(1967/SPAIN/GERMANY)
(LA ISLA DE LA MUERTE, ISLAND OF THE DOOMED, ISLAND OF THE DEAD, DEATH ISLAND, DAS GEHEIMNIS DER TODESINSEL, THE BLOODSUCKERS)
REVIEW BY-Devin Kelly
CAST: Cameron Mitchell, George Martin, Elisa Montés, Rolf von Nauckhoff, Hermann Nehlsen, Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Kai Fischer, Mike Brendel, Ricardo Valle
DIRECTOR: Mel Welles
PRODUCER(s): George Ferrer / Ernst R. von Theumer
An Orbita-Tefi Co-production
DVD SOURCE: Shout Factory (Elvira’s Movie Macabre)

Fresh off of viewing this atmosphere-heavy journey through a tale of botanical bliss gone awry, I think it would be more than fitting to say that I’ve hit the Euro-jackpot yet again. Any combination of Cameron Mitchell and European produced schlocksational madness seems to be a sure fire payoff, and the Spanish/West German, LA ISLA DE LA MUERTE (1967) (MANEATER OF HYDRA) is most certainly no exception. Add to it, a rustic Mediterranean island setting with ample amounts of hovering, dense fog, a cast of superbly capable, late-sixties European supporting performers playing a suitable assortment of eccentrics, plus a host of horrific horticultural hybrids, and we’ve got another winner. A variety of individuals are lured away by handsome, smooth talking tour guide,

Alfredo (Ricardo Valle) with promises of a gorgeous Botanical Garden getaway on a secluded Mediterranean island intended to capture their wildest imaginations. This special ferry cruise and then tour is so spectacular it’s limited to just six people. Of course, this ends up a diverse ensemble, including some of your usual stereotypes. On hand is the bickering couple, consisting of flirtatious, touchy-feely wife, Cora Robinson (Kai Fischer), and her apparently no longer able to satisfy, bland older husband, James (Rolf van Nauckhoff). Also, masculine hero-type, David Moss (George Martin) and his lovely lady, Beth (Elisa Montés), University of Michigan Botanist, Professor Jules Demerest (Hermann Nehlsen), and a snap-happy amateur photography nut named Myrtle Callihan (Matilde Muñoz Sampedro). They’re not long on the island before they crash smack dab, literally, right into a spot of chaos almost immediately. A sickly pale, almost zombie-like man suddenly runs straight towards the front of the guide’s car, colliding with the front hood in a solid thud impact. The group jump out as David and Alfredo bolt towards him hoping to find some sign of life – which unfortunately, is not the case. Looking over the man, they notice hideous markings and holes on his face, nearly resembling the look of someone who you could even say appears rotted or hollow. Just as the two men are about to move him, they’re startled by a voice. Looking over, they are quickly introduced to the wealthy recluse who owns the island and everything on it – genius botany master, the Baron von Weser (Cameron Mitchell). Right off, the Baron explains that the victim before them was his cook, who’d been recently overtaken by disease and had run outside in a fit of hysteria. Regardless of the incident, von Weser coldly has his former employee shrouded in a sheet and disposed of as he escorts his guests into his villa.

In one strange bit of continuity – or lack thereof – it seems the Baron was already expectant of these exact travelers as he instructs them to locate the rooms with their names on the doors. Ah, it’s Euro-cult. I’ll chalk it up to that. As they all settle in, the six admire the various pieces of centuries old art and the structure within which they lay, itself. One thing even more noticeable though – at least to David – is the lack of other people the entire time they’ve been there thus far. The story they got on the way up to the Villa from Alfredo, was that the locals had been scared off the island by fables of a vampire legend, but David (and perhaps Alfredo himself) senses there is more to it. The Baron von Weser too gives a feeling that something is amiss, with a glance alone. It doesn’t help the unease either with all of von Weser’s bizarre, cross-pollenated, mix and match prototype plant specimens dangerously hanging out around every corner. When the bodies start to pile even higher too – they’ll all be wondering just what the hell is going on in this greenhouse of horrors?!

