Tower of Evil

Rating:
Summary: Trash classic from UK's exploitation heyday
Review: TOWER OF EVIL (UK 1972): A group of archaeologists travel to a lighthouse-island off the coast of England where evidence of ancient treasure has recently been unearthed, alongside the corpses of several American teenagers, all of whom were slaughtered by person or persons unknown. Once on the island, the team becomes isolated from the mainland and is stalked by an elusive 'presence' which picks them off one by one.

A trash classic from the heyday of British exploitation, TOWER OF EVIL was helmed by Jim O'Connolly, a talented journeyman whose career had peaked several years earlier with THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1968), one of Ray Harryhausen's best films. Thrown together on a microscopic budget, and fashioned by O'Connolly from an early script by novelist George Baxt (responsible for such memorable British thrillers as CIRCUS OF HORRORS, THE CITY OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE EAGLE), 'Tower' hedges its commercial bets by emphasizing a couple of high profile cameos (Dennis Price and Anthony Valentine), and foregrounding liberal doses of self-conscious nudity and gore. The opening scenes - in which crusty sea dogs Jack Watson and George Coulouris visit the titular lighthouse and stumble on a series of mutilated corpses - sets the tone for much of what follows, and while the main cast are pretty colorless, their mutual antagonism (borne from a convoluted history of infidelity, too complicated to explain here) demonstrates a rudimentary attempt at characterisation. Mounted with economical grace on sparse but effective studio sets (designed by Disley Jones [THE ITALIAN JOB]), and photographed by veteran cinematographer Desmond Dickinson (a major player in the glory days of British cinema, whose resumé includes everything from Olivier's HAMLET [1948] to THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST [1952], HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM [1959] and A STUDY IN TERROR [1965]), the film is cheapened at every turn by amateurish dialogue and threadbare visual effects (get a load of the hilarious back-projection during the archaeologists' boat trip to the island!), but it's these very same elements which contribute most to the film's enduring appeal, and the fogbound settings conceal a multitude of budgetary sins. Besides, this unassuming potboiler makes few pretensions to 'Art', and O'Connolly stages the major set-pieces with real technical savvy, culminating in a 'twist' ending which seems to have inspired a similar plot development in Tom De Simone's superior HELL NIGHT (1981).

An ultra-professional cast is toplined by Bryant Haliday (a favorite of producer Richard Gordon), former Broadway actress Jill Haworth (THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR), Mark Edwards (BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB) and Derek Fowlds (TV's "Yes Minister"), while the younger players include Robin Askwith (several years before he found fame in the 'Confessions' films), former physique model John Hamill (a familiar face in UK exploitation movies of the 1970's, and later a co-writer on Bob Clark's TURK 182!), Candace Glendenning (SATAN'S SLAVE) and the late Anna Palk (in her last screen appearance), all of whom are featured in various stages of undress. The film was originally screened in the US as HORROR ON SNAPE ISLAND, and later reissued as BEYOND THE FOG. Interested viewers should check out Simon Hunter's LIGHTHOUSE (1999), an outstanding British shocker which employs a similar lighthouse setting to much greater effect (it's available in the US in a less-than-optimum DVD presentation under the title DEAD OF NIGHT).

Image's all-region disc - which runs exactly 90m - is letterboxed at 1.85:1, and while picture quality is excellent for a non-anamorphic presentation, voyeurs may be disappointed to discover that the lower matte now conceals some of the nudity evident in previous full-screen versions, but this is how it appeared in theaters, so we can't complain! Sound format is 2.0 mono, and there are no captions or subtitles. The only extra is a UK trailer, which contains a number of spoilers.

Rating:
Summary: Trash classic from UK's exploitation heyday
Review: TOWER OF EVIL (UK 1972): A group of archaeologists travel to a lighthouse-island off the coast of England where evidence of ancient treasure has recently been unearthed, alongside the corpses of several American teenagers, all of whom were slaughtered by person or persons unknown. Once on the island, the team becomes isolated from the mainland and is stalked by an elusive 'presence' which picks them off one by one.

