. But yet she carries out probably the most cold killing in the whole film. What the hell is that all about? Either make her a proper victim or a proper villain. It also irked me a bit the speed at which she turns on Christopher at the end. Mind you, this is trash cinema after all. Island of Death plays out almost like a crap sex comedy and that isn't a bad thing. No one likes a bad film that takes itself too seriously.

    This is definitely one for fans of trash films and 'so bad its good stuff' (me). The acting is universally poor with a couple of the characters apparently just reading their lines conversationally.

    Aside from that however, it actually looks quite professionally made. The shots are reasonably framed and the camera-work not too static. The editing has dated it a bit but that just lends it that inimitable sleazy 70's feel.

    So thats about it, nasty in tone, but not in action perhaps? A little kinky, certainly: Just check out the promiscuous older woman being urinated on. Does it deserve its infamy? Probably not, but its still a good bit better than most of the dross on the nasty's list.

    Oh yeah, bring back Jane Ryall.
  • comment
    • Author: Anarus
    A British couple, Christopher (Bob Behling) and Celia (Jane Lyle) arrive on a peaceful Greek island to seemingly indulge in photography and the sun. We come to discover that Christopher is a religious fanatic, who, when he's not taking photos and sleeping with his sister, enjoys a spot of goat-raping (goatsploitation?), gay-bashing, and feeding paint to sleazy decorators. He enjoys watching his soon-to-be-victims fornicating with Celia from a distance before flipping out and doing a bit of the ol' murdering. Complete with electronic sound effects, bad camera-work, and terrible acting, this is probably Tarantino's wet dream.

    For the rest of us (I hope) this is bottom-of-the-barrel guff. I mean, this is shockingly bad stuff. I like a bit of cheap, guilty-pleasure crap as much as the next film fan, but this is just beyond explanation. Things just don't make sense. The aforementioned paint-feeding scene shows the victim being nailed to the floor, crucifixion-style, with the nails going barely a couple of millimetres into the ground, and then he proceeds to willingly opening his mouth and swallow the paint without struggling in the slightest, just making the odd murmur. Oh, the pain! It's a scene that Herschell Gordon Lewis would probably turn to his assistant and say 'listen, this is just too f*****g s**t!'. The film is basically this over and over again for 90 minutes, and it stops being funny after about 10. Avoid at all costs.

    www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
  • comment
    • Author: Ubranzac
    I'm a big time horror fan, and I bought this movie from all the hype it was getting on the message boards. Well, let me tell you I don't know whom was giving it all the hype, but let me speak on a few things.

    First of all this film is "not" a LOT of things. It is NOT scary, NOT suspenseful, NOT overly gory, NOT overly sick (except for one season MAYBE) NOT beautifully scored.... AT ALL.

    The premise of the movie is that a couple flee to a small island in Greece because they have done a little naughtiness in London. We don't even know what they did, but it is presumed that they killed someone.

    **spoiler alert**

    The male lead kills a few people out of his perversion of "cleansing the island of perverts" oddly enough. The killings are cheap, the characters are cheaper and the effects suck.

    There is one part when he rapes a goat because his wife wont give him any in the morning, but even that is done without any care for how it is shot.

    end of spoilers

    The end of the movie is about the only thing that isn't totally predictable. I especially enjoyed when the "herder" farts on the husband. Anyway, if you can rent this and have 2 hours to waste go ahead. It's nothing better than a processed cheese sandwich on moldy bread.

    3/10
  • comment
    • Author: TheSuspect
    A young couple, Chris and Celia arrive on a Greek island for a break and decide to spend their holiday killing and torturing the local and visiting sexual deviants. This film is one that would offend anyone as it depicts scenes of bestiality, incest and torture. Women and goats are raped, people are pissed on and nailed to the floor, lesbians are torched and people are forced to drink paint.
  • comment
    • Author: Scream_I LOVE YOU
    ****SOME SPOILERS****

    There's nothing in this movie that you haven't already seen browsing the net. Nothing is shocking about this film. In the film a man sodomizes a goat, there's a bulldozer decapitation, and a lesbian's face gets burnt off. All of these scenes of "extreme violence" are so fake, it makes one wonder why anyone would even want to resurface this piece of trash. I simply cannot believe I spent hard earned money on what certainly has to be the worst film ever made. Don't let reviews fool you, this film would be a shame for ANYONE to own...except maybe prisons who want to torture inmates. For a REAL exploitation classic, look to Bloodsucking Freaks or even the more recent Doom Generation. Island of Death sinks to the bottom of the movie toilet and needs to be flushed out of existence.
  • comment
    • Author: Hadadel
    Director Nico Mastorakis has made a cynical cash-grabber (by his own admission) that is too cynical to impress anybody but a sophomore genre fan.

    The most extreme, confronting genre pics, to paraphrase a character in VIDEODROME, "have a philosophy"; that is what makes them dangerous.

