Pop quiz: Which film from 1964, after a brief sequence set in the tropics and some jazzy opening credits, segues into a bird's-eye view of the pool area at the Hotel Fontainebleau, and our handsome leading man cavorting with some bikinied babes? If your answer is "Goldfinger," well, a gold star for you, I suppose, but the film I was actually referring to here in an infinitely lesser affair, Del Tenney's "I Eat Your Skin." As revealed in my bible, "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film," this picture actually first saw the light of day in 1971, after going unreleased for seven years. Apparently, producer Jerry Gross needed a film to pair with his rabid-hippies classic "I Drink Your Blood," and so purchased Tenney's picture (which had previously been titled "Voodoo Blood Bath," more appropriately) and gave it a complementary moniker. Then came the poster for the double feature with the legendary caption "2 great blood-horrors to rip out your guts"! Anyway, as has been noted elsewhere, there is no eating of skin in the Tenney film whatsoever. In it, hunky-dude playboy/writer Tom Harris (played with granite-jawed machismo by William Joyce, a poor man's Sterling Hayden) is given the assignment of going to Voodoo Island in the Caribbean to do research for his next novel, and so hightails it there with his drunken agent and the agent's kooky broad of a wife. And what do they find on the island? A madman attempting to take over the world, a scientist seeking a cure for cancer by utilizing radioactive cobra venom (!), a beautiful blond hottie for Harris to seduce and conquer, a voodoo-practicing tribe, and oh...an army of rather nasty zombies!
These zombies, it should be mentioned here, are not of the George A. Romero variety; indeed, these fast-moving creatures, with horribly scabrous skin and eyes like sunny-side up eggs, would rather lop off your head with a machete than take a bite out of it. Still, they are a memorably frightening-looking bunch. Tenney's film, cheaply made as it is and shot, for the most part, in Coral Gables, FL, exudes a pulpy, Saturday matinée charm that this viewer finds kind of irresistible. The picture has any number of striking images (I love the shot of the zombie advancing toward the camera with a crate marked "Explosives") and a fairly suspenseful windup, one whose debt to another Bond film, 1962's "Dr. No," seems fairly apparent. Tenney, who not only directed this picture but also wrote and produced it, is now a very solid three for three with me; his "Horror of Party Beach" (also from 1964) and "Curse of the Living Corpse" (1963) were both also loads of fun. I don't wish to make too strong a case for "I Eat Your Skin"--the film is undeniably cinematic junk food, and as far from "art" as can be imagined--but offhand, I cannot think of a picture that would be better to watch with your favorite 12-year-old nephew. And surprise of surprises: THIS DVD, from the usually undependable folks at Alpha Video, actually looks pretty decent!
These zombies, it should be mentioned here, are not of the George A. Romero variety; indeed, these fast-moving creatures, with horribly scabrous skin and eyes like sunny-side up eggs, would rather lop off your head with a machete than take a bite out of it. Still, they are a memorably frightening-looking bunch. Tenney's film, cheaply made as it is and shot, for the most part, in Coral Gables, FL, exudes a pulpy, Saturday matinée charm that this viewer finds kind of irresistible. The picture has any number of striking images (I love the shot of the zombie advancing toward the camera with a crate marked "Explosives") and a fairly suspenseful windup, one whose debt to another Bond film, 1962's "Dr. No," seems fairly apparent. Tenney, who not only directed this picture but also wrote and produced it, is now a very solid three for three with me; his "Horror of Party Beach" (also from 1964) and "Curse of the Living Corpse" (1963) were both also loads of fun. I don't wish to make too strong a case for "I Eat Your Skin"--the film is undeniably cinematic junk food, and as far from "art" as can be imagined--but offhand, I cannot think of a picture that would be better to watch with your favorite 12-year-old nephew. And surprise of surprises: THIS DVD, from the usually undependable folks at Alpha Video, actually looks pretty decent!