Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976) - Edmonds returns with Thorne in dubious Arabia-set sequel

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Scantily dressed young women titillate from left and right on this poster for Don Edmonds' Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks

 
Ilsa, the 'She Wolf of the SS' now for some reason runs a gruesome prison for women in the Arabian desert. Here degradation and sexual satisfaction is the order of the day.

 

Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is written by Langston Stafford, a person never credited with anything else, and produced and directed by Don Edmonds (Wild Honey (1972)), who also made the popular original film which this is the first sequel to, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975).

The 'plot' here is more or less an illusion as most of the film consists of episodic scenes of sex and cruelty with commentary from two seemingly unrelated men in an airplane!?! Dyanne Thorne (Up Yours (1979)) as Ilsa is still a captivating whip artist, and the film is adorned with a hot twink slave but it also delivers several atrocities such as forced feeding, breast torture and, naturally, rape. The two ninja amazons who can rip a grown man's teeth out are strong arguments in favor of the film, it would appear. But the episodic, nonsensical structure gives Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks a long character, which is also spoiled by involving a child (a boy to be precise) in its solution, which must be considered, in the context of the film at hand, incredibly tasteless and amoral.

 

Related post:

 

Don Edmonds: Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) - Edmonds' notorious Nazisploitation sensation

 

 

Watch a clip from the movie here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 200k $

Box office: Projected 5 mil. $

= Uncertain but projected a mega-hit (projected return of 25 times its cost)

[Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks was released in March (USA) and runs 85 minutes. Shooting took place in California. The film is listed as having been released in just 4 markets; North America, Japan, West Germany and in Denmark. In the latter, very small market, it sold an impressive 85,277 tickets, coming to approximately 640k $. It is not unlikely that the cheaply made film grossed upwards of 5 mil. $. Ilsa returned in two more films, though only the first of the two is with Thorne, and Edmonds no longer was involved. Edmonds returned with Southern Double Cross (1976). Thorne first returned in Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy (1976). 3.1k+ IMDb users have given Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks a 5.0/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks?

I Spit on Your Grave/Day of the Woman (1978) - Zarchi's infamous, unrelenting rape-and-revenge picture

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A sensation-promising and quite long tagline overheads an image of scantily clad Demi Moore (who does not act in the film, however!) with a bloodied hunting knife in a forest on this great poster for Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave

Jennifer is a short story writer from New York who arrives at a summerhouse in Connecticut, and her partially bared body induces four local men til beat her up, gang rape her and leave her for dead. But she doesn't die. In fact she wakes up with revenge on her mind!

I Spit on Your Grave is written, directed and edited by debuting Meir Zarchi (Rachel (1960, writer)).

We get to know a repulsive sediment of men through fairly well-acted performances here, and Camille Keaton (The Butterfly Room (2012)) is beautiful as the victimized Jennifer, who exacts gruesome vengeance: SPOILER Especially the castration scene is grim.

Apart from this, the film actually has some fine imagery (cinematography by Nuri Habib (Bipanah (1953))) and is fundamentally ambiguous, - it seems simultaneously feminist and exploitation-minded, - and shocking. The trailer and poster indicates that audiences should be outraged that Jennifer would allegedly not be convicted for her revenge in any American court. The ascertainment is highly speculative, and most will probably also find that it is not her revenge that is outrageous but the crime that precedes it.

