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#11
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - October 12, 2026, 05:55:42 PMTERROR ISLAND (1920):
Did you know Harry Houdini was also a movie star? I didn't. I guess he did serials prior to this feature, as the poster boldly proclaims that TERROR ISLAND is "not a serial!".
Harry, who is short and plain-looking (though a bit like Harvey Keitel, who played him in a movie once) gets involved in a complex larceny/blackmail/kidnapping/island-rescue plot that involves a lovely young lass and her valuable family jewel or something. The lass is at least half Harry's age and too cute for him but they end up together romantically anyway, of course.
Is TERROR ISLAND a horror movie? As too often is the case w/ silents, the answer is "Not Really". However the second half does take place on an island full of cannibals (most of whom do look like they're played by non-white actors, though not necessarily all of the same racial background) and those cannibals do talk a lot about eating "longpig", though they never get around to doing it (fortunately).
TERROR ISLAND is missing a reel from the middle (encapsulated in an intertitle) but otherwise it ain't bad as these things go. Harry does a few stunts, including getting hung up in a MAN CALLED HORSE-like gallows by his neck and somehow flipping upside down (in a jumpcut
) to escape. He also does some underwater action, including a fight on a flooded submarine at the climax. One distinction that TERROR ISLAND has is that it has several supporting characters who have at least a dimension and a half, thus you recognize them and are impressed when most of them die during the frenzied RESERVOIR DOGS-like final shootout. 
3/5 I admit that cannibal tribes scare me almost as much and as irrationally as Bigfoot. This isn't purely a kneejerk racist response. Yeah, part of it is that the Italian movie ones will just pull you apart w/ their bare hands and eat you raw. But I'm also afraid of the family from TCM, who'll cook you before they eat you. The common denominator is (I hesitate to say) that both the natives and the Leatherface clan are just so unclean-looking and thus somehow uncouth. If they had the decency to take a shower and put on a nice laundered outfit before they ate me, like Doctor Lecter or Paul & Mary Bland, I wouldn't be bothered nearly as much. Maybe I have a classist cannibal hangup?
Did you know Harry Houdini was also a movie star? I didn't. I guess he did serials prior to this feature, as the poster boldly proclaims that TERROR ISLAND is "not a serial!".
Harry, who is short and plain-looking (though a bit like Harvey Keitel, who played him in a movie once) gets involved in a complex larceny/blackmail/kidnapping/island-rescue plot that involves a lovely young lass and her valuable family jewel or something. The lass is at least half Harry's age and too cute for him but they end up together romantically anyway, of course.Is TERROR ISLAND a horror movie? As too often is the case w/ silents, the answer is "Not Really". However the second half does take place on an island full of cannibals (most of whom do look like they're played by non-white actors, though not necessarily all of the same racial background) and those cannibals do talk a lot about eating "longpig", though they never get around to doing it (fortunately).
TERROR ISLAND is missing a reel from the middle (encapsulated in an intertitle) but otherwise it ain't bad as these things go. Harry does a few stunts, including getting hung up in a MAN CALLED HORSE-like gallows by his neck and somehow flipping upside down (in a jumpcut
) to escape. He also does some underwater action, including a fight on a flooded submarine at the climax. One distinction that TERROR ISLAND has is that it has several supporting characters who have at least a dimension and a half, thus you recognize them and are impressed when most of them die during the frenzied RESERVOIR DOGS-like final shootout. 3/5 I admit that cannibal tribes scare me almost as much and as irrationally as Bigfoot. This isn't purely a kneejerk racist response. Yeah, part of it is that the Italian movie ones will just pull you apart w/ their bare hands and eat you raw. But I'm also afraid of the family from TCM, who'll cook you before they eat you. The common denominator is (I hesitate to say) that both the natives and the Leatherface clan are just so unclean-looking and thus somehow uncouth. If they had the decency to take a shower and put on a nice laundered outfit before they ate me, like Doctor Lecter or Paul & Mary Bland, I wouldn't be bothered nearly as much. Maybe I have a classist cannibal hangup?
#12
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Rest in peace, Mike Ditka
Last post by HappyGilmore - October 12, 2026, 05:26:34 PMSad.
#13
Good Movies / Re: Films with shocking ending...
Last post by HappyGilmore - October 12, 2026, 05:25:52 PMDon't know if it's shocking, necessarily, but Dante dying in Clerks 3. Dude's been in most of Kevin Smith's films in some capacity and they just kill him off.
#14
Bad Movies / Re: actors yiu are surprised d...
Last post by HappyGilmore - October 12, 2026, 05:24:03 PMMiranda Cosgrove. She's had success, with movies like School of Rock and Despicable Me, and a few TV series, but she seems to not be a huge star or in bigger movies/tv projects.
#15
Good Movies / Re: Films with shocking ending...
Last post by Alex - October 12, 2026, 03:20:48 PMThe first Saw. I did not see that guy getting up coming.
#16
Good Movies / Re: Films with shocking ending...
Last post by Gabriel Knight - October 12, 2026, 03:08:18 PMQuote from: bob on October 07, 2026, 09:39:14 PMSleepaway Camp
Definitely one of the creepiest and most shocking I've seen.
Anyway, my vote goes for MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE (1966). Yeah, the movie is a poor-quality mess, but you can't deny that the ending has some serious nerve. Not even the little girl manages to get away!
#18
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by zombie no.one - October 12, 2026, 02:25:31 PMQuote from: Rev. Powell on October 12, 2026, 02:15:04 PMQuote from: zombie no.one on October 12, 2026, 01:56:29 PMQuote from: lester1/2jr on September 07, 2026, 12:43:41 AM
it's funny because it's not funny.
A shaggy dog joke?
yes and no.
#19
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by Rev. Powell - October 12, 2026, 02:15:04 PMQuote from: zombie no.one on October 12, 2026, 01:56:29 PMQuote from: lester1/2jr on September 07, 2026, 12:43:41 AM
it's funny because it's not funny.
A shaggy dog joke?
#20
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by zombie no.one - October 12, 2026, 01:56:29 PMQuote from: lester1/2jr on September 07, 2026, 12:43:41 AM
it's funny because it's not funny.