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I Eat Your Skin (1964)

Voodoo Blood Bath
Zombie
Zombie Bloodbath


Cast:

William Joyce is Tom Harris
Heather Hewitt is Jeannie Biladeau
Betty Hyatt Linton is Coral Fairchild
Dan Stapleton is Duncan Fairchild
Walter Coy is Charles Bentley
Robert Stanton is Dr. Biladeau


What the box says:

Writer Tom Harris arrives on a beautiful island in search of search of material on voodoo legends for his novel. He unfortuantely stumbles onto the secret laboratory of a mad scientist who's experimenting on reversing the aging process.


Plot:

At a voodoo ceremony, the natives are dancing around. Some chick in a bikini is writhing about in chains. A goat s brought into the service. Papa Nebo has the priest kill the goat which summons the fade to the credits.

Miami, Florida, hotel, a band is getting funky. Tom Harris, the famous writer, has a flock of women waiting as he tells his story. His editor, Doug Fairchild runs into him. Tom has been coasting and not written anything in months. Doug inspires him and gets him away from the angry husbands of Tom’s mattress warmers.

Doug has learned of a mysterious island in the Caribbean. He wants Tom to write about Voodoo and a poisonous snake. A famous scientist is also on the island studying cancer. Nothing interests Tom until learning there are 5 girls to every man.

Doug gets his wife the ear shattering, Coral. Let the plane voyage ensue. The plane is running low on fuel. They barely land on the beach. Tom decides to scout for the mansion. The tribal drums are playing. No good can come of that.

In the jungle, Tom spots a chick swimming. He sees a zombie chase her.

Never fall headfirst into oatmeal for a week.
Never fall headfirst into oatmeal for a week.
Tom is to the rescue. Tom finds a fisherman. The zombie reappears and decapitates the fisherman. Tom manages to bust a few caps in the zombie right before a group of armed men led by Charles Bentley arrives. Bentley explains that the zombie was a native who took so many drugs that fried his brain.

A group of natives head to the plane when Bentley and Tom drive up. Doug and his wife are taken to the mansion. Tom has a funny feeling about everything.

Later, Tom meets the swimming chick, Jane Villeux, the daughter of the famous Dr. August Villdeux. Tom throws more lame pickup lines on Jane. A completely drunk guy would realize those pickups are truly that lame.

As everyone arrives, Dr. August explains how the natives use a plant for drug use which slowly turns them crazy.

Outside, the zombie roams the gardens.

At the dinner party, Bentley explains how the island is safe. As some call it a night, Tom and Jane take a walk around the island. Zombies rush Jane, but Tom is to the rescue again.

The voodoo priest sends the zombies away.

Tom demands answers from Bentley. He reveals that the natives had practiced virgin sacrifice of blonde girls generations ago.

Tom sneaks into Jane’s room. He asks her to leave with them. She isn’t sure about that but the lovin’ she is. Let the obligatory cheesy love scene ensue.

At the voodoo ceremony, the dancing and chanting is flying fast and furious.

Can you dig it?
Can you dig it?

The next morning, Tom is banging away on his typewriter with his new novel. Bentley suggests they leave ASAP and not see Dr. August’s lab. Tom heads back to wake Jane who would only leave if her father would; too…They head to his lab and find strange symbols on the outside.

Heading into the dark and creepy lab, they discover several zombies just standing around in line at the DMV. Tom catches Fernando, a native guy. He tries to warn Jane that she must leave. However, Tom and Jane tread on.

Dr. August is milking snakes for their venom and processes it. He administers it to a guy on a gurney whose face decomposes through the miracle of time lapse photography.

Dr. August spots Jane and Tom. He is angry and slaps her. Claiming it is too late, he wants Tom to take her to the mainland.

Doug, Coral spot Tom and Jane. The zombies somehow get the women.

The men see the approaching zombie bomb that blows up the plane.

I just need somebody to sign for this case of explosives.
I just need somebody to sign for this case of explosives
Tom and Doug run into the jungle to flee the angry natives and manage to escape them.

The natives zombiefy Fernando, Jane’s friend, with the time-lapse zombie trick. Papa Nebo readies for the sacrifice. The dancing and chanting ensues.

Tom and Doug manage to snag a boat. Tom takes a flare gun, foreshadowing flare.

The dancing and chanting ensues. Tom and Doug disguise themselves in voodoo garb. Jane is tied to the altar. Dr. August watches from afar.

Papa Nebo bears a machete. Dr. August throws a knife at one of the voodoo followers. Tom uses the flare gun. Panic ensues. Papa Nebo is Charles Bentley. Tom gets Jane away. Doug rescues Coral.

Everyone gets to Dr. August’s lab. The voodoo priest calls on the followers to kill the infidels.

Dr. August fiddles with his equipment and reveals that Bentley wanted to conquer the world with a zombie army!?! They get to the boat and fight off the approaching natives. Dr. August is stabbed by a native.

The island blows up. Dr. August explains using natives to test his cancer serum which turned them into zombies. Bentley wanted an army of zombies. He planned on killing Jane which would make August stay because of having nowhere else to go. Dr. August immediately dies afterwards.

Miami, Doug and Coral are reading “Voodoo Island.” Tom is reading a story to chicks when Jane pushes him in the pool. Comedy, let the suckin’ face ensue.


What I say:

This is part of the infamous double feature: I Eat Your Skin and I Drink Your Blood. However, it is still more known than it's far more infamous third in the triple feature version: I Thumb Through Your Magazines. OK, Simpsons in-joke.

After the vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein monsters, there needed to be something else. While the aforementioned monsters are all some sort or European legends, looking a bit closer to America, someone started looking into the Caribbean. Hearing the rumors of voodoo and more about zombies, we have had quite a range of zombies like in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, King of the Zombies, and White Zombie before going anywhere near the infamous Romero ghouls or zombies that gave Italy something to do between ripping off other movie subgenres.

With so many horror movies set in run-down castles in Europe, the Carribbean even seemed just almost as exotic back in the 1950s and 1960s. Zombie movies started picking up steam: Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla King of the Zombies, Revolt of the Zombies, Snake People and White Zombie

Tom, the hero of the movie, is a skirt chasing boozy writer. Those are his good points. Tom spends the night with Jane, wakes her in the morning. Get the feeling that Tom isn't a cuddle man unless he gets to porking quickly afterwards...

You'd think any voodoo cult intent of virgin sacrifices would at least find a virgin. Though, what woman from the 1960s could resist melting into some sort of gooey candy bar due to Tom's inherently super-jerk personality?

The woman who played Coral is awful. Fingernails across a chalkboard would be beautiful melody compared to Coral's voice. She makes shrill even more high-pitched than an teen girl whining about her sweet 16 party...She makes Franny Drescher off the Nanny actually sound good. That was today's wince inducing comment.

Once again we learn the Wages of Science is death. Any scientist that tampers in realms best left untouched must suffer for the experiemts that sent untold suffering upon no telling how many other people. The eminent Dr. August tested his experiments on native people and is blackmailed by Bentley to keep the experiments going after discovering how to create zombies.

Controlling an army of zombie soldiers to conquer the world. Movies have to have deranged scientist creating insane experiments whether it is air-breathing flying piranhas from Piranha 2: the Spawning, creating werewolves for an army in Mad Monster, to even aliens reanimating the dead in Plan 9 From Outer Space.

The first movies with zombies are more the typical Voodoo type of zombies controlled by a mysterious shaman. The 1960s had Night of the Living Dead which featured zombies as re-animated corpses in a more sci-fi manner and shifted to a more Romero focused zombie view with the flocks of Italian zombie movies.



2 1/2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"Up here, oh guardian of mr mental treasures."
"These voodooists actually perform human sacrifices."
"Who's sacrifing what?"
"I feel like swinging tonight!"
"He wants to make you the goat without horns."


Morals of the Story

Guns fire without difficulty after being underwater.
Caribbean women are typically blonde and European looking.
Island natives cannot high dive.
Shirts can teleport onto swimmers.


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