Kay (Sarah Kendall) is an artist who mostly paints in the abstract. Her ideas usually come from the unusual dreams she has been having since she was a child. Kay is married to David (Alan McRae). Kay’s brother is Eric (Frederick Flynn). Eric is married to Brooke (Carol Kottenbrook). The two couples decide to go on holiday together at the vacation home of a friend. The house is on an abandoned island that used to be a resort island in its heyday.
The two couples charter a small plane, owned by Marsh (Michael Holmes), to take them to the island. Marsh lands on the beach, using it as an impromptu runway. The couples carry their luggage up from the beach. On the way to the house Kay sees the shell of an abandoned theater. She realizes that it is the same building that she painted from one of her dreams. David dismisses her claim and states that it just looks similar to what she painted.
Although the house itself looks rundown, on the inside it is quite cozy and the cupboards and fridge are stocked. Before he takes off, Marsh warns the couples that the weather is turning bad and that a violent storm is headed in their direction. The couples decide to stay.
Soon reality begins to blend in with the nightmares Kay had throughout her life. She realizes that what is happening on the island is matching her dreams. As she descends into a nightmare of madness, everyone around her dies in horrible ways.
“The Slayer” AKA “Nightmare Island” was released in 1982 and was directed by J.S. Cardone. It is an American low budget supernatural horror film. The movie was once banned in the UK and labeled as a video nasty.
The movie was better than I expected. The acting was pretty decent, even with the limited cast and character development. Since there are a limited amount of deaths in the film, the gore is sporadic but memorable. Why it was labeled a video nasty is beyond me. It’s just your basic slasher-esque movie.
I got a little confused with the twist ending but when you look at the ending as more of a premonition instead of a dream, the ending makes a little more sense. However, there is still a nagging feeling that the story ending is somewhat of an afterthought. It made the film a little less enjoyable but still very much worth seeing. Things aren’t totally explained, but for the most part, as long as there’s gore, you’re good.
The most important feature of the film is the atmosphere. The actual monster is good too, but fleeting. I would have liked to have seen more of it. Even so, there is enough eerie atmosphere to make the film scary and enjoyable.
Supposedly, the film was influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, mostly due to the dream versus reality sequences in the film. This idea comes from director Cardone. Since none of the other Lovecraft tropes seem to be present and since Cardone was one of the story writers, I’ll take him at his word. The actual monster does seem to have a bit of a Lovecraft appearance.