I saw this film when I was a little girl. As the description says, its about this tree that sucks the life force out of its victims. I remember watching it on Creature Feature (I'm showing my age, aren't I?). Its not the best film ever made in the horror genre grant it but with the junk that's being released at the theaters and DVD today, it stands to reason this film should enjoy that same priviledge.
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Hey Hon!
I remember seeing this as a little boy and it scared the crap out of me. I saw it on Creature Feature as well. I'm 44 now. How time flys!
I did buy a bootleg copy on Ebay and it's surprisingly good quality, but if it were release on DVD, I'd buy it too, it has to be better than the one I have.
Cheers!
It is being released on Sept 25 2007 by Shout! Factory as part of the Elvira series. The DVD will have the option of atching the movie with or without the Elvira bits.
shareElvira's DVD sucks, the movie is barely watchable. It's obviously transferred from a poor quality, muddy VHS that even has tracking problems at the bottom of the frame, and it's pan&scan, so the original scope ratio is compromised. It's an insult to release this kind of garbage on DVD.
shareI saw this in a movie theatre, Saturday matinee....I'm 52! But I always loved this movie, yes it needs a DVD release.
shareThis film is a total campy riot, with one of the best incredibly wild over-the-top gruesome endings ever committed to celluloid. Too bad the current Elvira DVD offers a very poor quality transfer that was taken from an obvious beat-up old VHS print. Still, this flick is loads of schlocky fun just the same.
Nobody does W.C. Fields singing "Mama Told Me Not to Come" better than Paul Frees.
I saw this movie when I was a little girl in the 70's. You know in kindergarten when you draw a picture and then tell the teacher what you're drawing and she writes down your story for you? Well... I drew a person inside a tree. I still have this picture! You can imagine my narrative... I bet my teacher was mortified!
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Pittsburgh's CHILLER THEATER, hosted by Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille, aired MANEATER OF HYDRA 5 times from 1969-1972 (I caught up with it later). BLOOD AND BLACK LACE and NIGHTMARE IN WAX were other Cameron Mitchell titles on the show. He dominates this film from start to finish, even though someone else dubbed his voice. We don't get to actually see the bloodthirsty tree until the final half hour, but there are at least two animal deaths earlier, a mouse is fed to a Venus fly trap, and a cute little bunny gets devoured off screen, presumably by the tree. Animal deaths are frowned upon these days, so that might play a part in its general unavailability as a legitimate release. The late Michael Gough starred in 1963's BLACK ZOO, whose animal killers make this one hard to find as well. Just a thought behind the reasoning, it's easier to watch useless humans bite the dust, but no furry animals!
"I take pleasure in great beauty" - James Bond
Thanks for the reasoning you presented in your message. Its amazing how these crazy rules can prohibit a film from going to DVD.
I finally got tired of waiting for it to go to DVD so I used my Magnavox system to convert the VHS tape I bought off of eBay to DVD. Now when I want to watch this on DVD, I just put it in the DVD player and hit play. Fortunately for me, there was no copyright protection on the tape so I could it.
if you want either a wonderful dvd or vhs copy of this great little movie--go to "Sinister cinema"website and it is for sale under the title"island of the doomed".i just received it today and saw it--it is a beautiful widescreen edition.the colors are beautiful and vibrant,not washed out and blurry.believe me Sinister cinema's new copy of this is fantastic--i'm almost 55 and i loved this movie as a kid too--if you love this movie go to their website now and get it--you won't be sorry.
shareI second this recommendation. I also just bought a copy from Sinister Cinema. It's a very good German print. The title and credits are in German, it's widescreen, and it appears to be uncut.
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