IsleoftheDamned

Isle of the Damned (2008)

Jack Steel and his adopted son are in Argentina working a job for a wealthy adventurer who is searching for the lost treasure of Marco Polo. The last place they have to look is Cannibal Island, which is of course home to some cannibals. After they land on shore they discover some cannibals killing a family of tourists and try to rescue them. But they become separated and start to get picked off one at a time. Jack and his son Billy are saved by the mysterious Alexis Kincaid and his manservant Cain. The mysteries of the island and of Marco Polo’s treasure are revealed, but the Jack’s treacherous boss makes plans that might doom them all. Will they become rich from the treasure or will they become a cannibal’s main course?

You wouldn’t think that a movie making light of the Italian produced cannibal would be funny. But I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the funniest movies that I’ve seen in a long time. The story is really very similar to what you would have seen in any of the Italian cannibal flicks during the 70s and 80s, but with slightly different twists that make the scenes more funny than twisted. When watching this movie I got the distinct impression that the people responsible for Isle of the Damned have a real respect for the movies they are poking fun at, rather than disdain. To me this is the difference between a terrible parody like the Scary Movie Franchise and a good one like Shaun of the Dead. Unlike many of the low budget films that I end up sitting thru Isle of the Damned has great dialogue. I don’t want to ruin any of it, but trust me there are some lines in this movie that I’m going to be quoting (much to my wife’s dismay) for many years to come. Of course in addition to that I’m certain that some of the things in the movie that I laughed at are definitely going to send me to hell. Spoilers ahead: The movie parodies the famous pole scene from Cannibal Holocaust, but does so in it’s own unique manor that makes the whole thing rather funny. You also get the traditional “wang” scene where primitive tools are used to remove the appendage. Only this time they do something with it that was unexpected, but too damn funny.

For me one of the things that made this movie even funnier was the attention paid to making the effects look as good as they possibly could. Both of the previously mentioned examples are pretty well pulled off, which makes every work that much better. Not only that but there are other scenes of gut munching (big fan of that if you can’t tell by the site name!), heads exploding, and finally one scene with a pregnant lady that really kicked it up a notch. Other cool touches include some nifty dubbing. There is no attempt to make the dubbed dialogue match what is being said on the screen. At times the dialogue will continue far past the point that the actor on screen has stopped talking. This along with some of the really funny voices (especially the voice used for Jack) used to dub the actors just adds to the overall fun. I also wanted to mention the music that they used for the movie. It definitely has that Italian vibe to it and is a really nice touch. It is this sort of attention to detail that helps make this movie as entertaining as it is.

This is a really well made low budget independent movie. I’ve been accused of being hard on independent movies in the past. But as I recently stated in another review for a bad independent movie I expect to be entertained by a movie regardless of it’s budget. Isle of the Damned is a blast to watch and I highly recommend that everyone check it out. Director Mark Colegrove and writer Mark Leake are the kind of independent filmmakers that we as a horror/exploitation community need to support. So basically I’m saying go buy their movie right now! To do that check out their website at http://direwitfilms.com/

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer