Director: Jim O'Connolly
Year: 1972
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: Beyond the Fog; Horror on Snape Island
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After finding a terrified woman on the beach, the police's attempt to find the cause through hypnosis reveals her involvement in her friends' encounter with a savage killer, and they try to help them combat the bloodthirsty maniac after they decide to return to the island themselves.
Review:
This was a highly enjoyable and entertaining effort that really has some decent parts to it. The three-part narrative here manages to make the film seem a lot more involved than it really should be, taking different feelings and cues from the different story lines to create a well-meaning whole that is wholly enjoyable, with the latter two stories giving this its best parts. The recovery of the girl allows the flashbacks to plenty of nude dealings here, with the different couples being stalked and killed off while usually engaging in amorous activities that display plenty of flesh throughout, so there's a lot to like with that being done while a part of the film's best parts of utilizing the setting to maximum effect.
Placing pleasing eye-candy in a wonderfully-realized Gothic setting of abandoned ruins, fire-lit rooms, fog-enshrouded walkways, and plenty of dark, creepy hiding spots to be watched over and jumping out from makes for a perfectly chilling effort in these segments. The third story involving the research team is a little clichéd as it deals with the eventual appearance of the hermit-like creature as a total surprise even though it was used as a reveal back in the second one, so the numerous stalking scenes here come off quite lame and counterintuitive to what it's trying to do as it goes about doing all this set-up for a payoff already given earlier.
Still, these are offset by the excessive action and stalking done in the final half hour, which is all sorts of fun with lots of brawling, traditional final-girl slasher-style confrontations, and the ever-present Gothic trope of burning down the location at the end. It's all quite fun and really makes better use of it's screen-time than the rest of the segment, as well as the first part of the film, which is just quite lame and confusing as it deals with the arrival of the hermit on the island and does nothing really enjoyable with it. Otherwise, this is quite enjoyable and certainly proves there's some worth to mixing the Gothic with the exploitation market.
Overview: ****/5
An incredibly fun and enjoyable 70s horror effort, this one manages to get a lot out of positive aspects which are used to hold off some of the minor drawbacks featured here. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the approach taken here, will have a lot to like here, while most others might want to heed caution.
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