Tower of Evil (1972) – Nostalgia Central

Now considered one of the forefathers of the slasher genre and an underground classic, Tower of Evil opens with fisherman Hamp Gurney (Jack Watson) and his father, John (George Coulouris), approaching the fog-shrouded outline of Snape Island in their boat, the Sea Ghost.

It’s a lonely and desolate place since the lighthouse there (the tower of the title) was deserted some thirty years ago.

The men make their way cautiously, as if aware of some dreadful evil. Their fears are justified.

Only a few yards from their boat, they discover a bloodstained human hand severed at the wrist – and a dead youth lying nearby.

Inside the lighthouse, they find a female corpse. Touching the girl, her severed head rolls down the stairs.

Entering one of the outhouses, John Gurney fails to see a young man’s body pinioned to the door with a glittering golden spear. He opens the back door – and is viciously knifed by a wild-eyed naked girl.

Later in London, the same young girl, an American named Penny Read (Candace Glendenning), is being treated for shock in the psychiatric ward of a mental hospital. The horrors she witnessed on the island have short-circuited her mind, and Dr Simpson (Anthony Valentine) and Detective Superintendent Hawk (William Lucas) try to piece together her frightening story, bit by bit.

Under the influence of a “brain stimulation” drug, Penny slowly reveals that she visited Snape Island after a jazz festival with three other teenagers: Mae (Seretta Wilson), Des (Robin Askwith) and Gary (John Hamill), whose lifeless bodies were later found on the island.

She remembers that Mae had a foreboding of some unseen evil. Penny had apparently gone berserk after some horrifying experience and had killed John Gurney in self-defence.

Meanwhile, in the British Museum, Head Curator Lawrence Bakewell (Dennis Price) is making up an archaeological team to explore Snape Island. He has discovered that the spear used to skewer Des is made of pure gold.

The team consists of archaeological academics with familiarity with at least one unique aspect of the island – it’s the burial site of an ancient chief who was entombed with treasures and the sculpture of a Phoenician fertility god called Baal.

Dan Winthrop (Derek Fowlds) and his wife Nora (Anna Palk) are the biting, unhappy married couple charged with leading the expedition. Rose Mason (Jill Haworth) is a Phoenician art expert. Her ex-fiancé, Adam Masters (Mark Edwards), is a bearded adventurer with access to dynamite.

In no time at all, the doors are creaking, the painted rocks are wobbling, and the silly women are venturing alone into dark cellars and musty passageways.

Some viewers might shrug at the film’s revealing twist, even if the fiery climax that follows is still impressive from a production value standpoint.

Location footage was filmed at the La Corbiere Lighthouse in the Channel Islands between England and Spain. All of the interior scenes were filmed at Shepperton Studios.

The film was re-released in the US under the title Beyond the Fog in 1980.

Evan Brent
Bryant Haliday
Rose Mason
Jill Haworth
Adam Masters
Mark Edwards
Hamp Gurney
Jack Watson
Nora Winthrop
Anna Palk
Dan Winthrop
Derek Fowlds
Lawrence Bakewell
Dennis Price
Dr Simpson
Anthony Valentine
Brom Gurney
Gary Hamilton
John Gurney
George Coulouris
Detective Superintendent Hawk
William Lucas
Gary
John Hamill
Penny Read
Candace Glendenning
Des
Robin Askwith
Mae Harvey
Seretta Wilson
Saul Gurney
Fredric Abbott
Michael Gurney
Mark McBride
Nurse
Marianne Stone

Director
Jim O’Connolly