Tanya's Island

Movie came out 8 years before I was born, so I’m just watching it now. I was thinking about Prince and all his music and movies and came across her. It’s a good movie. She was so beautiful. The beginning is very confusing though.

It's 1980, it's Toronto, Canada, and here is what is without a doubt one of the oddest soft-core porns I've ever watched. Tanya's Island is just that - a fantasy place for her to 'getaway' from her hectic life. "D.D. Winters" plays Tanya, an aspiring actress with an extremely overactive imagination who seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown over losing her boyfriend, a painter named Lobo, who accuses her of "owning him." (I'd love to tell you that this is all high drama, but I was all at once laughing and oddly aroused.) She often has bizarro dirty fantasies that seemed to leap out of the dark at me and then run away. She is filming some bizarro commercial/movie involving a trolley and black people dressed up as some kind of Borneo-like natives (this movie is so Freudian it's sickening!) All I can figure out is that because her personal world is falling apart as her (so-called) acting career is taking off, she must be cracking under the pressure. As she tries to keep it together, she has recurrent dreams of getting away with Lobo, who she sees as her dream man, yet in almost every scene (other than the nudity) there are heavily erotic clues splashed all over the place to let us know that - and this is my opinion, from what I got of this - Tanya has serious sexual (read: rape) fantasies. They are everywhere in this thing. Yeesh! We see rubber monkeys dangling from strings over her bed and African masks hanging in her apartment, Lobo likes to paint monkeys, and even at the beginning of the the movie there film clips of Mighty Joe Young, when suddenly we go from the real world (via one of her little dream sequences) to her "fantasy island" (filmed in Puerto Rico). This is also the part where the main titles finally come in, with her totally and I mean TOTALLY nude, superimposed and shot from the front, the back, as she beckons the watcher to "come with me." Jeez! Talk about high art! We find her and Lobo now on the island, they argue, they play, they fiddle around, then she gets mad at him, she loves him, etc. Oh, did I mention shes mostly NUDE throughout all of this??? On one of her jaunts around the island on a horse, she meets an animal - well, an apeman - that looks oddly like the King Kong costume from the 1976 remake. No wonder, the makeup guy on both movies was none other than future Oscar winner Rick Baker! She befriends him and she calls him Blue because - get this - his eyes are "so blue." He seems to represent the animal she wants in the sack, because every time we see her getting "made love" to by Lobo, it's kinda violent, but the animal is peaceful, so what does she do for her new friend? Goes nude swimming right in front of him! Nice! Mint! As usual, as is the direction that these kind of low-budget movies tend to drift to, Lobo sees that the ape is AWFULLY friendly towards Tanya so... he decides to trap him! This whole sexual innuendo thing between the three becomes strange, and sexy, and sickening all at once. She seems to be conflicted, as she wants the gentleness of the ape, but on the other hand wants to be mentally (and physically) to be abused as much as possible by the man. Boy, am I reading too much into this??? This movie over the space of last hour de-evolves into some kind of King Kong rape thingy in reverse. He is turning into the animal she needs, and of course since she's confused about what she wants from anyone (within the space of 10 minutes she tells him "no one kisses like you, Lobo" then calls him a son of a bitch) I don't even know how this was going to end. Well, it all comes to a head when he starts puts on the blackface - honestly, I'm not lying, BLACKFACE - to fight the animal. And of course to rape and abuse her as many times as possible in front of ol' Blue when he traps him, too. Well, the "climax" is so obvious, I shouldn't tell you, but... okay I will. (MASSIVE SPOILER, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.) She gets eventually set free and carried off by the animal after the two men have a nice little war, then the animal rapes her, then... she wakes up! Big surprise, she's been DREAMING THE WHOLE THING! The. End. Well, I'd like to say there's more to it, but there really isn't. She likes to fantasize, but she definately needs some kind of psychiatric counseling to deal with her issues. I was subjected to 90 minutes of one woman's sick little dreams, and let me tell you, the girl is CONFUSED. As for the technical end of the DVD, it is presented in the Standard format, the framing is off a tiny bit at the bottom at times, and you can see the lense's curvature in several scenes. The picture is clear, not too grainy, and appears remastered. The sound is crystal, you can hear every scream and moan. Apparently Substance Video gets it's hands on the oddest stuff - this is the same company who luckily put out "Meet The Feebles," a fantastic yet sickening puppet sex/disaster movie made by Peter Jackson! Yes, that Peter Jackson. Oscar winner Peter Jackson. (Go ahead and Google the movie, you'll never be the same.) Now, after watching this, I had to ask myself how a 20 year-old Denise Matthews - or D.D. Winters, or Vanity, whatever - got talked into making this dreck, I don't know. It is truly awful, and I'm not even sure it's ever been shown since it was made over 25 years ago! This was also made before she became the flavor of the month for Prince, but let me tell you, she still looks choice here! I've also read online that she had flatly REFUSED to let the major studios release "52 Pick-Up" or "Action Jackson" onto DVD without editing out her raunchier bits because she's all religious now, but this movie is a voyeur's major wet dream. Since this was released in Canada, I guess there's a catch or something, or maybe she doesn't know about this, or maybe she DOES and realizes there's nothing she can do about it. Either way, she's naked, and she's heavily sexually confused, and she's an actress, and she is Tanya. Take it or leave it, this is worth the price of at least one viewing.

