Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Sam Panico Bava believed this was one of his worst films. It wasn't released in the U.S. until 2001. And yet, I found plenty to like about this murder-filled affair. It also taught me an important lesson: if you invent a new chemical process, don't go to a rich industrialist's vacation island.George Stark is one of those industrialists and he's invited a bunch of guests to his private island, including Professor Farrell, who has created an industrial resin. Several of the guests want him to sell it. Here's where the hijinks ensue.Stark's wife Jill is sleeping with Farrell's wife, Trudy (Ira von Fürstenberg, The Fifth Chord). Stark's partner Nick treats his wife, Marie (Edwige Fenech!) horribly, but allows her to sleep with Charles, one of the servants. Isabelle (Ely Galleani, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin) is a teenage girl along for the ride. And Jack and Peggy just seem to get along, unlike everyone else.The men beg Farrell for his formula, sending away the only way off the island - a motorboat - away until the deal is done. So when Charles is killed, they simply hang him in the freezer until they can get the radio working to call the mainland. As you do.Then, teenage Isabelle kills Farrell, but the others only know he's dead. The killings now pick up, with Peggy being shot to death, Marie being stabbed and Jill being electrocuted in the bathtub. One by one, their bodies are added to the freezer.With Isabelle having gone missing, Stark, Jack, Nick, and Trudy decide to stay in the same room for the night, as one of them has to be the murderer. Nick takes off after an argument and is found dead the next day, so of course, as is custom, he is also added to the freezer.Stark has a boat, which makes you think he'd be the suspect. But as he comes back to the house, Jack reveals that he has killed everyone else to steal their checks. He kills Stark and meets with Trudy, who was the real boss. She's got the resin formula. He has the checks. But they're both out for themselves and end up killing one another. Isabelle makes herself known and takes everything.That's not the whole story. Isabelle also shows up to see Farrell in prison. He didn't die, but had come up with the whole scheme with Trudy. Turns out he wasn't the good man that he appeared to be and had stolen the formula. He got Isabelle to be part of his plan, but she gave him a drug that would make him appear to be dead, then pushed him out to the sea. Rescuers found him and he was so messed up on the drug that he confessed. She laughs about the whole thing and leaves the prison, finding it all rather funny that he'll be hung in the morning while she'll enjoy three million dollars.There are better Bava films to be found, but there are plenty of twists and turns in this film. It's certainly entertaining and you know, Edwige Fenech is in it. So there are way worse movies to spend your time with.Just remember. If you come up with a great formula or steal one, just keep it to yourself. And don't go on vacation. Stay at work.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) Five Dolls for an August Moon, complete with nonsensical title, is basically a ripoff of Agatha Christie's story And Then There Were None, except without good acting. There's an island, people in a small group get knocked off one by one, fingers are pointed, and then there's a twist. 80 minutes of fun, fun, fun has just been summed up for you! A businessman named Stark (Teodor Corra) has invited a few friends (and their wives) to his remote island to relax for a weekend. Stark's so rich he has a yacht at his beck and call, so naturally shortly after the festivities begin he sends away the yacht, the better to talk business without running the risk of people actually leaving.Stark, along with business partners Nick (Maurice Poli) and Jack (Renato Rossini), has an ulterior motive - to convince inventive Professor Gerry Farrell (William Berger) to sell his secret formula for an industrial resin. By any means necessary, perhaps? And then people start popping up all dead - stabbed, shot, asphyxiated, you name it. Has to be someone on the island, right? Maybe one of the survivors? Just maybe? Oh, and did I mention there's also a teenage girl wandering around, supposedly staying with Stark while her parents are away - but for some reason every character forgets about her about ten minutes into the movie.Somewhat surprisingly, this is a Mario Bava movie, coming near the end of the horror auteur's long career. There's hardly any blood, not to mention scares or suspense. The only thing this movie really has going for it is its attractive cast. Happily for those of us here in the future, then-current fashion hadn't yet exploded into a cornucopia of loud polyester plaids and stripes; even the haircuts are fairly conservative.

gavin6942 A small group of people come to an island to relax but soon find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst.I love that the film features Tunisian-born Maurice Poli, who would go on to appear in Bava's "Baron Blood" and star in "Rabid Dogs". He has a such a good look about him, I would watch him in just about anything. (Unfortunately, it seems that he did not make any English-speaking films, so it may be harder for me to track his stuff down.) Craig Butler called the movie "a confusing and not terribly exciting whodunit... the mundane, run-of-the-mill story and the only-adequate cast keep Dolls from being anything but a mediocre movie." I disagree. While it may not be much of a whodunit, I actually enjoyed the cast and thought it developed into much more than "mediocre".

Scott LeBrun The luscious lady co-stars in this interesting effort from Mario Bava utilizing that old "Ten Little Indians" theme of a group of people being knocked off one at a time.The victims are a group of businessmen - arrogant upper crust jerks all - and their hottie companions who have gathered at an island mansion; the men are determined to make a scientist, Gerry Farrell (William Berger), divulge his formula for an industrial resin. They're willing to pay top dollar, and throw in their wives as bonuses. When he still won't do it, that's when the trouble begins...The movie is done in Bavas' typical artistic style with great use of colour and an effectively isolated setting. Another entertaining touch is the jazzy music score by Piero Umiliani. The scene with the bouncing marbles has to rank as a striking highlight. It's not as thickly atmospheric as Bavas' other efforts - for one thing, it takes place largely in the daytime. But it still has a respectably substantial body count, and the screenplay is just twist laden enough to make it intriguing. Although the viewer is likely to figure out one of the twists, they may not see all of them coming. One thing that really does help is the hilarious dark humour, as the bodies, one after another, are hung up in a meat locker.The acting from the cast is perfectly acceptable, including Maurice Poli as Nick, Howard Ross as Jack, and Teodoro Corra as George. The "five dolls" of the title are enticing and very easy to watch; Fenech sears the screen in a variety of provocative outfits, also appearing are Ira von Furstenberg as Trudy, Helena Ronee as Peggy, Ely Galleani as Isabel, and Edith Meloni as Jill.Ultimately, this isn't one of Bavas' best efforts - it's enjoyable and well made but one can sense something of a "throw away" quality about it. But you certainly could do worse. There is a certain appeal in seeing a variety of worthless greedy pricks receive their just desserts, and if nothing else "5 Dolls for an August Moon" is consistently amusing. It is somewhat refreshing to see a movie of this kind not be completely serious about itself.A good if not great giallo.Seven out of 10.