Because we have already discussed Honeymoon of Horror (1964) in great detail, not to mention Honeymoon Horror (1982), it would be a mistake not to treat Honeymoon of Terror (aka Ecstasy on Lover's Island) with the same respect.
Unfortunately, some of your universe's critics fail to respect this film. For example, reviewer HumanoidOfFlesh writes, "Low-budget trash from early 60's with some of the oddest dialogue I have ever heard." Reviewer Lexzilla writes, "I don’t really have anything nice to say about the film." And reviewer RogerRabid writes, "Wow, this dddrrraaagggsss at 60 minutes."
Read on for the truth about Honeymoon of Terror aka Ecstasy on Lover's Island...
In a teaser prologue, an attractive young woman sits on a patch of sand in the desert, then screams as something approaches her.
The film itself begins as honeymooners Frank and Marion drive to Las Vegas. In an example of economical screenwriting indicating their marital status, Frank says, “Sure glad we got all those decorations off the car.”
His wife responds, “Why? I thought they were kind of cute. Like the whole world will know we just got married.”
“Well they can’t tell now.”
“Why? Do we look like such an old married couple?”
“Sure,” he says, glancing at his wife’s breasts for some reason.
“I still bet everyone can tell.”
“Oh yeah? Look, there she blows!”
He is referring to the lights of Las Vegas. The couple parks at the fabulous Showboat hotel, checks out a comedy striptease routine (starring someone other than Tex Ritter, who is advertised in lights outside), wins some money gambling, then checks in at a tiny motel for their wedding night.
After the desk clerk checks out their marriage license, Frank carries Marion into their dingy little motel room. Then he hangs an amusing Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle.
As they embrace on the bed, Marion says, “Honey, couldn’t we go somewhere where we could be completely alone?”
“We are alone.”
“No, I mean away from everybody.” She suggests going to a deserted lake.
Frank is excited. “I know a lake that’s not too far north of here and a buddy told me there’s an island on it called Thunder Island that is completely deserted.”
“A deserted island!”
“Yeah. He claims that no one has lived on it for fifteen years.”
Instead of inaugurating their new marriage, the couple opens a suitcase and looks at maps. “Here it is. Lake of the Blue Moon.”
“Sounds so romantic.”
“It will be.”
“I love you,” she tells him.
He responds, “Me you too.”
She says they should get some sleep because they have to get up early. Then she goes to take a shower. In a running gag about Frank’s sexual frustration, the shower takes so long he falls asleep, and then she asks for a glass of water, causing him to stub his toe, though in the end they appear to consummate their marriage.
The next day, they tow a boat through the woods to the lake. The filmmakers include a clever (and erotic) shot of the lovers riding on the front of the boat as they race toward the island.
After at least five minutes of driving the boat and kissing, Frank and Marion reach the island. They park the boat along the shore and take their sleeping bag, tent, and cases into the trees.
The lovers soon discover they are missing a fuel can for their camp stove, so, in what might be considered poor judgment, Frank decides to take their boat back to town and leave Marion to set up their campsite. We follow her as she lays sleeping bags down, and we hear her thoughts. “Boy, it sure is warm today,” she thinks in voiceover. “That sun is getting hotter by the minute. I wonder…there’s a chance to take a swim. This place is really deserted, so what harm can there be? Heck yes. I’ll do just that.”
Of course, she is referring to swimming nude. We watch her walk to the beach and strip, then swim in the lake for several minutes. After her swim, she lies on a towel, sunbathing. “God really knew what He was doing when He made the sun,” she says, turning over to expose her breasts.
As would anyone sunbathing nude on the beach, Marion has a flashback to the wedding, then various events in Las Vegas.
Suddenly, Marion screams. A bearded man looms over her. She throws sand in his eyes and runs away.
There follows one of the most suspenseful and intense chases in all of cinema as the man, who runs with a limp, chases Marion down the beach. She catches her breath when she rests against some driftwood, but he soon approaches her, though he doesn’t see her. We continue to hear her thoughts: “I gotta get away from here! And quiet!”
Unfortunately, the man sees her, forcing her to run again as percussion instruments play on the soundtrack. She reaches a clearing in the woods and the bearded man passes her, but she foolishly gives herself away by sobbing uncontrollably.
Tightening the suspense, the filmmakers cut to Frank’s experience in town, where he encounters the proprietor of a boat supply shop who, in clever homespun dialogue, tells Frank a storm is coming. Referring to the wind coming from the south, the man says, “It’s been a-blowing that way for two weeks. But I’m a-tellin’ you, when it changes, you better find yourself a hole and crawl in it because there’s gonna be snow belly-high to a tall Indian.” Also, he says there are yellowjackets in the woods, another sign of an imminent snowstorm. Then he helpfully tells Frank about the “ridge runner,” a former logger who went crazy. “He raped two girls and butchered a third one, and then on top of that he got a case of dynamite and blowed up the company store to boot.”
Back on the island, Marion runs to her tent, but the bearded man is still in pursuit. She hides but now she is given away by the appearance of a garter snake, forcing her to scream. The man grabs her!
The filmmakers skillfully intercut Marion’s predicament with Frank racing in the rental boat back to the island. When he arrives, he sees Marion, but the ridge runner attacks him.
There follows one of the most intense fistfight sequences in cinematic history. Just when the crazy man is about to kill Frank, Marion, who has been hiding her eyes during the entire fight, finally jumps up and throws herself at the man, saving Frank. But the man pulls a knife, forcing Marion to run again. In the end, Marion saves herself by swimming out into the lake, somehow intuiting that the crazy man can’t swim. She treads water, then swims underwater, but is unable to sustain her swimming. When she surfaces near land, the man is waiting for her.
Marion, however, has one more card to play. She smiles at the man. He assaults her, but she manages to steal his knife and stab him in the back.
The man falls in the water, dead. Frank runs to Marion and picks her up, carrying her back toward their tent.
The film ends with an artful Finis superimposed on a stark image of the beach.
I must first confess that I believe Honeymoon of Terror is a better title than Ecstasy on Lover's Island, as there is very little ecstasy and, in any case, the island is named Thunder Island, not Lover's Island. That said, there is really nothing to dislike about this tense, erotic film. The Ecstasy on Lover's Island title was probably used to draw a crowd interested in nudie cuties (Marion is nude briefly during the swimming scene), while the Honeymoon of Terror title was probably used to draw a crowd interested in horror films. Fortunately, the film works brilliantly for both audiences.
I must add that I have no idea what a "ridge runner" is, or why the rapist brute is called a "ridge runner." This might be one of the film's most enduring mysteries.