Despite the somewhat sub-par, full screen print I had to contend with here, it didn’t at all prevent me from thinking upon finishing this, that LA ISLA DE LA MUERTE (its original title), or MANEATER OF HYDRA is one hell of a fun slab of Euro-shenanigans with a wildly cool concept that I don’t think I’ve seen more creatively done. Was David Cronenberg watching this prior to shooting RABID (1977)?! Had Sam Raimi seen this in one of his University film classes before shooting a certain rape scene for THE EVIL DEAD (1982)?! If the answer is yes to either question, it wouldn’t surprise me. It also in some ways doesn’t surprise me that the man in the director’s chair for this Barcelona-shot horror outing is someone who had much contact with carnivorous plant life over the years – actor/director/writer/producer, Mel Welles – maybe best remembered for his role as flower shop owner, Gravis Mushnik, in the beloved original 1960 classic, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. By the time MANEATER OF HYDRA came to be, Welles had been in the midst of a fairly busy career resurgence over in Europe, both acting and directing in several different genres, primarily in the hotspot many formerly successful American actors have migrated to over the years – Italy. Welles had previously tried his hand at directing European cinema a few years before, co-helming both the Swiss/Italian, UN COMMERCE TRANQUILLE (1964) (along side Guido Franco), and also, Bond-inspired, secret agent film (which were the rage in Italy during that time), A 001, OPERAZIONE GIAMAICA (1965) (OUR MAN IN JAMAICA) – which Welles co-directed with moderately prolific West German producer/director, Ernst R. von Theumer (somewhat of a poor man’s Erwin C. Dietrich) – whom he would later co-write MANEATER OF HYDRA with. Von Theumer also co-produced the film. Welles would also go on to direct the popularly schlocky, LA FIGLIA DI FRANKENSTEIN (1971) (LADY FRANKENSTEIN), which von Theumer is sometimes incorrectly credited for. LA FIGLIA DI FRANKENSTEIN would also mark the final filmmaking trip to Europe, in any capacity, for Mel Welles, while his career in North America would continue throughout the 1980’s, with the occasional comeback afterwards until his death in 2005.

The cast lined up for MANEATER OF HYDRA is, as I said, a quite excellent mixture of entertaining performances. Of course, as per usual with anything in which he was given the right material (especially things of this warped nature); Cameron Mitchell is a scenery-chomping show stealer. Although for the first half Mitchell seems to have taken his anti-wacky pills, by the second and into the brain-altering finale, Cam’s hamming it up to high heaven, chasing people around with axes and sobbing uncontrollably next to a bleeding tree (I CANNOT spoil this by elaborating as it is one of those must see to believe moments). “Listen, my treasure, my baby. I can’t live without you, you hear?!” he rants as he cradles his forlorn foliage. “Take my blood, MY BLOOD! I promise you, we’ll be together.” Man, and I thought Michael Jayston was taking it a little far with his tree trunk tenderness in TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS (1973). Joan Collins wouldn’t have even gotten a second look from ol’ Cam! See, just more affirmation as to why I absolutely love Cameron Mitchell so damn much. He was the closest to being legally nuts and still able to act, pre- Gary Busey.

The rest of the cast is also pretty fun in their own right, with a few of the actors on hand from Central Europe I’d like to explore further, being unfamiliar to me. Among them, and especially, is Hermann Nehlsen – who also had a minor spaghetti western stint – popping up in films like Carlo Lizzani’s REQUIESCANT (1967) (KILL AND PRAY) and Alfio Caltabiano’s BALLATA PER UN PISTOLERO (1967) (BALLAD OF A GUNMAN). He is exceptionally good as University of Michigan botany expert, Prof. Demerest – so enthusiastically absorbed in Baron von Weser’s experimental strains that he fails to see the full, terrifying truth. “We’ll write books about your work here, so the world will learn of your genius!” he excitedly and naively proclaims to the Baron. Czech-born, Kai Fischer is memorable too as the loose, Cora Robinson – who despite being married and accompanied by her hubby, can’t seem to keep her hands to herself – in particular taking a healthy liking to dark skinned tour overseer, Alfredo. Able to play the floozy here to perfection, Fischer (sometimes credited Kay Fischer), although a popular actress for years in West Germany – seemed to have a hot and cold acting career when venturing outside of her common territory and trying her hand in other countries, such as Italy. Apart from her several dozen credits in German language productions, Kai Fischer would turn up in Stefano Vanzina’s early horror comedy, TEMPI DURI PER I VAMPIRI (1959) (MY UNCLE THE VAMPIRE), the Mario Caiano spaghetti western, LE PISTOLE NON DISCUTONO (1964) (BULLETS DON’T ARGUE), as well as incomprehensible Nazsploitation mishmash HOLOCAUST PARTE SECONDA: I RICORDI, I DELIRI, I VENDETTA (1980) (HOLOCAUST 2: THE MEMORIES, THE DELIRIUM, THE VENDETTA, or HOLOCAUST 2: THE EXERIMENT) from fringe Italian director, Angelo Pannacciò.

