Norman J. Warren directs Suzy Aitchison, Nikki Brooks and Colin Heywood in this cheap British independent horror that follows five shipwrecked teens on a haunted island who find a hotel trapped in a deadly time warp.

If you can get over the sub Dr Who production values and the sub Grange Hill acting then this has a certain degree of winning chutpaz. It starts with an all action chase around a seaside fun fair which is pleasingly OTT. That sets the tone for the spooky stuff. Pretty much every practical trick shot that can be executed for £50 is bunged in at some point. Walls come alive, mirrors grab you, rotting bodies become possessed. There’s a catchy sprinkling of original revival rock’n’roll songs from a band called Cry No More. It is not a million miles away from 1980s post giallo in terms of tone and ambition. Still, aside from a few key moments, this can often still somehow be boring and incoherent even at a sparse 90 minutes of length. The male characters are particularly unlikeable which really doesn’t help. In fact they are the creepiest things in it.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Fall Break (1984)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/