Image Entertainment

"It's not that they were bad…they were good. They were very limited films." -Eddie Romero, taken from his interview with Pete Tombs on the Image DVD of Brides of Blood.

The legendary Hemisphere films, home of monstrous shocks, cheap schlocks and drive in chills n' spills mixed with late night TV re-titlings from an age when UHF was the bible and I was a pupil in the darkest Saturday night Sunday School has come to DVD. Sure, it's an event, but it took the recently released BLOOD ISLAND VACATION BOX SET from Image Entertainment to pull my lazy wallet out of my pocket and take a trip, no… to set sail with these dreamy cheapies. Sure, I didn't even realize that Brides of Blood was one of those TV films from my youth, but now I could see it with bum, and boobs…and blood! Beautiful.
Brides of Blood is the first film in the box set, though Romero was actually revisiting Blood Island after being away for nearly a decade after making Terror Is A Man. That time away however long brought Romero back bearing color and life to the island with him instead of an extra pair of shoes.
Opening on our heroes, we meet the dashing Jim (John Ashley)…a Peace Corps worker out to help the natives, the wooden faced Dr. Henderson (ah…you can never EVER dislike Kent Taylor) and his wife, the vavaVOOMVACIOUS Beverly Hills (not her real name, but apt…very apt). They are looking to study the fallout of the Bikini Islands bomb testing and perhaps figure out why the crabs are so damn succulent (oops, I mean HUGE). Disembarking from the ship to the dismay of the native islanders, they realize that obviously something is wrong. Well, if they didn't get that sense of foreboding from the high count of midgets around, they should have followed the maxims of all great monster films.
BEWARE THE BANANNA TREE THAT GRABS YOU!
WATCH OUT WHEN YOU SEE THE LOCAL WOMEN BEING LOTTERIED OFF…THEY ARE SACRIFICES!
YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!
They don't though.
But luckily a chap named Goro, who loves to beat the size challenged natives invites them to stay at the handsome Esteban Powers' villa. Women die, trees attack, our heroes watch and don't once seem to contemplate leaving. Romance blooms for the handsome young man, and nymphomania may destroy the Hendersons… or a tree and a monster could as well.
Add some dancing and chanting, a few dismemberments via growling Monster, one creature that looks like the Shaw Bros. Character of The Oily Maniac and a bit of guess who the creature is, and you have a lovely bit of stew to mix in your Blood Island Cocktail. Served extra wet and on the occasional bared Beverly Hill.

The Blood Island films are the perfect antidote for feeling cult cinema jaded, especially if you remember the Pre-Cable (or…gasp! Drive-In) glory of being teased by amazing posters and actually feeling rewarded when you stayed up to see them. Feeling much more antiquated than the late 1960s, Brides of Blood is like a hyped up and cut rate version of King Kong. Well, with a monster that lacks even the facial expressions that livened up The Kong. It's got adventure in the jungle, a few beautiful women, handsome men who aren't afraid to take action and natives rituals galore. Giant TikiGod structures abound and the pace rivals the decoration. Never boring, Romero and DeLeon maximize every second they have, be it with tease, sleaze or monsters going "GRREEEEZZZZZZZZZE" and decapitating all those poor folks around the Island of Blood.
In the DVD supplements there is an interview that states the budget for a film of this type would have been around 15 thousand dollars, which even in 1968 is paltry. But on Blood Island, money is no object. Blessed by a great bit of imagination on the part of the filmmakers, it is the cast who really save the day. John Ashley is simply what he always is, a strong young hero in the best mold. In his excellent liner notes Jim Arena points out his mispronouncing of his love interests name, but that is nowhere near as funny as Ashley's classic mangling of the spooky hosts moniker.
AYYY/Stahhh-Bahhhn!
Myself, I always love to see Kent Taylor in a movie. While he had a long and illustrious career, I'm sure that many would call his work for Al Adamson a nadir, but I truly believe the horror and cult films were what he was meant to do. Distinct and always assured, Taylor is amazing here as he mocks his nympho wife and reacts to butterflys on strings with the same gallant effort. A true trooper. Beverly Hills (really Beverly Powers) is beauty without the talent in many ways, but she sure does look good and runs around in her nightie before getting stripped by the beast. If I had caught that scene uncensored as a kid I think I would have had a stroke… hell, I did when it happened. Wow.
And is there a monster? Ah yes, and while his poorly rendered face doesn't move, that is about the only part of his big bulky frame that doesn't run about mangling and screaming. An outstanding creation for a fevered night at the flicker palace, I love this guy. He isn't quite perfect, but it's like Romero said, they were limited.
Overall, Brides of Blood was a blissful revisiting of the cinema of horror I remember staying up for, sneaking out to, and loving with all my heart. And there is more to come.
Joy!
The DVD from Image Entertainment is quite nice, and while it appears some print damage may have excised small chunks of footage forever, the film looks quite complete with breasts and bottoms bared and body parts being flung around. I doubt they will look any better than this and there should be no excuse to pass them up due to quality. And the extras! Wow, we get a commentary by Sam Sherman that runs through the first 47:45 of the film-and to anyone that has listened to Sam on the various Adamson discs, you know he is always reliable to give you a ton of fun, history and a real sense of how amazing it is that these movies were not only made, but still being appreciated that cult fans owe him a huge thanks. If you meet him, buy the beer. Trailers, a Beverly Hills Pin Up Gallery, the original promo for the Wedding Ring giveaway (eek, be a BRIDE OF BLOOD!) and more will keep you clicking the remote for quite some time after the show is done.
Let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the fridge…let's get another beer and make the Blood Island Box Set the thing we need to sit down with.
Catchy eh?

FILM: 3 Bitch Slaps
PICTURE: 3 Bitch Slaps
SOUND: 3 Bitch Slaps
EXTRAS: 4 Bitch Slaps
OVERALL: 3.5 Bitch Slaps

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