A scientific expedition to an island used in nuclear testing results in the discovery of a mutated being with a huge appetite for killing and sex.With packaging promising a 'horny, mutant, cannibalistic zombie' on 'an island exposed to nuclear fallout', the wonderfully titled Porno Holocaust, directed by king of Italian sleaze Joe D'Amato, should be an unmissable exploitation classic; however, with its run-time of nearly two hours, and nary a plot to string the endless scenes of bumping and grinding together, the film couldn't help but be rather tedious and something of a disappointment.As a porn film, I guess the movie does its job well. The sex is hard and frequent and the cast give it their all, performing the standard roster of XXX movie sex acts with sufficient enthusiasm. The three female adventurers (Lucia Ramirez, Dirce Funari and Annj Goren) are hot and willing, whilst heroic Captain O'Day (Mark Shannon) is THE atypical 70s porn star: all 'tache and mirrored sunglasses (and looking more than a bit like Magnum P.I.).Unfortunately, those looking for a bit of horror to go with the humping would be recommended to try elsewhere. Except for a couple of brief, and not overly gory, death scenes, the film is pretty much blood free.Had D'Amato split the action 50/50 between the nookie and the nastiness, I reckon Porno Holocaust would have been an unmissable treat for fans of extreme cinema; as it stands, the film is nothing more than an average hardcore sex-flick that will find few fans outside of the dirty mac brigade.

D'Amato's hardcore/horror hybrid doesn't really live up to its extraordinary title and intriguing premise, wherein various vapid contemporary types are attacked by a monster on an Atoll previously used for nuclear experiments, but for the most part the film is so slow, the action so dreary and the cast so clearly repulsed to be having to have sex with each other that the film becomes a chore to watch.This is a pity, because the film sets up a promising idea. A group of scientists are taken to the Atoll by a naval officer in a small vessel. The scientists – three women and two men – are an intriguing cross section of sexual types, suffering to various degrees from nymphomania, co-dependency and frigidity; there's even an intriguing foray into the world of female sex tourism, where one of the women stops off at a brothel to get serviced by two hunky Caribbean studs for hire. The creature himself – a mangled native Islander with a horribly scarred face and an unfeasibly long pizzle – bears some affinities with the old Creature from the Black Lagoon and is the kind of nuclear nightmare that has hovered over postmodern man since the cold war commenced, despite those of us in the West having retreated into hedonism and relativistic science.Porno Holocaust certainly is a film which shows the post-sexual revolution Westerners coming across their mirror image in a nuclear monster, yet the torpidity with which it unfolds really lets down the fierceness of the idea. There is a promising interplay of action shots with POV shots, which suggest that the monster (who looks/stalks on as horror monsters from their POV position tend to do) is akin to the voyeur in the audience getting off on the sex between the "beautiful people." The sight of the monster forcing a gorgeous young woman to suck his over-sized member certainly throws the target audience's ugly fantasies in their face. But D'Amato has developed similar ideas better in other films, and Porno Holocaust is a potentially fierce idea let down by the execution (even D'Amato's usual cinematographic skills let him down with much dreary camera-work).

Purportedly made back to back with 'Erotic Nights of the Living Dead' with the same cast and setting but for certain this one does not have Laura Gemser. Much derided by all I rather like this movie. Sure enough the storyline and dialogue are codswallop, but this is so beautifully filmed in such a marvellous setting and I actually like the hardcore. I find it at once naturalistic and exotic, and that doesn't just mean there is a black girl and some limp penises! I find the numerous and varied sex scenes very believable, even if two are set upon a tree trunk at the edge of the ocean with the waves constantly splashing around. The creature does not deign to appear until half hour before the end and is, it has to be said, a disappointment. Still, in the time remaining he manages to kill off all but two of the expedition and in the case of the girls having sex with them first (or afterwards in at least one case!) and this film is not as slow as some maintain. Moreover there are some fine moments of sexploitation, not least the lady scientist and her urge for two 'natives', and the glorious finale when the two survivors speed off in their boat, gaze back at the island they have escaped from, and find there is still time for one last act of copulation.

There has been a lot of rumour about this one, considered the severe cuts the film has suffered in a variety of VHS versions. The uncut version is a very funny and edwoodesque porno horror flick with the Mark Shannon/Manlio Cersosimo (he looks like Harry Reems). The Santo Domingo locations are beautiful as usual all the character walking almost endlessly up and down the small island gives the film an hypnotical aura. Lucia Ramirez is simply beautiful and Dirce Funari has a great scene (if you like extreme cinema). As usual, don't watch this one if you're easily offended, but if you think you're an exploitation fan don't miss this Joe D'Amato masterpiece.