Tower of Evil (1972)

I'm writing this review a couple weeks after having watched the film and I can barely remember it. However, IMDB refreshed my memory and it was about a group of archeologists uncovering an ancient and cursed treasure underneath the titular tower. The film was more gruesome than I was expecting and had a decent amount of atmosphere given it's meager budget, but the story and characters were all pretty dull which really drug the film down. Okay viewing for people wanting something along the lines of a lesser Hammer Horror film.

An old sailor and his son Hamp (Jack Watson) travel to fog-bound Snape Island where they discover the mutilated bodies of three young Americans, before encountering a deranged naked girl who attacks and kills the father with a dagger. Knocked unconscious by Hamp, the girl, Penny (Candace Glendenning), is taken to a secure hospital in a catatonic state where a doctor uses a large set of disco lights to try and unlock the secrets of her mind.Meanwhile, a team of archaeologists with complicated love lives pay a visit to the island to try and locate the rumoured 3000 year old burial chamber of a Phoenician captain; they are joined by private investigator Brent (Bryant Halliday), who has been hired by Penny's parents to prove their daughter's innocence, and Hamp, who brings along his randy nephew Brom (Gary Hamilton). Once on the island, the group find themselves in mortal danger, hunted by a cackling unseen madman.What Tower of Evil lacks in logic and finesse, it sure makes up for with gore, gratuitous nudity and atmosphere. No more than a few minutes have passed before we are treated to the sight of two naked corpses, one missing a hand and one of which has been decapitated, the severed head rolling down a flight of stone steps. A third body (Robin Askwith of Confessions fame) is pinned to a wall with a golden spear. Penny's flashbacks offer up further nudity, as she remembers frolicking outside in the raw with her boyfriend (despite the clearly inclement weather) while Askwith takes yet another opportunity to show us his bare ass.With a really eerie location at his disposal, director Jim O'Connolly (The Valley of Gwangi) achieves some genuinely suspenseful moments, wisely keeping his killer heard but not seen, and maintains a decent pace throughout, even when the action is limited to characters wandering aimlessly around the rocky island and its network of caves.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the delectable Anna Palk as Nora, who has a gratuitous sex scene with Brom, and for the wonderfully icky putrefying corpse of Hamp's dead brother's wife Martha.

A group of sex-starved,pot-smoking and constantly quarreling archaeologists travel to a lighthouse-island called Snape Island,where three American teenagers were butchered by unknown killer.It's reported that there is a treasure hidden in the Phoenician tomb on wind-swept isle.When they reach the shore of Snape Island they quickly become hunted and murdered by elusive killer.Ugly and gory British shocker set on an abandoned island with creepy looking lighthouse.The characters are often unpleasant and irritating,so I had fun watching them die.There is plenty of sex and nudity and the gore is quite nasty."Tower of Evil" aka "Horror on the Snape Island" will surely creep you out.8 out of 10.

SPOILER ALERT! A group of researchers travel to a remote island of the English coast to investigate the brutal murders of three Americans. They uncover a half-dead man, his completely dead wife and their cycloptic son. Also in the mix is an ancient ruin where sacrifices have taken place. A real piece of junk directed by Jim O'Connolly. The island, in long shots, is a miniature and the whole film is decidedly, and obviously, studio-bound. The cast is a bland mix of no-names save for Jill Haworth, slumming it after working with the likes of Preminger, Marais and (on Broadway) Hal Prince. Anna Palk, a Stephanie Beacham lookalike, adds some spark as a bitchy pothead. As bad as they come.