    ISLAND OF DEATH's philosophy is to throw many "shocking" elements into a cinematic mix and stir slowly. The result is a dish with no taste but an ugly appearance.

    Not to be confused with Serrador's brilliant WHO COULD KILL A CHILD? (sometimes called ISLAND OF DEATH), Mastorakis's effort is set on a Greek island which is a stage for various forms of slaughter, a little bestiality and some wholesale perversion.

    Everything moves at a snailish pace and the violent set pieces are poorly directed.

    Touted as "The movie that the censors didn't want you to see", I'd hazard a guess that the censors never saw it, they simply read the presskit until their knees jerked upwards.
  • comment
    • Author: Pettalo
    I kind of liked the film, it's just that the characters run around with no real point to their craziness. As I was saying, poor goat. The goat was nahing while the guy was pretending to grind on it. I would have liked the rape scenes to be more graphic (not the one with the goat though). Jane Ryall who played Celia only did this one film. She was very nude throughout. This crazy couple who killed and tortured many people ended up in their rightful places. I almost forgot about the gay transvestite couple who are also picked out for being sinners. If you like crazy off the wall stuff, then this is your film. 3/10
  • comment
    • Author: Truthcliff
    Nico Mastorakis's banned movie was quite disappointing in my opinion. The movie is about a couple, who go to a Greek island to kill of all perverted people (apparently). You know you got something pretty sick when one of the first scenes include a guy having sex with a goat and then killing it off.

    But things only get worse from that point as all scenes pretty much look alike. They meet some people, so they either kill or have sex with them (preferably both).

    The ending is OK allright when the couple turn out to be brother and sister and she is just letting him rot somewhere but overall one would have expected more. No substance here I'm afraid.

    3/10.
  • comment
    • Author: Kirinaya
    I believe that this was supposed to be shocking or something.... All that I can say is....POOR GOAT!!! This flick is so poorly done that the parts that "should" shock and revolt you come across as laughable at best. The characters are so lame and 2....wait....1 dimensional, that I applauded each sick death.....all except that POOR GOAT.
  • comment
    • Author: GWEZJ
    Spoilers herein.

    I have a growing respect for Jess Franco. Some of his stuff is rather clever. But to my mind, this is much better. It doesn't suffer from that Spanish notion of the scowling bigbreasted vamp. And it has some moody photography when it is not busy 'shocking' us.

    How this is put together is very much in the vein of the general reflexiveness that swept the entire film world in the early 70's. This is an exploitation picture that features a pair that take exploitation pictures. Edits in this film often have the 'click' of the photo so you can get the fold. The quality of the photography (of the film anyway) is quite good.

    The pair represent the deepest of sexual taboos while judging those of other taboos. The undoing of the story is a story in a book, central to the plot. The killings are as incidental as effects in your typical summer movie.

    The filmmaker/writer (who is on the island making a crime story) appears in the film as a novelist doing a story about crime. He's the one who tells. The book makes an appearance at the end as the final curse.

    Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
  • comment
    • Author: Uleran
    I love horror...I appreciate the sickest horror...I love disturbing films...even when they push the envelope as long as there is something good about the film...this film offers nothing. No story, nothing sick done is a "cool" way...it's really, really bad...I bought it because I want to see all the so called "SICK", banned films from the 70's & 80's...this one is just a waste of your time.
  • comment
    • Author: BOND
    "Island of Perversion" (the version with this title is uncut, by the way) is a movie that tries simply to be an exercise in pure cruelty and depravity, but doesn't have the artistry (or the budget!) to pull it off. Mastorakis obviously has no shortage of imagination, but some of the most "shocking" scenes are staged in a way that....well, lets you know they're "staged" and "fake", so you're not really disturbed. Still, this film definitely has the ingredients to be a cult classic. Two stars out of four...but ONLY for the curious.
  • comment
    • Author: Realistic
    Upon reading about this film I wanted to see it. It was a horror film with gore galore and more importantly it was banned!! So I watch the film and found it boring and not very gory at all. Yes I know this is a low budget film but I meber thought wow that low. The "gore" scenes are shot with such low grade special effects it made me wonder why was this banned. Ok ok I get it there are some weird scenes here like having sex with a goat ( sounds worse then it is. By todays horror standards the scenes was very tame and more silly then anything). Being film in the european style there is nudity galore but overall that is the only thing you can say that is over the top. The film is poorly acted filmed directed with laughable dialoque and piss poor special effects. Yes the film was to make money off of violence but to me its more silly then anything. The script being written in a week shows. To me unless you have 100 minutes of your life to waste this is a must skip. Very overrated low budget crappy film.
  • comment
    • Author: in waiting
    I only became aware of this when it was mentioned as one of the more infamous "Video Nasties" and I must say that I acquired it somewhat half-heartedly, so much so that I did not realize at the time it was a censored edition (cut by about 4 minutes)! Anyway, this could well be re-titled LAST ISLAND ON THE LEFT but, at the very least, it puts a spin on the usual formula by making the villains ostensibly on a cleansing killing spree; incidentally, it also turns on its head the oft-used premise of innocent victims at the mercy of the weird locals of a remote community – which was the case with, say, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976), a film that was actually also released in some circles as ISLAND OF DEATH! However, hypocritically, the protagonists here are themselves guilty of perversion: they pass themselves off as husband and wife, but are actually brother and sister; besides, when the girl rejects the man's advances, he relieves his craving by raping a goat!!

