Horror Island

Horror Island was obviously made on a shoestring budget to accompany some bigger Universal film. I wasn't surprised it took only twelve days to shoot. In spite of this, however, Horror Island is an entertaining little flick that never really has time to get boring. The first half of the film is the best; and this is mostly thanks to Dick Foran. He plays a 'wheeling and dealing' businessman who has a lot of creditors on his back. This leads him to begin offering trips to a haunted island where his punters can look for buried treasure. After getting together a party of people through various means, they set off to the island...and the film goes downhill from there. There's some subplot about a mysterious phantom wanting the treasure for himself; but it seems like the writer didn't really know what to do once we get to the main bulk of the film and a lot of the early momentum is lost. Still, the film is always at least amusing and at only sixty minutes, there's not enough time for it to outstay its welcome. The whole thing is rather jokey and silly and I'm not surprised it hasn't endured as one of Universal's classics. Still, it's worth a look if you have an hour to spare.

The film starts out a little slow but once they get to the island (about 30 minutes into the film) the movie gets good - funny. There are some suspenseful moments, a neat mystery to solve and plenty of comedy to kept it interesting.

Panama Pete (The Phantom)is played by Foy Van Dolsen but I could easily see John Carradine in this role for some reason. But The Phantom is not the only reason to watch this one - the rest of the cast/characters are likable in a neat plot - so this movie is worth watching if you like a pretty good comedy-mystery story.

I would not say this is Universal's best film of the time era but it certainly is a joyful watch.

6.5/10

Dick Foran plays Bill Martin, an unemployed man who lives on the waterfront who inherits an old castle on a remote island. He gets the idea of charging boat rides to the island for a ghost & treasure hunt excursion, helped by his best friend Stuff Oliver(played by Fuzzy Knight) Peggy Moran plays heiress(and love interest) Wendy Creighton who goes to the island along with several others, where they encounter a caped and mysterious figure known as "The Phantom", who has half of a pirate treasure map, while Bill's associate The Captain has the other. Who will find it first, and survive the night, since someone is also a killer? Fun movie is oddly little-known, but amusing to think how this may have influenced "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" since plot elements and characters are identical! A rushed production though, since this has a big goof: about 26 minutes in, as the group enters the library, a stage hand with portable spotlights can be clearly seen backing out of the scene!

Horror Island (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Shockingly effective "B" thriller from Universal perfectly blends the mystery, horror and comedy genres. A con man (Dick Foran) takes a group of people to an island for a treasure hunt but soon a crazed madman starts killing them one by one. I was really shocked at how much I enjoyed this film considering how many of these types of films I've seen. The movie runs at lightening speed, which isn't the norm and all the jokes work wonderfully well. Foran makes for a good and charming leading man and the supporting cast does fine work as well. Unlike others in its genre, I didn't catch onto who the killer was either.

Bill Martin (Dick Foran) is a man who is one step ahead of his creditors when he inherits something odd--a castle on a lonely island in the Caribbean. He decides to use this to his advantage and offers to take people on a treasure hunting expedition there...if they can afford the fare on his boat. However, once there it becomes obvious that there's already a treasure hunter there...and they seem willing to kill the boat load of people if necessary. As for the visitors, they are a motley crew...with everyone from a wanted man to a cousin wanting to buy the mansion to another crook! What's to come of all this?

This is a slick little B-mystery film from Universal...and the studio was excellent at making these wonderful atmospheric cheap pictures. While never brilliant in any way, it is reasonably well made and entertaining.

By the way, Foran's sidekick in the film is Fuzzy Knight...and fortunately Knight does NOT use his stuttering schtick at all in the movie...thank goodness!