Tower of Evil (1972)

Interesting facts

Tower of Evil is a 1972 slasher film directed and written by Jim O'Connolly and starring Bryant Haliday and Jill Haworth. It follows a group of archeologists searching for a mystic Phoenician treasure on a deserted island, where they are met with a series of mysterious murders.

Production

Producer Richard Gordon was looking for a horror film he could make in England in association with Joe Solomon of Fanfare Films. Gordon met George Baxt who pitched him the story of Tower of Evil and Gordon bought it. Gordon paid Baxt $5,000 to write a script which was delivered six months later. Neither Gordon nor Solomon liked the final script, feeling that there was too much humor.

Gordon decided to proceed on the basis of the strength of the story, looking for a new director. He approached Sidney Hayers who was a friend of Baxt, but Gordon turned him down because he felt Hayers was too enthusiastic about Baxt's script and wanted to shoot it as written.

The film was an international co-production between the British company Grenadier Films, and the United States-based Fanfare Company.

Gordon says the British unions protested the importation of American actor Bryant Haliday to play a role. Gordon arranged for Lee Patterson as a back up but secured Halliday's casting by claiming that the film's financing was dependent on Haliday being in the cast.

Gordon says Mark Edwards was recommended to him by James Carreras off the back of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

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