The session: Odds and Sods
Four oddball Halloween-appropriate movies from different countries
Week 1: Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1969)
Directed by Eddie Romero and Gerry DeLong
My Level of Prior Knowledge
Never heard of it.
Plot:
On remote Blood Island, an American doctor discovers a mad scientist turning villagers into green-skinned killers with a bizarre serum.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, the scenery is gorgeous—lush jungles and tropical vistas that make you almost forgive the film for what comes next. Unfortunately, the camera work is a nightmare: the throbbing, rapid zooms during supposedly shocking moments are so relentless they’re genuinely nauseating.
The movie veers between silly and slightly impressive. The monster looks great in some shots but downright comical in others, and the comic book–like plotting makes it hard to care about any of the characters. At least the filmmakers bothered to give a plausible (if horror movie–plausible) explanation for the chaos, which is more than I was expecting early on.
There’s a surprising amount of explicit gore, which adds a curious touch of interest—even if I usually prefer the power of imagination over a flood of blood. Acting and dialogue are uniformly bad, but somehow, that fits the overall tone of absurdity.
At least Bobbo had fun watching it!
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