You can count the number of truly talented screenwriters at work over the years on two hands - and that might be pushing it. I love Gothic horror films from the 1960's and '70's, therefore I enjoyed this film but couldn't dismiss the quality of the script. The dialogue was poor but the most glaring deficiency in the script was the absence of tension building. Granted, there was some tension being built in the film, but the writer should have used Penny's character, in a flashback sequence, at the climax to better build the tension. Instead, Penny was forgotten.
To fill you in on the plot, and who this Penny lady is I am referring to, I shall start from the beginning. The film opens with two sailors searching an island. They stumble upon three corpses of young Americans (British actors portraying Americans that is) before they meet up with Penny (Candace Glendenning). Penny is so visibly shaken, she kills one of the sailors before the other knocks her out with a crowbar. Penny is then taken back to the mainland where she is in a near catatonic state. A doctor tries to enter her mind and find out what happened at the island while the police are content with labeling her the killer of the three corpses - since she did kill one of the sailors. However, Penny killed the sailor with an ancient sword made of gold which interest some archaeologists. They gather into a boat and set to the island to find more ancient artifacts.
On the island, the archaeologists, who are involved in a love rectangle, get dispatched one-by-one while trying to unlock the mystery of the island.
STORY: $$ (No new ground charted here, and like I mentioned before, Penny should have been used more appropriately to convey dread for the archaeologists on the island. Some of the dialogue is atrocious. The female characters are depicted as sexually open, especially Anna Palk, yet they are written as the typical screaming, stay at the house type damsels when terror is presented).
VIOLENCE: $$$$ (Violence hounds won't be letdown. There are multiple stabbings and a decent amount of gore, but that stuff isn't my cup of tea. There is also an explosion and a decapitation mixed in with the stabbings and occasional gun-play).
ACTING: $$ (The acting is quite stiff with Anna Palk shining as the promiscuous vixen. Candace Glendenning does a fine job with the unstable Penny but I found it difficult to care for any character in this film outside of Penny - and again, the character was used poorly).
NUDITY:$$$ (There is plenty of the flesh in this film. When the sailors encounter Penny for the first time, she is stark naked. Her chum also has a nude scene as well as several guys in the film).
To fill you in on the plot, and who this Penny lady is I am referring to, I shall start from the beginning. The film opens with two sailors searching an island. They stumble upon three corpses of young Americans (British actors portraying Americans that is) before they meet up with Penny (Candace Glendenning). Penny is so visibly shaken, she kills one of the sailors before the other knocks her out with a crowbar. Penny is then taken back to the mainland where she is in a near catatonic state. A doctor tries to enter her mind and find out what happened at the island while the police are content with labeling her the killer of the three corpses - since she did kill one of the sailors. However, Penny killed the sailor with an ancient sword made of gold which interest some archaeologists. They gather into a boat and set to the island to find more ancient artifacts.
On the island, the archaeologists, who are involved in a love rectangle, get dispatched one-by-one while trying to unlock the mystery of the island.
STORY: $$ (No new ground charted here, and like I mentioned before, Penny should have been used more appropriately to convey dread for the archaeologists on the island. Some of the dialogue is atrocious. The female characters are depicted as sexually open, especially Anna Palk, yet they are written as the typical screaming, stay at the house type damsels when terror is presented).
VIOLENCE: $$$$ (Violence hounds won't be letdown. There are multiple stabbings and a decent amount of gore, but that stuff isn't my cup of tea. There is also an explosion and a decapitation mixed in with the stabbings and occasional gun-play).
ACTING: $$ (The acting is quite stiff with Anna Palk shining as the promiscuous vixen. Candace Glendenning does a fine job with the unstable Penny but I found it difficult to care for any character in this film outside of Penny - and again, the character was used poorly).
NUDITY:$$$ (There is plenty of the flesh in this film. When the sailors encounter Penny for the first time, she is stark naked. Her chum also has a nude scene as well as several guys in the film).