Sorry, this movie sucks

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Having previously just watched director Reginald Le Borg's The Black Sleep which featured Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Tor Johnson, and in his last active film role, Bela Lugosi, I decided to watch his next movie which starred another horror movie icon: Boris Karloff. He plays Philip Knight, a television personality who regularly debunks certain myths on his show. He now is on assignment to do the same for a hotel magnate after one of four explorers of the title island-a Mitchell (Glenn Dixon)-comes back with a fixed stunned look. Coming along are Knight's secretary-Sarah Adams (Beverly Tyler), Barney Finch (Murvyn Vye), Matthew Gunn (Rhodes Reason), Claire Winter (Jean Engstrom), and Martin Schuyler (Elisha Cook, Jr.). I'll stop there and just say not much happens until the last 15 minutes. In fact, the most shocking thing that occurs involves a native pre-teen girl and one of the big plants. Of the performers, Karloff and somewhat Cook come off best though many of the others do well with the less-than-stellar material they're given. Still, like I said, the movie has its moments like this Karloff line that pretty sums up the near-universal appeal of horror films: "The public loves to be scared. Excites the imagination. Makes them believe in the existence of things unreal."

The film begins with a rich guy hiring Boris Karloff to get to the bottom of a zombie-like trance one of his employees is experiencing. Karloff is apparently a world-famous occult debunker and he assures everyone that the man is NOT a zombie and the island this man recently visited it NOT endowed with evil powers. So, Karloff and a motley crew arrive on the island--only to find that the place is even worse than Newark. In fact, it's filled with man-eating plants and voodoo.Oddly, in the midst of all this silly carnage and occult, two characters fall in love and share some passionate moments. I don't know about you, but being stranded on a homicidal island and seeing my associates eaten or killed is NOT an aphrodisiac and this is the definite low-point of this silly and rather pointless film. Technically, this isn't a horrible film like PLAN 9 or THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN. The acting is just tolerable enough that the film manages to eke out a score of 3--though the terribly dull and silly script was just too much to allow the film to achieve a rating higher than 3. Imagine the work it took to put Boris Karloff in a film and STILL make it dull and tedious! Unless you are a die-hard fan of Karloff or like watching bad films, then I'd avoid this one. Sadly, it's bad but just not silly enough to make it fun to watch and make fun of it.

This one must have been done for the nice Hawaiian vacation the cast got on Kauai. There couldn't be any other possible reason.After one man comes back from an expedition to a Pacific island in a cataleptic state, a whole expedition is sent to prove there ain't no voodoo being practiced on that island where some developer wants to put up a big resort.Boris Karloff heads our intrepid expedition that consists of Rex Reason, Beverly Tyler, Jean Engstrom, Murvyn Vye and Elisha Cook, Jr. Our men and women encounter zombies, carnivorous plants, and voodoo practicing natives. All of which is supposed to scare the audience.Since it was Hawaii, the least they could have done was spring for color. The special effects were riotously funny.The film was selected for the gay cinema salute of TCM this month and I will say that the lascivious looks that Jean Engstrom gives Beverly Tyler plus the way she put down Rex Reason when he tried to make a pass at her was pretty good. I agree with the TCM guest programmer who said that the juveniles who saw this in the drive-ins in 1957 got their first exposure to lesbianism.But it sure could have been in a better film. Voodoo Island has the distinct aroma of tax write-off.

I'm pretty sure that Boris Karloff wouldn't have been too quick to mention this film when it came to talking about his career, and that's hardly surprising as Voodoo Island is a cheap little adventure flick and there isn't much reason to recommend it to anyone. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the film is, as others have pointed out, that despite the title; there is very little actual voodoo in the film. There are man-eating plants and big snakes and stuff...but that's not really voodoo now is it? The plot follows a hoax-buster who is sent to an island to investigate reports of voodoo. We are introduced to a whole range of dull characters, and even Karloff looks hideously bored. The special effects are so terrible that Ed Wood would have proud of them, but the rest of us are likely to roll our eyes as we watch Beverly Tyler wrap herself up in a very fake looking snake. The plot doesn't progress, it merely plods along and by the time we get to the actual voodoo tribe, I doubt many people will be left awake. I liked the fact that the film featured a performance from distinctive support actor Elisha Cook, and seeing Karloff is always a highlight - but overall, this is a very lacking film and while I consider myself a big fan of the horror genre in all of its forms; this isn't a favourite of mine. Maybe this film will fill a gap if you're really bored, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see it.