"Tower of Evil might be fun if you're drunk and with a group of rowdy and inebriated friends, because it doesn't offer anything to the lucid."
- Mike Jackson, DVD Verdict

"The film is decorated with incongruous and self-conscious nudity as if to hedge its distributional bets. The dialogue is uncomfortable and it is not surprising, despite O'Connolly's vigorous handling of the murders and mayhem, that the performances are unconvincing."
- The Encyclopedia of Horror Movies

"Graphic shocker has plenty of bare flesh and sexual activity in addition to its horrors to hold interest - and that's during the film's quieter moments."
- John Stanley, Creature Features

"A gory, ahead-of-its-time slash flick...Complete with nude sex scenes; bloody, imaginative murders; a disfigured, Jason-like killer; and a twist ending, this could have been the Friday the 13th [1980] of its days if it hadn't been released in the U.S. in a drastically cut 85-minute version..."
- James O'Neill, Terror on Tape

"An almost perfect case study as a link between the old and the new-the rules of old Hollywood haunted house films, and the U.S. slasher cycle that hadn't yet started."
- Maximillian, Blog Critics

"With its innovative depictions of graphic violence, Tower of Evil is unquestionably an archetype-alongside Mario Bava's Bay of Blood [1971], produced the following year-of the "body count" slasher films that would become a Hollywood staple a decade later."
- George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

"Hilarious dialogue aside, the film is surprisingly atmospheric."
-Jonathan Rigby & Richard Gordon, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema

"Tower of Evil takes us back to the basics of the horror genre, delivering a good scare without all of the excess hype...Sitting down to watch Tower of Evil, I thought, "I know I won't be scared by this movie", but as I watched, I curiously found the hair on the back of my neck standing up! I couldn't believe that I was actually getting into this B-class horror movie."
- Troy Lambert, digitallyObsessed.com

"While the story line is somewhat confusing and contrived, it serves well enough for the purpose and excellent production values and cast help build excitement."
- Variety

Tower of Evil is a particularly ugly example of early seventies horror. In fact, you'd go a long way before you found a better example of cinematic hypocrisy. With censorship restrictions lifted, screenwriter-director Jim O'Connolly leapt at the chance to send a parade of sex and nudity in front of his cameras. But, as we all know, sex is wrong. And so the characters who have so obligingly shown all are almost without exception brutally punished for their behaviour shortly afterwards."
- Liz Kingsley, And You Call Yourself a Scientist! (http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/Rick/liz_toe.htm)

"There is a lot of tense atmosphere combined with gothic visuals which makes this film rise above your average bloodshed movie. Plus there is tons of gore, nudity, and sex to titillate and repulse the viewer. These graphic elements are nicely interwoven with the narrative and lend to the feeling of dread that this film instills. For instance, in the first five minutes alone, the film demonstrates what the movie is capable of as it creates an atmospheric foggy condition, and then throws the gore elements at you. The sets are creepy enough, especially the light house and the island itself. Many nasty looking corpses with crabs skittering around (somebody get out the butter!) on them are unnerving. There is a real overwhelming sense of dread, claustrophobia, and paranoia."
- Neil Messinger, DVD Cult (http://www.dvdcult.com/rev_TowerEvil.htm)

"The film certainly contains moments of genuine horror, but they aren't sustained. The movie ends up as being mainly a curiosity item for genre addicts and those who enjoy their Euro Horror. Low production values, plenty of gore and nudity, the film could certainly have been a lot worse."
- Omar Khan, The Hot Spot Online

Compiled by David Kalat