    Ironically, another lewd incident – making love in a public telephone box and calling their mother on the phone to listen in on them! – puts a black detective (he is supposed to hail from Britain, but the local Police force must have felt compelled to call on one of Shaft's 'bruthas' for the task!) on their trail…except that he proves inefficient, not only because he gives up the chase after just one attempt but he even allows his quarries to turn the tables on him by tying a rope around his neck and throwing him off the side of his own chartered plane! Stupidly, then, they phone the company responsible to come pick up the aircraft, since when the local law enforcers – alerted by an inquisitive crime novelist – eventually close in, they could have used it themselves to get away! I am not sure whether the director intended us to root for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes but, the man in particular, is just too despicable; he also turns out to be the more deranged, as his sister occasionally tries to dissuade him from carrying on with the 'mission' but he throws a fit every time she does and the latter she sheepishly acquiesces!

    Among their 'sinful' victims are: a French lothario engaged in painting a local chapel (after the girl gives herself to him, they literally nail him to the ground and when, Christ-like, he asks for a drink, they pour a pail full of paint down his throat!); a couple of gays who had flamboyantly celebrated their wedding ceremony (one escapes their clutches initially, leading to a chase along ultra-narrow streets of the town only to have him gutted with a sword when cornered, and the other is forced to suck the barrel of a pistol which is then fired and his brains splattered all over the walls!); a couple of hippie buskers (complete with hilarious 'cool' mannerisms who unwisely take the opportunity of the man's absence to go fishing to burst in their house and rape the girl while she is having a bath – but he returns in time to shoot a harpoon into one's chest and shove the other's face in the toilet bowl!); a lesbian/junkie barmaid (again, first she is allowed to indulge in one vice and then made to overdose on her other habit but, to complete the task, she has her face burned); an ageing nymphomaniac who seduces the man but when she proves too enthusiastic, he repeatedly slaps her around and bashes her head on the floor and, for the coup de grace, beheads her with a bulldozer!); and even the proprietor of the place where they are staying (who, as far as I can tell, her only crime is to take her showers with the door open but, when the villain gives chase, still ends up with a sickle implanted through a door and right into the back of her head!).

    As is to be expected with this type of fare, the protagonists eventually encounter someone who is even more vicious than they are, in the form of a mute shepherd who ostensibly gives them shelter – only to rape the girl (as usual with his pants on!) and bury the man in a lime-pit, after having (I kid you not!) noisily farted in his face. The ultimate irony is that the girl apparently likes the shepherd's rough treatment and prefers his company to her brother's, whose recklessness she blames for their current predicament, and the man dies scalded by the acidic lime when it becomes wet in a downpour. Incidentally, the murdering couple constantly take photos of their various crimes (with the camera-click repeatedly adopted throughout as a transition) and even keep a diary of their would-be righteous exploits. Besides, the shepherd had actually appeared to the girl in her dreams and, though we only ever get a distorted view of his leering face, she says he does to the two of them what actually comes to pass!

    As I said, the idea of violently punishing perversion is not bad in itself – in fact, it was a staple of the Giallo subgenre – but the amateurish handling and virtually uninterrupted nastiness kills any notion of supplying either audience identification or an objective viewpoint! The sole redeeming feature here, apart from the attractive Mediterranean location, are the clutter of acoustic songs on the soundtrack which basically comment upon the unfolding action (including yells of "Get the sword and kill 'em all"!).
  • Complete credited cast:
    Robert Behling Robert Behling - Christopher (as Bob Belling)
    Jane Lyle Jane Lyle - Celia (as Jane Ryall)
    Jessica Dublin Jessica Dublin - Patricia
    Gerard Gonalons Gerard Gonalons - Foster
    Jannice McConnell Jannice McConnell - Leslie (as Janice McConnel)
    Ray Richardson Ray Richardson - (as Ray Zuk)
    Marios Tartas Marios Tartas - (as Mario Tatras)
    Efi Bani Efi Bani - (as Efi Banny)
    Clay Half Clay Half - (as Clay Huff)
    Jeremy Rousseau Jeremy Rousseau
    Elizabeth Spader Elizabeth Spader
    Nikos Tsachiridis Nikos Tsachiridis - Shepherd
    Mike Murtagh Mike Murtagh
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