Voodoo Island

"Zombies and chomping plants greet an expedition led by a debunker of the occult." That's the description of VOODOO ISLAND given by TCM and it hits the mark. But the only real reason for watching is the presence of BORIS KARLOFF as the debunker. Others in the cast do little to help the project, but include BEVERLY TYLER as a frigid assistant to Karloff and RHODES REASON as the stalwart leader of the group. His romance with Tyler gets off to a bad start but heats up before the final reel.

The special effects are unintentionally funny, especially a scene where one of the young ladies is attacked by a carnivorous plant. Les Baxter's score is a major asset though, accenting whatever danger is indicated by the script.

But overall, the film is a distinct letdown for anyone expecting a good zombie movie. Most of the action takes place in bright sunlight amid sets that look like leftovers from Fantasy Island.

Summing up: Karloff admirers won't mind watching him here, but no one is likely to be impressed by the lame storyline.

Carnivorous plants and zombies supply the chief menace for the principals in Voodoo Island... There's no attempt at explaining how various mysterious things happen in the script, but the thriller gimmicks come off with Reginald LeBorg's direction. Aubrey Schenck-Howard W. Koch production was lensed on Kauai Island, Hawaii, so backgrounds have a helpful freshness as the characters are put through plot perils. Karloff doesn't have to exert himself much to handle his standard character...Elisha Cook and Beverly Tyler hold up the supporting roles. None of the performances is more than stock.

Given the fair warning so generously given me by others, I was prepared for the very worst but surprise, surprise...it wasn't all that bad, after all.

I can't say it was very compelling, true, but it wasn't "dreadfully boring" either, as it's been called. There were some cringe-inducing moments to be sure, particularly when Elisha Cook 'freaked out' towards the end - and I'm still not sure what function the older of the two ladies was supposed to be occupying within the group, but I did find the lesbian undertones (with good reason since I did find Karloff's secretary rather attractive myself) surprising for a schlocky B-movie of its era! So, no great shakes definitely but an adequate time-waster nonetheless...though the voodoo promised by the title had nothing to do with the man-eating plants we eventually ended up with!

Maybe when I get more acquainted with Karloff's other programmers, my opinion of this film will take a nose-dive but so far, it was a watchable diversion and nothing more; besides it was nice to see Karloff in a straight, i.e. non-menacing, role - though it was somewhat uncomfortable to watch him stumble about on many occasions (due to his illness and old age).

I first saw this film on T.V. when I was about six years old back in the 1960s. Years later I heard this film was pretty bad. I happened to recently find a badly transfered video copy at my local video. I took it home and watched it. I did not find it as bad as I expected. The parts I liked as a kid I still found effective. Critics slammed Boris Karloff here, but he is smooth and professional. However I don't think anyone would say this was one of his best performances. The best performance in the film is Elisha Cook. The ending sequence is quite creepy and Cook pulls it off well. The rest of the cast just goes through the motions. The script however, leaves a lot to be desired. As far as I know, nothing remotely like Voodoo is practised in Polynesia where this film takes place. I also was annoyed with the mish mash of supernatural and science fiction elements. The giant carnivorous plants are explained as relics from a prehistoric age; hence science fiction. The Voodoo stuff is purely supernatural fantasy. The giant plants are effective. In frightening scene, they swallow a little girl. However they have nothing to do with the plot. They are thrown in just to use up running time and seem almost to have dropped in from some other film. None the less, this film does have a few good shocks.

This odd little film is--oddly enough--good because it is so badly done. For starters, it concerns some sort of South Seas witchcraft instead of voodoo. And many viewers probably feel bewitched while trying to figure out all the confusing plot devices and glaring gaps in the storyline. One can easily get the impression that minimal direction has allowed the players to conjure their own magic in regard to their individual roles. Some ring as hollow as a dried-out gourd, like those of Boris Karloff and Elisha Cook, Jr., actors who certainly knew how to move the spirit in melodramas. Rhodes Reason, on the other hand, puts yeoman effort into his boat-captain portrayal, struggling at times to make schmaltzy lines sound serious. Beverly Tyler, as Karloff's all-business assistant, lays it on thick as a prissy prig, high-mindedly brushing off the attentions of Reason and Jean Engstrom, who, as elegant decorator Miss Winters, delivers a subtle but nonetheless obvious portrayal of a lesbian. In such a lightweight, run-of-the-mill script, Engstrom's character probably could have emerged as merely a sophisticate trying to glamorize Tyler's dowdy Sarah Adams and rebuff Reason's rough-hewn Matthew Gunn. But Engstrom intricately weaves a fascinating, on-the-QT characterization that steals every scene she is in. Both women have to contend with predatory phallic-looking plants as well as the macho ministrations of Reason. And there are threats posed by hexing island natives and their oddly Anglo chief. All in all, a fun flick to be marooned in for an hour or so!