Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

trashgang This flick would never been hunted down by the exploitation buffs if Vanity wasn't involved. The story of Vanity is really sad.Born Denise Matthews she was discovered by Prince who wanted to form a slutty band called The Hookers. They would dress like hookers. In 1982 when attending the American Music Awards Prince noticed Denise. They immediately went to the dressing room and Prince dated her and renamed the band Vanity 6 were she had the leading vocals. Nasty Girls being their signature it also became the signature of Denise now called Vanity. Her bed-hopping became notorious being shagged by Adam Ant, Billy Idol but among all Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. Being a bit of a slut she also discovered heroin. She was seen in a few flicks, but towards the end of the eighties she was past and gone. She became depressed and a crack addict. Now and then she was seen in crap flicks or series. From 1994 she really was a drug-fiend only thinking about suicide, she even became deaf and blind. Rehab was on the way. After leaving the hospital she found out she was resurrected as a new born Christian. Nowadays she's a preacher woman and is back as Denise Matthews and doesn't want to be involved anymore with Vanity.Here in Tanya's Island we see Denise just before she was discovered by Prince. But acting wasn't her thing, she only did what she was the best, walking around naked. She walks a lot naked here and even allowed close-ups of her pubic hair. The flick itself is something strange. Tanya (Vanity) goes to a deserted island with her lover but she falls in love with a...monkey. Naturally her lover wants her back but hings aren't that easy. There is really not that much story here. On the other hand, not only Vanity attracts exploitation buffs but the director was notorious too. Alfred Sole directed 4 flicks one among them called Communion or Alice Sweet Alice (1976), a classic in the horror genre. Before that he directed the rare seen Deep Sleep (1972), a porn made in the golden age of porn. Don't think that you will see another gem like Communion, this is pure exploitation on the sleazy side with gratuitous nudity. Just one thing for the geeks, Rob Bottin and Rick Baker were involved in make-up effects. Next two flicks were The Howling (1981) and The Thing (1982) for Bottin, Baker also went to The Howling as consultant, next two flicks were The Funhouse (1981) and An American Werewolf In London (1981)Gore 0/5 Nudity 2,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Thomas McKearn D.D. Winters (a.k.a. 'Vanity') was highly nude from time to time in this odd little film. There were two other actors, one playing her abusive boyfriend and the other is a kind, sensitive emotionally available guy in a gorilla suit. The carachter was supposed to be an actual gorilla, but the cheap production values kill any suspension of disbelief. Tanya is stranded on the island with her thuggish boyfriend, but the gorilla has special qualities that win her heart and drag the body into near-bestiality.The last performance of Mae West was as a guest on the Mr. Ed show. She used her patented come-ons to the talking horse, plying him with seductive patter. That too, was odd. That episode and this film would make a fun double feature for a very select audience.

Woodyanders A then unknown pre-Prince Vanity stars in this outrageously campy, sexy and compelling "Beauty and the Beast"-type allegorical oddity as Tanya, a naive, but gorgeous and hence quite desirable aspiring young actress who has a nightmare that both she and her possessive, overbearing, sadistic older painter boyfriend Lobo (excellently played to vile perfection by Richard Sargent) are living together on a peaceful and tropical isolated island. Tanya befriends a gentle, turquoise-eyed huge gorilla whom she names Blue (persuasively portrayed by Don McCloud in an amazingly credible costume). The ensuing platonic relationship raises the bitter and jealous ire of Lobo, who degenerates into complete base savagery as he competes with Blue to be the sole object of Tanya's affection. Well directed by Alfred Sole (who also gave us the terrific, vehemently anti-Catholic horror knockout "Alice, Sweet Alice"), with exquisitely lush cinematography by Mark Irwin, a lovely, lulling and melodic score by Jean Musy, a provocative subtext which incisively explores the fine line distinguishing man from beast, a strikingly authentic ape suit that was designed by Rick Baker and Rob Bottin, and ample shots of the delectable Vanity prancing about in her birthday suit, this offbeat low-budget outing overall rates as an intriguing curio.

L. Denis Brown Although I do not monitor which old films are scheduled to be re-released as DVD's, I occasionally see references to this, and I am often surprised at the titles that have been chosen. Many are films which I would not expect to succeed as a newly released DVD, whilst other titles contemporary with them which I would expect to be much more successful remain ignored. A case in point is Tanya's Island - I had heard a report that this was scheduled for release as a DVD early in 2005, but from my recollections of the film I thought this must have been a mistake. However a recent enquiry at one of our local stores has elicited the information that a DVD of this film is indeed expected to be in stock by the end of this month. This means that many people who see it on the shelves will consult IMDb to help them decide whether or not they want to buy a copy. My advice would be not to do so, at least until it has reached the video rental stores so they can preview it. As a film it had a number of interesting themes which held my attention during first viewing twenty years ago, but looking back on it afterwards I felt that these were not handled in any depth and were treated in a rather amateur fashion. The story is of a young girl who feels she has been mistreated by her artist boyfriend and experiences a romantic dream or reverie in which he, she and an ape are living on a very idealised island. The ape and the boyfriend compete for her attention in an extremely school-boyish manner which is comic rather than serious, but the point of the film is the psychological undertones when the man shows increasingly brutish characteristics whilst the brute begins to develop human ones. Whether one can learn anything important about female expectations, or subconscious male drives and urges, from this film would need to be addressed by someone more qualified than myself; however I would only recommend its purchase to somebody who has a serious academic interest in psychology, others may find it interesting to watch but no more.