 

Watch a short trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 80k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[I Spit on Your Grave premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 102 minutes. Zarchi has explained that inspiration for the story came from his meeting and helping a rape victim in New York in 1974. Keaton was reportedly chosen from a New York audition out of 4,000 women. Shooting took place from July - August (1978) in New York and Connecticut. 2 crew members resigned during production, because they could not take the portrayed violence. Zarchi limited mention of anal rape to obtain the R rating. Zarchi himself distributed the film initially at drive-ins, without much success, before Jerry Gross Organization eventually distributed it wider in North America, now under the title I Spit on Your Grave, although still to reportedly small results. Gross had the poster made seen above with a then unknown Demi Moore posing with her back to the camera, as she was working on another film for him at the time. I Spit on Your Grave was released in a handful of other markets but didn't find a mass audience before it was released on video. It was banned in many countries, including Norway, Ireland, Australia, the UK, Iceland, Canada and West Germany. Roger Ebert gave it a 0/4 star rating, translating to 3 notches under this one. The film inspired an unofficial 1993 sequel (with Keaton), three remake sequels (2010; 2013; 2015) and finally an official sequel by Zarchi and with Keaton, entitled I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu (2016). Zarchi first returned with Don't Mess with My Sister! (1985). Keaton returned first in Raw Force (1982). I Spit on Your Grave is rotten at 51 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Spit on Your Grave?

The Incredible Petrified World (1959) - Descend into the movie world of Jerry Warren

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Several natural sensations and a buxom blond in the grasp of a giant octopus are teased on this poster for Jerry Warren's The Incredible Petrified World

A team of four descend into the sea in a diving bell, but when the wire snaps they manage to rescue themselves into an enormous underwater cave, where they fall upon a kind of caveman, who thinks they will never escape!

The Incredible Petrified World is written by John W. Steiner and produced and directed by Jerry Warren (Man Beast (1956)).

John Carradine (House of Dracula (1945)) is the engineer behind the catastrophic underwater mishap, but his character immediately gives up, which is very inauspicious as far as our sympathy for his character goes. Lighting, sound and image quality stinks here. The opening has a fascinating (archive footage) octopus/shark fight, and the idea of the lost underwater world is pure adventure and exciting. But the acting and dialog is also lame here. In the end everyone become friends again. The Incredible Petrified World is a bizarre trip to the ultra-low budget world of Jerry Warren.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Incredible Petrified World was released 12 November (South Carolina) and runs 67 minutes. Carradine was paid 100 $ a week for his performance. Phyllis Coates (Cattle Empire (1958)) was reportedly persuaded by ex-boyfriend Warren to be the film's main female star with a promise that the film would not be released in California. Coates was never paid for her performance, and the film was released in California, where it seriously damaged her acting career. Shooting took place around March 1957 in New Mexico, Arizona and California. The 'monsters' teased on the film's poster are not to be found in the film, as the monster suit Warren had made was deemed too bad by even him and was thrown away during production. The film went unreleased for more than 2½ years, before Warren released it in South Carolina, then North Carolina, and then wider, on a double bill with his Teenage Zombies (1959). Internationally, the film is only listed as having had a release in Argentina in 1962. Cost and gross details are regrettably not to be found. The film is now in public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Warren returned with Teenage Zombies. Carradine returned in 5 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960). 1.3k+ IMDb users have given The Incredible Petrified World a 3.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Incredible Petrified World?

Indestructible Man (1956) or, The Nearly Indestructible Man!

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Scantily dressed young women screaming with intense fright competes with firetruck red, a fearfully intense star Lon Chaney Jr. and terrific title art on this tremendous poster for Jack Pollexfen's Indestructible Man

A wrongfully condemned man returns after his electrical execution with super powers with only one mission in mind: Revenge!

 

Indestructible Man is written by Sue Dwiggins and Vy Russell (Monstrosity (1963), both) and produced and directed by Jack Pollexfen (Dragon's Gold (1954)).

The homicide case that opens the narrative is handled in the best Raymond Chandler style. Lon Chaney Jr. (Buckskin (1968)) is 'Butcher', the (nearly) indestructible man! Not even the police's bazooka or flamethrower can stop him!

The weak dialog (almost none of it given to Chaney) is weighed up with several other qualities: Car-driving scenes shot from a car driving in front of the action are cool (cinematography by John L. Russell (Billie (1965)); Chaney's "eye effect", illustrating the electrical intensity, is fantastic; the grandiose ending at a Los Angeles power station is great; the score (by Albert Glasser (Tormented (1960))) is wonderful, and there's a romantic end scene that is extremely corny. Indestructible Man is an enormously rad picture for fans of low-budget strange fare of this period.

