ISLAND OF DEATH (1976)

I'll warn you: this is not the kind of movie I usually review here. First, because I generally consider the early 1970s a cut-off point for classic-era movies. Second, because it is a graphic sex and horror film. Though the sex is strictly soft-core and the violence is not especially graphic by today's standards, the combination of the two would surely have gotten this film rated X back in 1976; as it stands, it's unrated, and I can find no evidence that it ever got a theatrical release in the U.S. When it came out on video in England in the 80s, it was banned for twenty years. The reason I'm writing about it here is because of the Bob Behling connection--he is the actor whom I discovered had been miscredited in LAND OF THE MINOTAUR. Anyhow, be forewarned about the possibly offensive content below. Also there's a major spoiler in the last sentence.

Attractive young couple Chris (Bob Behling) and Celia (Jane Lyle, both pictured at left) arrive for a vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos. Chris likes the island because it's full of God-fearing people and Chris hates anyone he considers a "pervert." However, we soon discover some unsettling facts about these two. First, Chris insists on dragging Celia into a phone booth for a quickie while talking long distance to his mother and telling her what he's doing. Next, we learn that a British cop is after the pair for some reason. The next morning, when Celia refuses sunrise sex, Chris goes out and buggers a goat which he kills immediately afterward. Celia flirts with a hunky islander who is painting a small church, and when they have al fresco sex, Chris attacks him, nails his hands to the ground and pours paint down his throat, while the whole time the two are snapping pictures of the deadly incident—it doesn't matter to them that he was coerced into immorality. Later the two masturbate to the pictures of the man dying. And so on as Chris, clearly styling himself as an avenging angel, kills off anyone he thinks is a pervert (gay men, lesbians, hookers), while himself getting a sexual charge out of the killings. Celia gets tired of their spree but Chris insists they continue. In the end, they run into a grungy shepherd who rapes Celia and throws Chris into a lime pit. [SPOILER] When Chris cries out for help, Celia decides she likes the shepherd and leaves him to die. And then we find out that Chris and Celia are brother and sister.

This is definitely a movie for specialized tastes. As I noted above, the sex is soft-core and the violence is not as gory as it could be, though the death scenes are all rather prolonged and excruciating. Behling is good, I guess you could say, since he is believable as the misguided killer; Lyle is less evil but no more likable. The gay male character is portrayed as a shrieking, caftan-wearing stereotype, and there is virtually no one here who has our sympathies, except maybe the poor housepainter. An abrasive rock song is played periodically, the chorus of which is "Desperation, Understand, Destination isn't ending. Get the sword!" (Chris uses a sword in one killing). It was filmed on location, so the island backgrounds are nice, but "nice" is not a word I’d use for this movie. [Amazon Prime]