Here we have a film that looks like it was filmed over a long weekend. We know right away what we are in for during a storm-at-sea scene when the ships captain (Henry Garcia) bangs on a passengers door and the whole plywood set shakes. This is followed by a shot of a miniature ship in someones swimming pool. Stick around, this one has just GOT to be fun. Sure enough, the captain (Mr. Garcia who also co-wrote and co-produced) and Mr. Fallon (Russ Harvey) son of the ships owner, find themselves washed up on the island of Count DeSade (Bill McNulty). The Count has a little problem . . .he's crazy and terribly paranoid, believing everyone who comes to his island is a pirate. The captain soon finds himself imprisoned in the castle torture chamber while Fallon and Count DeSade's nurse Cassandra (Helen Hogan) try to plot a way off the island of madness. Directed by Pay Boyette, the artist who drew "Howard The Duck", this is the sort of movie Drive-In Cinema managers lived for. An early scene stresses how insane Count DeSade is. He sees a ghostly figure (Lee Morgan, a late night TV horror show host who gets "Guest Star" billing) who claims to be a physical incarnation of his own madness and sees snakes and giant spiders. The prolonged torture of the captain gets pretty tough to watch as the film goes on but the encounter between Fallon and DeSade's leprous, mad wife (Eunice Grey) is truly nightmarish.
Performances are . . .well . . .everyone does the best they can, which sadly is not saying much. Michele Buquor is okay as Anne, mute servant girl. In a nod to the 1960's she is miniskirted and barefoot like a time transplanted hippie chick. Standing out is Maurice Harris as Mantis, the count's devoted servant. he gets some of the best dialog in the picture and his line just before he dies is a sleaze movie classic. Lovers of low budget scary movies owe it to themselves to see this one at least once. No, make that twice; you'll want to see it again to make sure you weren't hallucinating the first time.