The central hero in this – David Moss – is played by Spanish actor (and also occasional director) George Martin, who, along with doe-eyed Elisa Montés – make an ideal leading pair. Martin was a good looking, fit, often top-billed actor of the sixties and early seventies who primarily took the lead in a number of spaghetti westerns from the early part of the 1960’s, onward, appearing in such offerings from the genre as Léon Klimovsky’s FUERA DE LA LEY (1964) (BILLY THE KID), Amando De Ossorio’s I TRE DEL COLORADO (1966) (THREE FROM COLORADO), Duccio Tessari’s KISS KISS…BANG BANG (1966), and Alfonso Balcazar’s CLINT EL SOLITARIO (1967) (CLINT THE STRANGER) , to name a small handful. Martin was one of the most active pasta western leading men who is perhaps far too forgotten today. One of his final roles, which he’s likely best known for among non-spaghetti western collectors, is his part as the Inspector in the Maurizio Pradeaux giallo, PASSI DI DANZA SU UNA LAMA DI RASOIO (1972) (DEATH CARRIES A CANE) in which he chases around a dance hating, “clip-clop” killer. Martin would quietly retire from pictures following one more performance in 1975. His battle with Cameron Mitchell at the climax of MANEATER OF HYDRA is worth waiting for! Elisa Montés was a pretty, dark-haired Spanish starlet, resembling a cross between singer, Bjork and Audrey Hepburn. A supporting veteran of the big screen in Europe through until the mid-nineties - with such other varied Euro-cult flicks as, Mario Caiano’s  ERIK, IL VICHINGO (1965) (ERIK THE VIKING), Alberto Cardone’s SETTE DOLLARI SUL ROSSO (1966) (SEVEN DOLLARS ON THE RED), Jesus Franco’s DER HEIβE TOD (1969) (99 WOMEN), and Alexander Singer’s Spanish/UK, CAPTAIN APACHE (1971), among them. Her biggest opportunity however, came in 1966 when she was cast to appear as Julian Mateos’ wife in the Burt Kennedy follow-up, RETURN OF THE SEVEN (1966), featuring again, Yul Brynner. Definitely the closest Montés came to any sort of mainstream exposure to U.S. audiences. She isn’t given a great deal to do in MANEATER OF HYDRA. At first she’s just kind of there. As the film moves along though, she quickly becomes the female emerging as the main focus – especially in one tense sequence where she runs for her life before plummeting into an open grave and landing squarely on top of our former cook turned corpse from earlier.

I was really very pleasantly surprised with how much I dug MANEATER OF HYDRA – although as I’m sure you could have guessed, thanks in large part to Cameron Mitchell – who whether working for Mario Bava or David Winters, I’ll always be biased towards. Still, it was hugely entertaining creature feature drek (dislaying some creative opening credits too I must say) and a big check on the list of some of the better European monster flicks I’ve seen. If I could make one comment about the score from Antón García Abril and José Muñoz Molleda though – I thought its jazzy feel would have been more fitted to a Jess Franco, Red Lips Girls flick rather than something like MANEATER OF HYDRA. In some weird way, the film even plays a bit like a giallo, but it eventually becomes clear that it’s the farthest thing from it. That and you could have read the back of the case. The film is presented full screen sadly, on Shout Factory’s ELVIRA’s MOVIE MACABRE Double Feature line (along with the superior, LA RESIDENCIA) – which basically takes films that were shown during Elvira’s late-night horror show back in the eighties and releases them in double features on DVD. The nice thing is though, you have the option of removing the stops along the way where Elvira mocks the film and just viewing it in its entirety. As far as print sources go, well, it’s a mixed bag. While MANEATER OF HYDRA is pan and scan (but still watchable – especially since there is no other DVD version around), the second disc, LA RESIDENCIA, is letterboxed (and a film well worth seeing!). All in all, there are some must have titles in this set of discs that are required viewing enough to put up with a couple of minor headaches. Respectable specialty labels out there take note, however. This film is screaming for widescreen remastering!

For eerie, yet lightly fromage scented Euro-horror from the swingin’ sixties that guarantees a good time, MANEATER OF HYDRA is a worthwhile starting point.

WHAT WAS THE TERRIFYING SECRET OF THE VAMPIRE TREE?

STORY: 4/5 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE: 2.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO: 3/5 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS: 1/5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL FILM: 4/5 BITCH SLAPS

2008 @ CINEMA NOCTURNA