Porno Holocaust (Media Blasters) Review

Distributor: Media Blasters Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Foreign, Horror Also known as: Insel der Zombies, Orgasmo Nero 2: Insel der Zombies Run Time: 113 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1981 Director: Joe D'Amato Written by: George Eastman (as Tom Salina) Cast: George Eastman, Dirce Funari, Annj Goren, Mark Shannon (as Mark Shanon), Lucia Ramirez, Joe D'Amato Release Specs: Audio: Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: English Video: Widescreen, 1.85:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 1 (North America) Number of discs: 1

Porno Holocaust is an attempt at an adult/horror film hybrid that Joe D'Amato shot in conjunction with Erotic Nights of the Living Dead with mostly the same cast. In Porno Holocaust, a team of scientists goes to a Caribbean island to check into mutations due to past atomic testing that occurred on the island. There they find a mutated zombie like monster that attacks the scientists.

Sadly, Porno Holocaust is a failure as a horror film. There isn't any attempt at any horror elements for the first roughly hour and fifteen minutes of the almost two-hour long film. And even when they are introduced, they are anything but scare-inducing. The gore effects are poorly done and unrealistic. The make-up on the mutated zombie monster is, well, let's just say very fake looking. There are no real attempt at chills. For attacks the camera just walks up to the person being attacked with some less than scary music playing. Then a look of fear when they stare upon the monster and the attack happens. While I'm sure that some of the attacks are trying to play with the adult genre, they don't come across as overly creative. An additional loss of horror happens by trying to humanize the monster. While I get that the main purpose behind this film was the adult material, more care to the horror elements and more of the horror elements would have aided the film.

Speaking of the adult material, Porno Holocaust fails at that too. The sex scenes are rather poorly shot and not overly erotic. Some of the issues are from trying to deal with the tropical landscape that D'Amato has to deal with and the lack of budget for equipment that would have removed the terrain issues. The other issue is that the sex scenes lack energy and seem to lack direction at points too. D'Amato does manage to pack a bunch of sex scenes into the film though, so it does have that going for it.

The other major issue with Porno Holocaust, is it is very slow and doesn't seem to go anywhere. There isn't much to the plot and story and screenplay writer George Eastman has filled all of the time without sex or attempts at horror with dialog. But none of it really seems to go anywhere. Often the film just lags on while one wishes something, anything, would happen. The acting is rather atrocious too.

All in all, I can't recommend Porno Holocaust. The sex scenes are a failure and the horror is even more of a failure. The film doesn't even succeed as camp material.

Media Blasters has done a decent job with Porno Holocaust, which they released under their Exploitation Digital imprint. Porno Holocaust is presented in the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The image is decent with heavy grain with minimal artifacts and print damage. Overall, it is a rather clean looking print with good color reproduction.

Porno Holocaust is presented with an Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track, which sounds fine for the material being presented. The dialog is clear and easy to hear and there was no noticeable damage to the track. There are removable English subtitles for the film.

Media Blasters has included a few extras for the release. There is “An Interview with George Eastman” that runs for 12 minutes in Italian with English subtitles where Eastman talks about his work, Joe D'Amato, and this film. There is the original trailer for Porno Holocaust. There is also a photo gallery included on the disc.

Porno Holocaust is a poorly made adult film that fails at both being an adult film and at being a horror film. Sadly there isn't much to interest anyone here. Media Blasters has done a decent job with the release with a good transfer and a few extras.

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