ISLAND OF THE DOOMED (1967)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 88 Minutes 13 Seconds
Audio: English-Dub or Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD MA Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Mel Welles
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Elisa Montes, Jorge Martin, Kai Fisher
Island of the Doomed (1967) is a Spanish-German co-production directed by American ex-pat Mel Welles, who is probably best known for playing Mushnick in Roger Corman's The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), but also directed a handful of films, including Lady Frankenstein. This early slice of Spanish 'fanta-terror' is quite a treat, and while it's a bit of slow-burn initially the final 10-minutes of it are bloody and rather exciting.
The film starts off with a group of six tourists arriving on a small island off the coast of Spain where they engage handsome tour guide Alfredo (Riccardo Valle, The Awful Dr. Orloff) to drive them to the the island home of the world famous botanist Baron von Weser (Cameron Mitchell, Blood and Black Lace) to see his collection of rare botanicals. Apparently he only opens up his estate tot he public for a few days out of the year to raise money to continue his mysterious botanical experiments, with Alfredo explaining that most of the inhabitants of the island have fled out of fear of a vampiric superstition. While driving up to the doctor's estate a man leaps in front of the car and dies, it turns out to be one of the doctor's servants, who von Wasser later explains died, not from the accident, but from a rare and incurable disease, which left him drained of blood with odd-looking puncture marks on his face.
The tourist group is comprised of handsome David (George Martín, Death Carries a Cane), Beth (Elisa Montés, 99 Women), cuckolded older husband James (Rolf von Nauckhoff, Duel To The Death) and his younger cheating wife Cora (Kai Fischer, Uncle Was A Vampire), as well as another botanist Prof. Julius Demerist (Herman Nehlsen, Requiescant) and the photo-snapping Myrtle Callahan (Mathilde Sampietro, A Nun at the Crossroads). They are of course startled by the accidental death, but nonetheless settle in for the night as von Weser's guest, with Cora wasting little time turning tour guide Alfredo on. They are again startled when the professor's other man-servant, Baldi (Mike Brendel, Marquis de Sade's Justine) arrives, the spitting image of the dead, with the professor explaining that they were identical twins. Over dinner, during which he swerves them a cucumber at dinner that tastes like meat, von Weser discusses the vampire superstitions that caused the islands inhabitants to flee, dismissing it as the silly superstition of simple-minded peasants, while also giving them a small tour of his botanical creations, including a paralyzing porcupine plant and a tentacled carnivorous plant of his own creation that he feeds a mouse too, creepy creations he has achieved through exposure to radiation.
Spoilers ahead! Over the course of the first night two of the guests die at the hands of an unseen killer, we don'ts see who or what it is, just the frightened faces of the victims as it closes in on them. It's a bit disappointing that the killer is unseen, but this is the way it goes until the final ten minutes or so of the film, but hang in there, it gets pretty weird and wild, so the pay of it worth the slow-burn. The survivors grow increasingly concerned that there's a killer on the lose, red-herrings abound, could it be one of them, the seemingly cordial but weird hosts, or perhaps a bloodsucking vampire? Well, the film definitely wants to think one thing, but c'mon, read the room, it's pretty obvious this is a slice of botanical terror!
Where it ends up is wild in a wonderful sort of way, it's bloody and rather gory for a flick of it's vintage. Mitchell's von Weser's cordial face slips and he is exposed for the mad scientist that he is, ripping a medieval axe off the wall to inflict some head trauma on Demerist, before the actual blood-sucking killer-tree is properly revealed when it goes after the picture-snapping nuisance Myrtle, the vampiric tree using tendrils that emerge from it's blossoms stamens to drain her blood, latching into her face and neck with a slupring sucking sound! Again, it's quite gory for this era, the blood is flowing like crazy and the practical effects used to being the killer-tree to life plastered a smile right across my ugly mug. Nice guy Dave grabs an axe and goes in to trim the killer-tree, hacking into it and slicing off tendrils, blood is squiting everywhere, and von Weser just goes completely nutso when he see's his precious plant getting weed-whacked.
I've said a couple of times that this was a bit slow early on, but even so, this is just a tad over 88-minutes, so slow spots didn't ruin it, like I said, the finale is deliciously entertaining with plenty of action and bloodshed, there are killer-trees with blood-sucking tentacles, this is a gem of botanical-terror, need I say more?
Audio/Video: The flick gets a region-free Blu-ray from mondo Macabro presenting the film in 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1), sourced from a 4K restoration of the surviving 35mm elements, two theatrical prints, as the OCN is considered lost to the cinema-sands of time. The image looks pretty great to these eyes, accurate looking colors, warm skin tones, solid contrast for the most part. The sources are in good shape, or have been lovingly restored as such, there is some minor softness that bleeds into a few scenes, a couple of minor scratches are evident, but seeing this in the proper aspect ration with revived colors is a treat. Audio comes by way of English-dub or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The tracks are solid, relatively clean sounding, dialogue sound great, and the score by Antón García Abril’s (The Ghost Galleon) adds plenty of atmosphere. The track is pretty thin sounding, but does sounds accurate to the era. While the English dub is a little loose and little goofier, I preferred it to the Spanish track.
Mondo Macabro give us a terrific slate of extras, beginning with a new Audio commentary by David Flint, who does excellent work conveying info about the cast and crew, locations and whatnot, a solid track delivered with an enthusiastic apprection.
We also get a 31-minute Interview with writer/director Mel Welles who talks about his storied career, though sadly we don't get much about Island of the Doomed, but does get nto hs thoughts on violence in cinema. .
Next up is a 57-min George Martin, The First Spanish Action Hero, Documentary On Career Of Actor, George Martin, which is surprisingly in-depth and covers a lot of ground, so if your a fan you are in for a treat. Also new is the 28-min Fantastique In The Catalan Mediterranean With Angel Sala, Documentary On Horror Films Produced In The Costa Brava Area which sheds light on other Spanish horrors shot in the same area as this film. The last of the extras are a 2-min Original Trailer, and a 5-min Publicity Parade of Stills and Posters. The single-disc standard edition arrives in a keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork that I am not familiar with but it looks vintage, and I appreciated that it does not give away the surprise like the traditional poster artwork does.
Special Features:
- Interview with writer/director Mel Welles (31:12)
- Audio Commentary by David Flint
- George Martin, The First Spanish Action Hero, Documentary On Career Of Actor, George Martin (57:22)
- Fantastique In The Catalan Mediterranean With Angel Sala, Documentary On Horror Films Produced In The Costa Brava Area (27:40)
- Original Trailer (1:41) Fantastique In The Catalan Mediterranean With Angel Sala, Documentary On Horror Films Produced In The Costa Brava Area
- Publicity Parade of Stills and Posters (4:43)
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
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