Related post:

Jack Pollexfen: Monstrosity/The Atomic Brain (1963) - Crazed doctor schlock

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Indestructible Man was released 25 March (USA) and runs 72 minutes. Shooting took place around November 1954 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film was shown on a double bill in North America with World Without End (1956) and in other areas with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). It was also released in at least 6 other markets, but details of its budget and box office results are regrettably not readily available. The film has fallen into public domain and is available for free and legal download and streaming right here. Pollexfen returned with Monstrosity (1963). Chaney Jr. returned in Telephone Time (1956, TV-series) and theatrically in The Black Sleep (1956). 3.2k+ IMDb users have given Indestructible Man a 4.4/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Indestructible Man?

Heaven Knows What (2014) - Safdie brothers impress with hard-hitting New York-set homeless addict drama

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+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year 

 

An ominous horizontally slanted still of star Arielle Holmes in pink and blue makes up this poster for Benny and Josh Safdie's Heaven Knows What

A young female heroin addict gets pressured to the brink of suicide by her addict boyfriend, but she still maintains her destructive bond with him.

 

Heaven Knows What is written by co-writer/co-editor Ronald Bronstein (Uncut Gems (2019)), co-writer/co-star Arielle Holmes (American Honey (2016)) and co-writer/co-director Josh Safdie (The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008)), based on Holmes' unpublished memoir Mad Love in New York City, and co-directed with co-director/co-editor Benny Safdie. It is the New-Yorker master filmmaker brothers Safdie's 5th feature.

A frighteningly authentic and unadorned portrait of the flat, restricted, deeply inhibited life of big city heroin addicts, Heaven Knows What sensationally uses Holmes and other real homeless and ex-homeless amateur actors successfully in its hard depiction of their lives. The plot, fittingly enough, is also quite flat. Caleb Landry Jones (Twin Peaks (2017, TV-series)) is impressively credible as the egocentric boyfriend Ilya. 

The Safdies (and cinematographer Sean Price Williams (The Sweet East (2023))) have a sure-handed, very New York-flavored, crude aesthetic here that is already well established. The film's strong score (by Paul Grimstad (Stinking Heaven (2015)) and Ariel Pink (TFW NO GF (2020, doc.))) helps us into the addicts' lives. Heaven Knows What is an incredible work.

 

Related post:

 

Benny and Josh Safdie: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

Good Time (2017) - The Safdies cook up a perfect heist thriller frenzy

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 100k $

Box office: 84k $

= Uncertain but likely a huge flop (projected return of 0.84 times the cost)

[Heaven Knows What premiered 29 August (Venice Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #52 to a 16k $ first weekend in North America, its highest chart position domestically, where it topped out in 14 theaters and grossed 80k $ (95.2 % of the total gross). Its only other registered markets are from the UK and Brazil, although it was also released in France, Germany and Japan, aside from a long list of festival screenings. If made on a tiny 100k $, the film would rank as a huge flop. It additionally made an estimated 186k $ on the North-American home video market alone. It was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards and an AFI award, among other honors. The Safdie brothers returned with Good Time (2017). Holmes returned in 2307: Winter's Dream (2016). Heaven Knows What is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Heaven Knows What?

Paranormal Activity (2007) - Peli's record-breaking found footage horror smash

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The chilling footage from a home surveillance camera makes up most of this poster for Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity

Micah and Katie have moved together in a nice house in San Diego. But strange occurrences begin to take place at night, so Micah begins to document the happenings with home surveillance cameras, as Kate divulges that the supernatural is nothing new in her life.

