After running into a spot of bother with some nasty thugs at a fairground, a group of badly-acting teenagers set off in a boat, only to have to abandon ship after a collision with rocks and swim to a nearby island.
There, they discover the seemingly abandoned Grand Island Hotel adorned with New Year’s Eve decorations (despite it being mid-July) and encounter the restless spirits of the hotel’s inhabitants, who have been trapped in limbo since 1959 thanks to a government experiment gone wrong.
Filmed on location at Butlin’s Barry Island in Wales, this no-budget, plotless affair is so utterly crazed and no-holds-barred that it almost becomes worthwhile.
The wall of an elevator grows hands and kidnaps a girl, a man is thrown in a deep fat fryer, a severed arm reattaches itself, a boy’s head is sliced apart by a boat propeller, a girl is sucked through the bottom of a boat, a murderous sheikh jumps out of a black & white film on a cinema screen to electrocute someone, a flying fishing net attempts to strangle a girl, a monster emerges from a table top and there is a biting staircase and an indoor blizzard.
Some of the group get killed, some get possessed (for no apparent reason) and some are unaffected.
By the time the film eventually winds down to its conclusion and an explanation is offered, it’s difficult to care.
Released in some markets as Time Warp Terror, the script was obviously written by 8-year-olds and the makeup and special effects created by a GCSE art group.
Cult cinema at its purest.
Lesley
Suzy Aitchison Janet
Nikki Brooks Spud
Daniel James (as Colin Heywood) Rick
Mark Powley Carol
Catherine Roman Tom
Julian Ronnie Dad
Steve Emerson Ace
Steve Wilsher The Bear
Jon Glentoran Housemaid
Val Graham Interviewer
David Lyn 1st Expert
Rory Maclean 2nd Expert
Nick Dowsett Film Invader
Steve Edison Flying Cadillacs
Roy Hill Madame Zelda
Jenny Bayliss Pilot
Ian May Table Monster
Paul Barrett Snowball Girl
Victoria Smith
Director
Norman J. Warren
Video
You May Also Like
Day Of The Jackal, The (1973) In early 1963, having failed in its effort to kill General de Gaulle, the hard-line French…
Big Switch, The (1968) This low budget crime thriller begins with playboy John Carter (Sebastian Breaks) meeting beautiful blonde Samantha…
Casino Royale (1967) Ian Fleming's Casino Royale retained nothing but its title in this free-for-all spoof of the successful James Bond…
Let Him Have It (1991) 16-year-old Chris Craig (Paul Reynolds) and 19-year-old Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) are caught robbing a London…
Hireling, The (1973) Steven Leadbetter (Robert Shaw) is an ex-Regimental Sergeant Major and World War I veteran who is…
There, they discover the seemingly abandoned Grand Island Hotel adorned with New Year’s Eve decorations (despite it being mid-July) and encounter the restless spirits of the hotel’s inhabitants, who have been trapped in limbo since 1959 thanks to a government experiment gone wrong.
By the time the film eventually winds down to its conclusion and an explanation is offered, it’s difficult to care.
