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Tower
of Evil
(1972) |
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Elite Entertainment, true to their reputation for rediscovering lost, obscure horror fare for reissue, have done it again with the DVD release of Tower of Evil, a British cheapie from the swinging early 70's. Snape Island is the scene of an horrific massacre early on in the movie and subsequently the mystery unfolds as to what horrors abound within the Tower of Evil. Four amorous teenagers, supposedly American tourists, are butchered by some maniacal "thing" in the opening scenes - no doubt partly for their horrid fake American accents. Robin Askwith, infamous for his "Adventures of a Driving Instructor" kind of typical sub Benny Hill Brit-smut, is one of the teenagers trying desperately hard to sound American by saying things like "let's split". We are treated to Askwith's bum before he meets his maker. As with much 70's Euro horror, nudity and blood are in plentiful supply. A strange mix of characters end up gathering at Snape Island to try to discover what actually happened to the teenagers - Askwith and friends. The real incentive, however is the legendary pots of gold that are supposedly stashed away somewhere in the caves of the island. Sparks fly as two of our team of seven investigators are sultry sirens - one, Nora is Queen Bitch and an evil wench, chain-smoking pot joints, using words like "masturbate" and letting the men around her know exactly "when she wants it". A real 60's liberated chick with attitude and looks to match. Without her proceedings would be so much duller. The visitors to Snape are met with a maze of passages and alleyways which seems to suggest that they have wandered on to the sets of Dr. Who by mistake……I could have sworn that it was a Dalek I saw scuttling off in the background somewhere. To the directors credit, he manages to create decent quantities of tension and unease in several scenes. There are moments of excellence but alas they are marred by the passages of the film where nothing much happens. The tension is palpably evident in certain scenes but interspersed with numerous long, dull passages. Another problem is that the scenes containing any tension are isolated and the film doesn't generally build towards a climax. Bryant Haliday, sensational in Devil Doll from the same era isn't half as compelling this time around. The film certainly contains moments of genuine horror, but they aren't sustained. The movie end up as being mainly a curiosity item for genre addicts and those who enjoy their Euro Horror. Low production values, plenty of gore and nudity, the film could certainly have been a lot worse. One of the films major drawbacks is a very inept soundtrack by the music composer. He provides us with boring clichés when the film could have been so helped by some creativity and innovation. Dementia 13, another little shocker from the early 60's was made so much more effective because of its stunning soundtrack - a pity the same can't be said for Tower of Evil's score.
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