 

Paranormal Activity is written, produced, directed, photographed and edited by debuting Oren Peli (Chernobyl Diaries (2012, writer)). It is the first film in the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Although the film sometimes almost gets stuck in the conflicts that make its otherwise sweet central couple pathetic, the effects of the simple shock footage, - and especially of the really scary ending, - are impressive and effectively spooky. The marketing and over-all feat of the film must here be taken into account and recognized as incredible. SPOILER The demon overtakes Katie. Mad scary.

 

Related posts:

 

The Paranormal Activity franchise: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]  

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) or, Haunted California Idiots 

 

 

A video of scary clips from the film - DON'T watch this if you haven't yet seen the film

 

Cost: 215k $

Box office: 193.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 899 times its cost)

[Paranormal Activity premiered 14 October (Screamfest Horror Film Festival, USA) and runs 86 minutes. Katie Featherston (Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)) and Micah Sloat (The Death and Return of Superman (2011, short)) were initially paid 500 $ each for their performances. The film originally had a 15k $ budget. Shooting took place from in just a week from April - May 2007 in San Diego, California. In a hectic period leading up to Paramount acquiring the film's release and sequels rights for 350k $, spending 200k $ by shooting new endings and editing the film, DreamWorks first had a plan to buy the film to remake it immediately, but a decisive screening left an impression that the film was effective as was. Paramount's overtaking DreamWorks meant that the release was delayed for a long period, finally getting a broad release in 2009. It opened #48 to a 77k $ first weekend in 12 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #1 and in 2,712 theaters (different weeks), grossing 107.9 mil. $ (55.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 16 mil. $ (8.3 %) and France with 9.6 mil. $ (5 %). The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film's success, sometimes referred to as making it the most profitable of all time (compared to its budget) spun a franchise of 6 direct sequels so far, as well as an unrelated sequel and a wave of similar found footage low budget horror films. The first sequel is Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), without Peli or the original stars front and center. Peli returned with Area 51 (2015). Featherston returned in Psychic Experiment (2010); Sloat in Paranormal Activity 2. Paranormal Activity is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Paranormal Activity?

Here Comes the Devil/Ahí Va el Diablo (2012) - Strange and disturbing Mexican shoestring budget horror

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A striking, horror-insinuating poster for Adrian Garcia Bogliano's Here Comes the Devil

 

A lesbian couple are attacked by a mysterious man. Another couple's two children go missing inside a mountain in the desert on the day that the girl gets her first period, but they return, altered.

 

Here Comes the Devil is written and directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Rooms for Tourists/Habitaciones para Turistas (2004)). The English title is a literal translation of the original Spanish title.

It is a punky low-budget sex horror picture that opens with lesbian sex and ends in heavy growl metal! It is rife with cool 1970s retro style zooms. The film succeeds in creating an eerie and disturbing core tale about the strange children, the mysterious mountain, - an atypical tale that fascinates.

SPOILER The ending culminates supernaturally and is not really satisfying, though the film is very worth seeing for horror fans.

 

 

Bogliano introduces his film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 6k $

= Uncertain

[Here Comes the Devil premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in Mexico. The film opened #83 to a 783$ first weekend in North America, where it it peaked at #76 but never in more than 2 theaters, grossing 4k $. The-numbers.com lists another 1,649$ as the film's sole gross, a tiny result by any standards. If made on a minuscule 100k $ budget, the film would still rank as a box office disaster, if this gross is accurate. Bogliano returned with a segment of The ABCs of Death (2012) and by himself with Night of the Wolf/Late Phases (2014). Laura Caro (Lo que Callamos las Mujeres (2001, TV-series) did not return as an actress; Francisco Barreiro (Juntos (2009)) returned in 4 Noviembre 1990 (2012, short), Abrigo Rojo (2013, short) and theatrically in Loves Her Gun (2013). Here Comes the Devil is rotten at 44 % with a 5.60/10 average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Here Comes the Devil? 

