'70s Trash?: I Eat Your Skin (1964/1971)

Wait- is this '60s Trash or '70s Trash?  Today's Film is I Eat Your Skin, a 1971 Film with a big caveat.  Remember I Drink Your Blood?  Really?  I just wrote about it last Article!  Anyhow, this Film was the 2nd half of a Double-Feature.  Now here's the catch- this Film was actually made in 1964.  Brought to you by the Director of The Horror of Party Beach, this was made...but not sold.  Yeah, nobody cared.  Smash cut to 1971 and the Studio distributing Blood needed something for the Marquee.  It was time to retitle this stinker and give it a first/second chance!  The Plot involves Zombies, a place called Voodoo Island and, of course, a Writer researching a Book.  One of these things is not like the other!  I could bore you with the Cast, but...meh.  It's important to note that this Film came out AFTER Night of the Living Dead, but is very much a Pre-Romero Zombie Film.  Is that the fastest that a Film has looked anachronistic or what?!?  This is silly.  This is dumb.  Is this good fun?  To find out, read on...

 An Author is just chilling down in Miami between Novels.  Since he's a 1960s Hero, he does the usual to keep busy.

Trying to get him to write, his Publisher/Friend decides to take him to Voodoo Island.  I'd make that face too.

To the Film's rare credit, they do lampshade this via the Author...but go all the same.

The Island has some beautiful women, a lovely Jungle and, oh yeah, Zombies.

This is clearly the Director of Party Beach's thing- giving his monsters goofy eyes.

 They meet the important locals (from left to right): the Scientist, the Police Chief and the Scientist's Daughter.

The only young Blonde on this Island- you're in trouble, lady!

The Zombies make their big move at the behest of 'Daddy' (The Zombie Master).  On the plus side, they have more than just the one guy to play a Zombie.

On the negative side, the other ones look even worse!

As it turns out, a man is making the Scientist create the Zombies to, of course, conquer the World. 

Naturally, they try to sacrifice the girl (who's no longer a virgin) and the wife. 

Our Heroes escape and the destruction of the lab leads to this bad paper mache model...I mean the Island...to explode.

Forget all about those dead people, the evil man and the world domination plan- he has a new book to enjoy the profits from.  The End.

A goofy mess of a Film that I can't help but kind of love.  This is a Film out of time.  How many Films sit unsold for 7 years?  The most recent case would maybe be All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and that's a far more complicated mess.  That had more to do with selling the rights to a Studio that then went bankrupt (and then some).  In this case, the Film was just so silly that nobody cared.  Did it deserve this fate?  Yes and no.  It's certainly no worse than many Films from that time- especially by that Director!  That said, it was definitely a bit out-of-date even in 1964.  Supposedly, the inspiration for this was James Bond.  No, really.  It is mostly one of those late '30s to early '40s Zombie Films (like White Zombie or I Walked with a Zombie).  That said, you can see the influence from Bond with the silly Plot involving world domination.  Strangely enough, Bond himself would sort-of get to a similar place after this Film's delayed release with Live and Let Die (my favorite Bond Film ever).  Basically, the Film is dumb, silly and dated even when you consider that it was released 48 years ago and made 55 years ago!  That said, it's so silly that it's kind of fun.  It's a good-bad kind of thing that works for me like a lesser Ed Wood Film (like Bride of the Monster).  If you like cheese, check this out.  Don't let the implied-graphic nature of the Title fool you- this is tame AF.  It was also made in Miami (and Key Biscane), so it has a local connection for me...

Next up, I celebrate another Anniversary with a Film very different than anything I've done.  It also features a strange connection to a Film from a previous Anniversary Review.  Stay tuned...