I only give this Movie 3 stars for Vanity And Vanity Only!! The Movie itself is a Mess . Vanity( Denise Matthews) is Very young in this movie. probable filmed when she was very young and starting to seek a career in show biz...Pre-Prince . The folks who put this movie together used her exotic looks to carry this film. But the story line is bizarre, strange...and to me.. down right silly. The guy in the film is such trash ...You kind of get vexed by the movie plot. Why is she even with such a ugly loser? Then she befriends the ape thing with blue eyes!?.....on some fantasy Island.....Huh? The guy gets jealous of the ape,..becomes violent towards her! Lose his mind..!! Sets out to kill the ape-man, .....on well...its stupid. I hope the people who put this movie together didn't think they were putting together some sexy, erotic fairy tale ! If so, then they were a bunch of weirdo's! But I always like Vanity and this was when she was young and starting her career...so I had to see it . Anyway, I'am glad she well be remember more for her roles in movies like "The last Dragon"...A kind of corny but sweet movie,...that has become a cult classic and a lot better then this mess! Also as one of Prince's most popular girlfriends and protégé's.

much like 'missing link' creature designers Rick Baker and Rob Bottin once again do outstanding work to make this average exploitation film into a standout piece of monster/creature/guy in apesuit art! The gorilla is just simply the best suit ever accumplished - only Harry (Henderson's) rivals it for genious! if you have a liking for randy apes - naked women (Vanity is insane) and heros that are in fact worse than the villans - then this movie will rattle your senses! ....bestiality with heart! crazy! Has to be owned! ...anyone who denies its brilliance is soft in the head!

This movie is for fans of the actress Vanity, then known as Dee Dee Winters. not a great movie but Vanity's beauty shines through in her birthday suit. Especially the scene of her coming out of the ocean on the beach! Breathtaking!

The picture quality is horrible and 1,33:1 but the effort of putting out this movie is worth 5 stars since many countries (like mine) don’t even try to release their own productions.

I really liked this movie it was suspensful and a lot of drama, and action, and exciting. I really liked the fact that they had brought this movie on dvd, and the fact that vanity was playing in it before she started her singing career, plus I think she is very beautiful, sexy, smart and intelligent, and I'm glad she is now a born again christian.

As someone who has watched a lot of weird and obscure films, I have to say that this is perhaps one of the strangest movies I have every seen. Strange in the sense that I really don't know what the purpose of this movie was. OK, so the premise of this movie is that It's about this girl named Tanya, an actor working with her abusive boyfriend who while working on a film set, has a fantasy about the 2 of them living on a deserted island where she ends up discovering some bizarre ape-man creature(sort of like King Kong, but about the size of a regular man) whom she befriends. Her boyfriend discovers she has been hanging out with this ape creature and becomes so jealous that he tries to hunt him down and kill him. The majority of the movie is basically the abusive boyfriend and the Ape creature having a back and forth with each other and each fighting for the affection of Tanya. If that sounds weird, then that's because it is weird. On the surface, this might seem like some strange erotic fantasy film, but the way this movie plays out doesn't really feel erotic or pornographic. The main actress playing Tanya is very beautiful and she is constantly wearing very skimpy clothing or is topless throughout the film which makes me think that the filmmakers were trying to add in for sex appeal but the thing is, there really aren't any sex scenes at all except a brief one towards the beginning that is so short that it doesn't really matter. There are however a few r*pe scenes towards the end of the movie that are rather disturbing. Most of the movie is just her boyfriend and the ape trying to subdue each other over a shared jealousy of Tonya's affection. This could be interesting but the back and forth between them is very repetitive and ends up being rather tedious to sit through. Like the boyfriend will capture and cage the ape for a little bit, but then the ape will break out and try to cage him and then the boyfriend will try to cage him and so on and so on. It really isn't that interesting and a lot of it just feels like filler. The whole story ends with "Spoiler alert, if you really care" the ape subduing and caging the boyfriend and then sexually assaulting Tonya after which she wakes up to reveal that the whole thing was just a dream. It's bizarre to say the least. It's not really erotic or gratifying in a porno fantasy kind of way. It's not funny or played for laughs. There's no gore or any graphic violence that you'd expect in an exploitation kind of way. The characters are given no real development and the story is so basic that there's not much to be interested by. So.... what the hell was the purpose of this movie? I don't know. The best I can tell is that this is just some weird artsy movie that the director really wanted to make for some reason. That being said, the most bizarre thing of all in this film is that the actual production values of this movie are pretty good. You'd think for such a niche film like this that it would be low budget trash, but no. The island that the movie takes place on is really beautiful and gorgeous to look at and there is some pretty good cinematography on display here. Also the ape creature is played by a man in a suit but get this; the ape suite was apparently made by Rick Baker, the same man who did the visual effects for the 70's King Kong film, and it looks really well made. The effects on this ape creature are honestly really good and way better than a film like this deserves. This came out in 1980 which would have been the height of Rich Baker's career, so I don't have a clue on how he ended up working on such a strange little film like this. So.. yeah, this is a very well made movie about a man and ape fighting over a girls affection that is not really erotic or entertaining or enjoyable but does have some gorgeous scenery on display. I can't really recommend this movie since despite how strange it is, it ultimately is rather dull and boring to sit through. If your someone who is just really into finding the strangest, most obscure films out there, then this might be worth picking out just for how unbelievably weird it is. Like seriously, the whole thing is perplexing. It's not just the movie either, the whole dvd that it comes on is bizarre as well. It comes with a series of trailers for other movies that look just as weird as this one. Like all of the trailers are of these super bizarre trashy films that I've never heard of and probably don't want to know about. Everything about this is just odd. watching this dvd is like stepping into the twilight zone.