Once (2007) - Music brings souls together in Carney's impressive breakthrough

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A man and a woman walk together on a road that's switched out with a guitar on this pleasant poster for John Carney's Once

A street singer and vacuum cleaner repairman with a broken heart starts a relation to a Czech girl in Dublin. Their relation develops from their musical co-creations over a span of some few days, in which they also record some songs.

 

Once is written and directed by great Irish filmmaker John Carney (November Afternoon (1996)).

It is a celebration of musical expression, and the original music that goes along with Once is deep-felt and beautiful. Once is a wonderful film with a striking simplicity. Although the cinematic expression is obviously dictated by the minuscule budget, the film is moving and rewarding.

Related posts:

John Carney: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Begin Again/Can a Song Save Your Life? (2013) - Carney's welcome New York music treat 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 150k $

Box office: 23.1 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 154 times its cost)

[Once premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 86 minutes. Cillian Murphy had been intended to play the male lead but dropped out. 75 % of the budget came from The Irish Film Board, with Carney personally donating his salary to his two lead actors. Shooting took place in 17 days in January 2006 in Dublin, Ireland. The film opened #45 to a 61k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 150 theaters (different weeks), grossing 9.4 mil. $ (40.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 1.7 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Germany with 1.3 mil. $ (5.6 %). The film won the Best Original Song Oscar for Falling Slowly by leads and composers Glen Hansard (The Commitments (1991)) and Markéta Irglová (The Swell Season (2011, documentary)). It was also nominated for a British Independent Film award, won an Independent Spirit award, was nominated for 2 Grammys, won a National Board of Review award and an audience award in Sundance, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Carney returned with The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty (2007, TV-series) and theatrically with Zonad (2009). Hansard returned in a TV-series and 2 music videos prior to his theatrical return in Cyrano (2021); Irglová has only returned in a TV-series and  music videos and have otherwise left the medium again. Once is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Once?

Newcastle (2008) - Overly laid-back surfer boy guilty pleasure

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Four well-shaped surfer boys very closely knit together on this poster for Dan Castle's Newcastle

A group of friends take the gay twin/black sheep along with them for a weekend trip in the dunes with surfing on the menu.

 

Newcastle is written and directed by debuting Dan Castle (...Lost. (2000, short)).

It is a surfer movie with handsome surfing footage - and (too) much of it. But the film's problem more lies in the story around the surfing, which is too scattershot and drowsy to awaken significant engagement from an audience.

The pretty, swearing Australian cast are cultivated, - especially the well-shaped guys, - by the camera, but the story isn't chiefly about Fergus the gay dude, (who regrettably doesn't get to have a romance.) It is a bit about the former star big brother Victor; a bit about the sexual exploits of the heteros, - including one scene of unsafe sex, which isn't followed up on, in a kind of reckless manner. It is also a bit about a coming surfing competition and a bit about the group's good-looking klutz, who has a driving accident with the tent dragged after the automobile! Israel Cannan (Home and Away (2004-05)) is sexy as the insecure character and truly looks like a pretty but not too bright surfer bum.

Newcastle is a harmless skin-centered flick, a bit of unfocused diversion.

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 260k $

= Uncertain but likely a huge flop (projected return of 0.52 times the cost)

[Newcastle premiered 25 April (Tribeca Film Festival, New York) and runs 107 minutes. Shooting took place around April 2007 in New South Wales, Australia. A projected low budget cost of 500k $ would rank the film as a huge flop theatrically. Australia was the film's biggest market with 138k $ (53.1 %); Japan 2nd with 114k $ (43.8 %); and UAE 3rd with 4k $ (1.5 %). Figures from the North-American release are unreported; the film's 4th and last (minor) market was Lebanon. Castle has since made a documentary and B/W Hollywood romance Can't Be Undone, which hasn't been released. Newcastle is fresh at 61 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Newcastle?

Chasing Amy (1997) or, How to Lay the Hot Lesbian

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+ Best $ Return of the Year: 60.4 times the cost

 

Attractive blond Joey Lauren Adams is used to sell on this poster for Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy

Two young male friends, who make comic books together for a living, have their friendship tested, when one of them falls for a lesbian blond.