A trash classic from the heyday of British exploitation, TOWER OF EVIL was helmed by Jim O'Connolly, a talented journeyman whose career had peaked several years earlier with THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1968), one of Ray Harryhausen's best films. Thrown together on a microscopic budget, and fashioned by O'Connolly from an early script by novelist George Baxt (responsible for such memorable British thrillers as CIRCUS OF HORRORS, THE CITY OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE EAGLE), 'Tower' hedges its commercial bets by emphasizing a couple of high profile cameos (Dennis Price and Anthony Valentine), and foregrounding liberal doses of self-conscious nudity and gore. The opening scenes - in which crusty sea dogs Jack Watson and George Coulouris visit the titular lighthouse and stumble on a series of mutilated corpses - sets the tone for much of what follows, and while the main cast are pretty colorless, their mutual antagonism (borne from a convoluted history of infidelity, too complicated to explain here) demonstrates a rudimentary attempt at characterisation. Mounted with economical grace on sparse but effective studio sets (designed by Disley Jones [THE ITALIAN JOB]), and photographed by veteran cinematographer Desmond Dickinson (a major player in the glory days of British cinema, whose resumé includes everything from Olivier's HAMLET [1948] to THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST [1952], HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM [1959] and A STUDY IN TERROR [1965]), the film is cheapened at every turn by amateurish dialogue and threadbare visual effects (get a load of the hilarious back-projection during the archaeologists' boat trip to the island!), but it's these very same elements which contribute most to the film's enduring appeal, and the fogbound settings conceal a multitude of budgetary sins. Besides, this unassuming potboiler makes few pretensions to 'Art', and O'Connolly stages the major set-pieces with real technical savvy, culminating in a 'twist' ending which seems to have inspired a similar plot development in Tom De Simone's superior HELL NIGHT (1981).

An ultra-professional cast is toplined by Bryant Haliday (a favorite of producer Richard Gordon), former Broadway actress Jill Haworth (THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR), Mark Edwards (BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB) and Derek Fowlds (TV's "Yes Minister"), while the younger players include Robin Askwith (several years before he found fame in the 'Confessions' films), former physique model John Hamill (a familiar face in UK exploitation movies of the 1970's, and later a co-writer on Bob Clark's TURK 182!), Candace Glendenning (SATAN'S SLAVE) and the late Anna Palk (in her last screen appearance), all of whom are featured in various stages of undress. The film was originally screened in the US as HORROR ON SNAPE ISLAND, and later reissued as BEYOND THE FOG. Interested viewers should check out Simon Hunter's LIGHTHOUSE (1999), an outstanding British shocker which employs a similar lighthouse setting to much greater effect (it's available in the US in a less-than-optimum DVD presentation under the title DEAD OF NIGHT).

Image's all-region disc - which runs exactly 90m - is letterboxed at 1.85:1, and while picture quality is excellent for a non-anamorphic presentation, voyeurs may be disappointed to discover that the lower matte now conceals some of the nudity evident in previous full-screen versions, but this is how it appeared in theaters, so we can't complain! Sound format is 2.0 mono, and there are no captions or subtitles. The only extra is a UK trailer, which contains a number of spoilers.

Rating:
Summary: A great piece of 70's schlock/exploitation...
Review: Tower of Evil is no masterpiece, but an interesting predecessor to the modern slasher film. It often comes across as a poorer version of Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve in terms of exploitation and gore, not in terms of story at all. Fans of Friday the 13th and the like will probably find much to savor here, sex and nudity, brutal murders and a final twist at the end, just for good measure. The disc, by the way, looks wonderful, makes you worship the power of DVD, horror fans should pick this one up.

Rating:
Summary: A great piece of 70's schlock/exploitation...
Review: Tower of Evil is no masterpiece, but an interesting predecessor to the modern slasher film. It often comes across as a poorer version of Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve in terms of exploitation and gore, not in terms of story at all. Fans of Friday the 13th and the like will probably find much to savor here, sex and nudity, brutal murders and a final twist at the end, just for good measure. The disc, by the way, looks wonderful, makes you worship the power of DVD, horror fans should pick this one up.