Island of Terror (1970)
"5 bambole per la luna d'agosto" (original title)

A small group of people come to an island to relax but soon find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst.

Director:

Mario Bava

Writer:

Mario di Nardo (story)

Stars:

William Berger, Ira von Fürstenberg, Maurice Poli

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Berger	...	Prof. Gerry Farrell
Ira von Fürstenberg	...	Trudy Farrell (as Ira Furstenberg)
Maurice Poli	...	Nick Chaney
Edwige Fenech	...	Marie Chaney
Howard Ross	...	Jack Davidson
Helena Ronee	...	Peggy Davidson
Teodoro Corrà	...	George Stark
Ely Galleani	...	Isabel (as Justine Gall)
Edith Meloni	...	Jill Stark
Mauro Bosco	...	Charles

Storyline

George Stark is a wealthy industrialist who invites five business friends of his to his remote Mediterranean island for a weekend of relaxation and business when he introduces them to Professor Farrell, a brilliant chemist who gives investment ideas to the group. But against Farrell's wishes, the group goes behind each other's back to obtain information on Farrell's chemistry ideas and soon the guests and residents start turning up dead one by one as Stark and Farrell must rally the group together to determine the identity of the killer (or killers) despite nobody trusting anyone.

---

Plot Keywords:

hairy chest | voyeur | murder | giallo | rolls royce | 

---

Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

14 February 1970 (Italy)

Also Known As:

5 Dolls for an August Moon

Filming Locations:

Anzio, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzioni Atlas Consorziate (P.A.C.)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in only 19 days.

---

Quotes

George Stark: I'm not a man of thought. I'm a man of action.

---

Connections

References La Dolce Vita (1960)

---

Soundtracks

"Ti Risveglierai Accanto a me"
Written by Emilio Iarrusso (as Jarrusso), Giacomo Simonelli (as Simonelli) and Piero Umiliani (as Umiliani)
Performed by Il Balletto di Bronzo
Courtesy of Disco R.C.A.

User Reviews

An incomprehensible but sporadically beautiful mess

Art direction and cinematography are as distinctive as any of Bava's other giallo films of the period, but the garbled script to what is essentially little more than a standard body-count movie really lets this one down. After a plodding and talky start, the film disintegrates into a total mess. Bava pulls off the odd visual flourish, but such scenes never gel together. Still, the mesmeric use of zooms, focus pulls, and tracking shots and the stylish use of colour ensures that, from an entirely aesthetic perspective, this film never becomes boring, and as an auteur piece, is well worth a watch. Now, if only I could work out what the hell happened in it...