Nicht besonderes

After reading a review of this strange little movie in an article about 'Vanitys' film career in one of Robin Bougie's excellent volumes of "Cinema Sewer" I sought out a copy of the flik to check it out. The meagre 'extras' on the disk included a filmography and brief bio of the lead actress (Denise Matthews-AKA 'Vanity" and billed in this film as D.D. Winters!) that indicated this was one of her first filmic outings. 'Vanity' was apparently a pretty wild chick in her early days - living the 'sex, drugs, & rock & roll' life-style to the MAX, and the producers of "Tanyas Island" seemingly took advantage of her youthful willingness to get naked to float their bizarre 'Beauty & Beast' concept. I must admit that it was the promise of lotsa nudity that lured me to give it a watch - I found the viewing experience to be somewhat un-even in its' satisfaction level. The 'plot' focuses on Vanity's character - a frazzled young actress who is apparently on the verge of a nervous break-down after a break-up with her temperamental artist boyfriend 'Lobo'. Her angst causes her to 'pass out' and she has a dream of being transported to an uninhabited island where she and her (aforementioned) boyfriend are living a life of primitive passion. One day, while collecting fruit in the jungle, 'Tanya' feels she is being watched by 'something' and she ultimately runs away from her BF (who is mocking her fears) and discovers a humanoid gorilla-esque creature living in a seaside cavern whereupon they develop a 'relationship'. Her human mate doesn't take this bestial liaison very well and the majority of the latter part of the film is involved with a jealous battle between the two 'males' for Tanya's affections.. which all becomes a bit absurd as the action slogs onward. The 'negatives' that I would note include: The relatively poor quality of the DVD transfer. Other reviewers commented on this so I was prepared for the worst. The transfer was actually not as bad as some VHS to DVD dubs that I've seen, but it is certainly not a real crystal clear digital image. I'd rate it 'passable' - but just barely. The 'directing' and editing were a bit jumbled - the characters were not particularly engaging, the acting was pretty over-the-top - and there was not much 'heat' in any of the erotic elements. On the 'positive' side: Ms Vanity does (as promised) show a lot of skin throughout. The most revealing full body shots occur during the opening title sequence where D.D. artfully writhes around naked - superimposed over ocean waves & such. While on the island there are numerous skinny-dipping and making love in the ocean scenes and lotsa 'outfits' that reveal flashes of naked flesh beneath. Appropo to the primitive island setting, and to the director's credit, Vanity is generally portrayed sans make-up looking pretty 'natural' so she is not overly 'glamorous' looking - but is still plenty attractive to behold. A real nice surprise was the quality of the ape-man critter. I went in expecting it to be a cheesy man in a gorilla suit but the costume and facial expressions were quite good! When the final credits rolled it was revealed that the creature effects were handled by veteran monkey make-up masters: Rick Baker and Rob Bottin! In this area, at least, the producers spent their money wisely. Featured within the film there were also some clips from the classic Willis O'Brien / Ray Harryhausen giant gorilla film 'Mighty Joe Young' - used to 'set the tone' for Tanya's simian oriented dream adventures. In the final analysis I felt the film was worth viewing (mostly for Vanity's breasts & the apeman suit!) but it also has its' annoying elements that kept it from really taking off to cult-classic levels. Perhaps worth a look IF U R a 'Vanity' (or Rick Baker!) fan.

This dvd is a waste of time,and money. Don't buy it.

so so

Not very bad but i don't appreciated the quality of the picture: colours are bad and the script also. The special effects of the ,Blue' are very good.