Island of the Damned is a pretty fucked up movie from the 70′s. The story revolves around a couple that visit an island where the husband had previously visited years ago. The big difference between his trip now and back in his hay day, is that the main center of town is deserted. After searching around town for a bit, they rest up at a restaurant, where they confront a young child, who quickly runs off after failing to communicate.  After the husband finds a phone, he hears a woman’s voice on the phone, but the woman is speaking German, so he can’t understand, but realizes she’s in distress. Things on the island are not as they seem apparently. A while later, an elderly man pops up out of nowhere, and is brutally bludgeoned to death by a disturbingly cheerful young teenage girl. After the wife of the couple witnesses this event, she freaks out and from hereon, the shit hits the fan. We’re introduced to new characters, an older gentleman who knows that something is wrong on the island confronts the couple, saying that the children on the island have gone mad. Of course, he gets brutally mauled to death after being led by one of the children who tells the man they know where his child is.

From then on, it’s purely survival. The husband and wife are now being targeted by an island of crazed children, some wielding pistols and automatic rifles. Perhaps the most disturbing scene was when the couple are trapped in a room with a single window. A young child of maybe 3-4 pops up with a pistol through the window bars, and the husband has to make a quick decision on what to do. So he pumps the kid full of lead! I know that people are desensitized to death of violence, but it was indeed quite shocking, and can only imagine how people felt at the time of the movies release. The ending of the flick is quite the plot twist.  ****spoiler alert**** The man reaches the docks of the town, and a police ship can be seen docking. The husband waves for help, but the children, now in mass, are assaulting the poor guy and in order to defend himself, he caps a few more kids with his automatic! So you have all these little kids floating in the water, and bodies piling up by the docks. What the hell are the police going to think? So as they approach, the kids are yelling to the police that they need help! So the cops blast the poor husband. Poor bastard. Anyways, as they get off  the docks, one of the cops says “Who can do this do a child”, and then a group of kids encircle the police, and they’re all smiling! Classic. Anyways, the movie is pretty cool, the pacing might turn people off, but it poses a lot of interesting moral questions, and is not afraid to shock people.

A solid 3/5 from me!

Island of the Damned Trailer