Is it paradise—or a deadly trap—on the Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women, a.k.a Island of Sister Theresa. An all-male crew makes an emergency landing on an uncharted island and finds itself at the mercy of fierce women who will defend their homes (and their shrine to the mystical “Sister”) to the death. Meanwhile, both sexes are menaced by the malicious warriors known as the “Headchoppers.” Written by Gary Sherman (Death Line) and Sandor Stern (The Amityville Horror), this savagely entertaining made-for-TV adventure was the final film from acclaimed director Joseph Pevney (Female on the Beach). The wonderful, sun-soaked cast includes Steven Keats (Death Wish), Jaime Lyn Bauer (Young Doctors in Love), Jayne Kennedy (Body and Soul), Rosalind Chao (The Joy Luck Club), Deborah Shelton (Body Double), Peter Lawford (Salt and Pepper) and screen and television legend Clint Walker (Killdozer).

For thoughts on Mysterious Island Of Beautiful Women, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/-Ueh57kDg4o?t=1377]

Video Quality

Mysterious Island Of Beautiful Women comes to Blu-Ray courtesy of Kino Classics in its original 1.33:1 that looks pretty decent, but due to the alleged quality of the source material we are lucky to have this one in high definition at all. The title card at the beginning of this release states that the film was restored from the best available film elements, which were a selection of 35mm and 16mm prints, as no negative elements are known to survive. These prints were scanned in 2K and assembled from the highest quality sections, but the label still warns of fluctuations in clarity and color saturation. While this is not ideal, Kino is never less than forthright about the inconsistent quality which makes you forgive some of the shortcomings. This film has largely been forgotten over the years outside of some die hard TV movie fans, but it is really great to see such effort put forth to make this presentation look as stable as possible.

With all the warnings at the start about the deficits in quality, the image is surprisingly strong throughout. The natural grain remains intact and nicely resolved even in the face of some more coarse moments. This allows for a strong amount of detail present with nice textures on the ragged clothing and within the environment. The new transfer shows off a solid amount of depth to each location which is especially nice in this setting. Of course, there are moments during the presentation that take a downturn in quality in terms of clarity, but things remain stable more than they don’t. Color temperature also runs a bit inconsistent, but not so much as to ruin the experience. Black levels are passable but some shadowy scenes struggle with crush and detail. The contrast is well defined, and print damage has been cleaned up quite a bit. Kino Classics has done some admirable work to rescue this one.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that sounds consistently strong throughout. There does not seem to be any glaring instances of age-related wear and tear. Environmental sounds are rendered well alongside everything else including sounds of airplane motors and waterfalls. Dialogue always comes through with joyous clarity without being trampled by any competing elements. This track handles the score well throughout the duration of the film without distortion or fluctuations in fidelity. Kino Classics should be proud of this one. There are optional English subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Film Historian/Author Amanda Reyes and Kindertrauma Co-Founder Lance Vaughn provide an entertaining and informative commentary track in which they discuss their history with this particular title, the landscape of the television movie scene of the time, the unclassifiable nature of this program, the attempts to court a younger demographic, how this film fares in the landscape of feminism and more. Reyes in particular is always a wealth of knowledge and provides a lot of great insights into this.

Trailers: There are trailers provided for Fear No Evil, Scream, Pretty Peggy, Ritual Of Evil, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Night Gallery.

Final Thoughts

Mysterious Island Of Beautiful Women is a passably entertaining island adventure made-for-television film which balances a lot of different genre aspects in one package. The result can be a tiny bit chaotic, but it keeps things interesting as the “mystery” unravels. The film never goes full-tilt into any one outrageous direction which may disappoint some genre enthusiasts – this was made for a mainstream television audience after all. Yet, if you are in the mood for a slightly cheesy island getaway packed with melodrama, you are likely to find this a fine use of your time. The new Blu-Ray from Kino Classics features a decent A/V presentation and an entertaining new commentary track. This one is recommended for fans of TV movies, but everyone else should proceed with caution.

Mysterious Island Of Beautiful Women will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray on August 30, 2022.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.