TOWER OF EVIL
UK, 1972, 89 minutes, Colour.
Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Anna Palk, William Lucas, Anthony Valentine, Jack Watson, Mark Edwards, Derek Fowlds, John Hamill, Gary Hamilton, Dennis Price, George Coulouris, Robin Askwith.
Directed by Jim O’ Connolly.
Tower of Evil (The Horror of Snape Island in the US) is a piece of exploitation trash. However, it is of interest for film buffs and those interested in the development of genres.
When an audience watches the film, it may be surprised that it was made as early as 1972. There is a fair amount of nudity, innuendo. There is also more than a touch of gore. However, it is a move away from the Hammer films with their Gothic style to a more blunt presentation of horror, in such films as The Curse of the Crimson Altar and other derivatives.
The plot has some possibilities: men sail to a deserted island and find dead bodies, an expedition returns looking for relics and treasure of the god Ba’al. However, they are picked off by an invisible person, possibly a monster. This plot inevitably generates some suspense.
However, the film is quite an odd mixture of aspects of British film-making. Dennis Price and Anthony Valentine make guest appearances but seem to have very little connection with the main thrust of the film. There are four American students (including Robin Askwith, star of The Confessions of …. series) as an American! There is also the presence of good English actors like Jack Watson and George Coulouris (who appeared in Citizen Kane) as well as standard actors for horror films Bryant Haliday and Jill Haworth. Derek Fowlds, in his young days, also makes an appearance (later to be in Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister and three hundred and twenty-seven episodes of Heartbeat). Some of the performers are very poor actors including some of the young people as the Americans and Gary Hamilton (who had no career on screen or television) introduced as Brom.
The settings are fairly basic. The special effects also very basic, although veteran cinematographer Desmond Dickinson was the director of photography here. The film was directed by Jim O’ Connolly who had made The Valley of Gwangi as well as Crooks and Coronets and was to make Mistress Pamela.
The film anticipates Friday the 13th and its genre by eight years. However, there are some similarities, especially with a group of young Americans going to a remote place, interested in drugs and sex, and being killed off. This was to become a staple of the horror films of the 1980s.
However, this film is an odd and cheap and nasty exercise in British horror from the 70s.
The only discussion would concern the development of the horror genre, the remote island and victims being picked off, the search for ancient treasure, the hidden monster, the relationships. There is no question that much of the acting is very poor and awkward. Which means then that some audiences will find it quite risible. Others will be interested in the way that it uses conventions. Others will think it is so bad as to be good.