 

Chasing Amy is written and directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks (1994)).

The 1990s are ugly in a foul way; self-centered and overly talkative in this 100 % sexually fixated flick, a film that has a lot of fun with itself. It had me amused one time, I think , but annoyed me for most of the time. For instance, the titular Amy, (played by Smith's real-life girlfriend at the time and inspiration for the film, Joey Lauren Adams (Trucker (2008))), is also a comic book artist, and the protagonist processes their whole history together as a couple by immortalizing it in a comic book... But the worst thing is that Smith wants Chasing Amy to be an open-minded and frank sex romcom, while actually it is clumsy as it bumps around as essentially a very simple young hetero male's fantasy more than anything else. (The hot lesbian is suddenly not a lesbian anymore and so on and so on.)

Ben Affleck (200 Cigarettes (1999)) is good and is invested in Chasing Amy, and Dwight Ewell (On the Run (1999)), who plays a black friend that's (also) a comic book artist, is funny and charming. But Chasing Amy is still a fairly horrible film. 

 

Related posts:
 

Kevin Smith: Tusk (2014) - Smith goes all-out wack
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Red State (2011) or, End of Days II 
Cop Out (2010) or, A Couple of Dicks   

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 250k $

Box office: 15.1 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 60.4 times its cost)

[Chasing Amy premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Affleck was paid 7k $ for his performance. Shooting took place in New Jersey and New York. The film opened #21 to a 53k $ opening weekend in 3 theaters, peaking at #10 and in 553 theaters, grossing 12 mil. $ (79.5 % of the total gross) in North America. Regrettably gross numbers for the film's long list of international release markets are not made public online. The film won 2/3 Independent Spirit award nominations, was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Smith returned with Dogma (1999). Affleck returned in Good Will Hunting (1997); Adams in Oddville, MTV (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in A Cool, Dry Place (1998); and Jason Lee (Columbus Circle (2012)) in Weapons of Mass Destruction (1997, TV movie), Perversions of Science (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in A Better Place (1997). Chasing Amy is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Chasing Amy? 

Horrors of Spider Island/Ein Toter Hing im Netz/It's Hot in Paradise (1960) - West-German bikini/monster trash

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A dark and hairy monster that attacks beautiful blondes are promised on this sensationalistic poster for Fritz Böttger's Horrors of Spider Island

A plane with dancers and their manager crashes into the sea on its way to Singapore. The group rescue themselves onto an island, where the manager gets bitten by a radioactive giant spider and becomes a blood-thirsty monster.

 

Horrors of Spider Island is written and directed by Fritz Böttger (Die Junggesellenfalle (1953)), with Eldon Howard (Sentenced for Life (1960, story)) and Albert G. Miller (The Spider's Web (1960)) contributing to the script. The original German title translates to, 'a corpse hung in the web'.

When the group arrive on the island their male leader finds a peculiar stick and immediately figures out that a search for uranium must have taken place here, (the girls just ask, if they can eat uranium.) The girls/women otherwise mostly distinguish themselves by moaning, dancing, fighting and loudly observing how damn hot it is on the exotic island!

The special effects and the pancake-thin characters are probably the worst parts of this decided stinker.

 

Here is a trailer for the movie

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Horrors of Spider Island was released 16 April (West Germany) and runs 82 minutes. Shooting took place from October - November 1959 in Yugoslavia (now Croatia). In North America the film was released as It's Hot in Paradise in 1962 and then with more of a sci-fi/monster flavor in a longer cut in 1965 as Horrors of Spider Island. Info on the film's cost and gross numbers are regrettably not to be found. Böttger left directing alone after the film and continued to work as a screenwriter. 3.9k+ IMDb users have given Horrors of Spider Island a 2.6/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Horrors of Spider Island?