What's really interesting about The Island of the Bloody Plantation is the background and the people involved... and why the hell they did it! Peter Kern and Kurt Raab wanted to get some money to make their own movies and to once and for all make this happen they decided to make a movie so commercial it would make them rich and they could make whatever movies they wanted to make. So they hooked up with a Philippino producer and a director, hired all their Fassbinder-friends and off they went to the land of... chaos.
When they arrived the Filipino producer was bankrupt. Peter Kern decided to visit the mens room at that moment, started to cry in there... and when he was steady enought to go back he took control over the production - but not until he, Udo Kier and Barbara Valentin figured out a plan to steal the material that was shot by the Filipino director... which they did (it's like a scene from a movie, but you need to hear Kern tell this story yourself). After a lot of problems then could finish the film... and it's without a doubt an oddity.
Somewhere on a tropical island an ex-nazi, Otto Globocnik (Karl-Otto Alberty) rules. He have a lot of female slaves that works for him, and of course a gang of perverted guards. Udo Kier is one of them, Hermano, and he's also the good guy here. He's in love with one of the slaves and wants to free her and the rest from this tropical hell! Insert boobs, sex, some torture, murder and more boobs... and you get the strangest sleaze movie ever made. Mostly because everyone involved is middle-aged gay men (and Barbara Valentin, the ultimate faghag) and it's just made as an experiment.
A very mainstream experiment. The acting is a bit better and there's some interesting details in the scripts, which is the only sign that there's really competent people involved in every part of this movie. But it's bascially a more expensive Jess Franco movie (and it's also edited by Karl Aulitzky - Linda and Bloody moon) with slightly awkward sexual situations with me who obviously doesn't enjoy it to the fullest. It's not really gory - except a body bitten by spiders who look really gruesome - but it's also never boring. It's just such a bisarre movie because of all the friends of Fassbinder doing something they probably never done before - and never done again after this.
Udo Kier is the only one who seems comfortable in the genre - but they others try their best. Karl-Otto Alberty does yet another of his evil nazis and the inclusion of Barbara Valentin as Bloody Olga might be a slightly humorous reference to the Ilsa movies (and maybe Wanda the Wicked Warden - aka Greta aka Ilsa). My personal favorite is Hans Zander, sleazy as few and the one who gets the worst death at the end. Kurt Raab have a lot of fun with his multi-sexual character who considers all his male slaves his childre, but still makes them fuck with the slaves for his pleasure.
The Island of the Bloody Plantation is a lot of sleazy fun, but it's probably most fun for us who have seen all these fantastic actors doing really, really serious stuff before and after. I wonder what Fassbinder would have thought about it?
I'm personally sure he would have loved it!
"So they hooked up with a Philippino producer and a director, hired all their Fassbinder-friends and off they went to the land of... chaos.
When they arrived the Filipino producer was bankrupt. Peter Kern decided to visit the mens room at that moment, started to cry in there... and when he was steady enought to go back he took control over the production - but not until he, Udo Kier and Barbara Valentin figured out a plan to steal the material that was shot by the Filipino director... which they did (it's like a scene from a movie, but you need to hear Kern tell this story yourself). After a lot of problems then could finish the film... and it's without a doubt an oddity."
Some background/production story.......hell, I would have given up right then and there.
"Insert boobs, sex, some torture, murder and more boobs... and you get the strangest sleaze movie ever made. Mostly because everyone involved is middle-aged gay men (and Barbara Valentin, the ultimate faghag) and it's just made as an experiment."
Boobs are always welcomed.....somehow Udo Kier always gets thrown in.....I don´t know how many films he has made featuring boobies.
"Udo Kier is the only one who seems comfortable in the genre"
Always seen him as an class act.....never a bad performance from him.
"but it's probably most fun for us who have seen all these fantastic actors doing really, really serious stuff before and after."
Well, I haven´t seen those films(or the rest of the cast).....mostly seen Udo in various supporting parts in genre films.
"I wonder what Fassbinder would have thought about it?
I'm personally sure he would have loved it!"
Yeah....you could be right.
Good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | May 11, 2013 at 23:31