Isle of the Damned (Released on DVD 3/31/08)

Story: Private Investigator Jack Steele, along with his son Billy and and a cast of colorful companions, travel to an island inhabited by cannibals to find “The Lost Treasure of Marco Polo”.

Review: Dire Wit Films takes parody films to a whole new level with its release of “Isle of the Damned”. I want you to take everything you know about 1970′s Italian horror movies, and FORGET IT. “Isle” takes you by the collar, and doesn’t let go throughout the movie with its endless slew of gore, awful dubbing, and 1970′s stereotypes.

The characters seem like something you would see in a Troma film or a Matt Stone and Trey Parker production, with their ceaseless vulgar dialogue.

I particularly like the scenes that used fake “stock-footage” to give it that “Hell of the Living Dead” feel, and countless other films that used stock footage of nature.

For a film with such a low budget, they did a FANTASTIC job with the gore. Not only do we see castration a la Cannibal Holocaust, we see the eating of a fetus that was ripped out of a dying woman!

The film does get repetitive at times, and it is way too long for a movie that parodies a small sub-genre in exploitation films. It is a fun movie, and would be enjoyed that much more if the viewer was watching with friends and intoxicated.

Video: Dire Wit Films takes the original movie and ages it by adding specks, dirt, and grain. Other than that the film is widescreen and looks fine for what it is and what it represents.

Audio: Atrocious over-the-top dubbing MAKES this film. Again, it represents an age and type of cinema where audio was added after filming, including the sound effects. The music at points whole-heartedly represents the genre it is mocking, while at other points it sounds like something you would hear from any stereotypical cop or crime movie in the 70′s.