I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this troubled production after hearing so many bad things about it. Sure, it's not a brilliant film by any means, but it's nowhere near as confused as it's made out to be and there are plenty of things going on to retain the interest. The film is one of those old-fashioned adventure yarns, set in a foreign country as a plot with our British heroes encountering mad cults on a Greek island. It may be nonsensical at times but to make up for these lapses there are also some fairly exciting moments to be had too. And above all this it's still worth watching to hear Edward Woodward's hilarious speech equating vampirism with sexual perversion - psychological mumbo-jumbo at its most unintentionally funny!
A good cast also helps to compensate for the negative aspects of this film. It's nice to see that one of the heroic leads is black, something very rare for a film from this period. I can't actually think of another British horror film where the protagonist is. Patrick Macnee is on hand to lend a much-needed air of authenticity but sadly falls off a cliff after being struck by polystyrene boulders in one amusing moment. Patrick Mower is good as the tormented man who falls under the curse of the cult while Edward Woodward and Peter Cushing both put in good cameos, Cushing excelling in a scene in which he is called upon to cry, totally convincing us in doing so.
Other things to look out for include the typical awful fashions; some out-of-place music playing over the action and a weird, psychedelic orgy which gives the film the opportunity to show lots and lots of gratuitous naked women. There are also a couple of smashing action bits in there too, the first in which Sekka is forced to take on four thugs single-handedly, the second being the fraught rooftop finale which ends in tragedy. Also catch the dramatic speech at the end, literally show-stopping. The vampirism angle is actually kept to a bare minimum in this film, the menace working best when it is unnamed and faceless. This film actually reminded me of RACE WITH THE DEVIL, with tourists being hunted down by rabid cult followers. It's flawed, yes, but interesting to watch for all the above reasons.
A good cast also helps to compensate for the negative aspects of this film. It's nice to see that one of the heroic leads is black, something very rare for a film from this period. I can't actually think of another British horror film where the protagonist is. Patrick Macnee is on hand to lend a much-needed air of authenticity but sadly falls off a cliff after being struck by polystyrene boulders in one amusing moment. Patrick Mower is good as the tormented man who falls under the curse of the cult while Edward Woodward and Peter Cushing both put in good cameos, Cushing excelling in a scene in which he is called upon to cry, totally convincing us in doing so.
Other things to look out for include the typical awful fashions; some out-of-place music playing over the action and a weird, psychedelic orgy which gives the film the opportunity to show lots and lots of gratuitous naked women. There are also a couple of smashing action bits in there too, the first in which Sekka is forced to take on four thugs single-handedly, the second being the fraught rooftop finale which ends in tragedy. Also catch the dramatic speech at the end, literally show-stopping. The vampirism angle is actually kept to a bare minimum in this film, the menace working best when it is unnamed and faceless. This film actually reminded me of RACE WITH THE DEVIL, with tourists being hunted down by rabid cult followers. It's flawed, yes, but interesting to watch for all the above reasons.