grizzledgeezer ...and the crypto-lesbian sub-plot. But mostly Karloff.Boris Karloff (William Henry Pratt) is one of the all-time great English-language actors. Not just for horror films, but anything.He's the undisputable master of underplaying. His delivery is always subtle, nuanced, and restrained. At the same time, he can embroider the most-trite dialog and make you believe Shakespeare wrote it. (Jack Elam is nearly as great an actor, though in a different sort of way.)The six-star rating is primarily for Karloff's performance. Otherwise, it would get two stars (just barely)."Voodoo Island" would make a great double feature with "Little Shop of Horrors" (especially the musical).

Carolyn Paetow 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!

jimbenben I watched this as part of the TCM "Screened Out" series. (Congrats to TCM, by the way, for finding this collection. Some of these films like "Victim" and "Staircase" deserve a second-look on their own merits. But some of these films are truly obscure and we'd never get a chance to see them if it weren't for TCM.) Anyway, the scene in "Zombie Island" that I watched over and over was when the group first arrives on the island and something falls out of a palm tree. It looks like some sort of plastic lobster. Someone yells, "Coconut clams! Get away from that tree!" What a hoot! I'm guessing that the plastic lobster-thing was just something they had on hand in the prop room that day.

Scarecrow-88 Scientist Phillip Knight(the always marvelous Boris Karloff, even in this) who debunks myths and superstitions as folly for the weak-minded, is sent by a major hotel industrialist to a specific island to see what has turned a man(Glenn Dixon)into a living zombie who appears healthy, but shows nothing on his face. Knight's secretary, Sarah(the simply stunning Beverly Tyler, who just looks fantastic from the moment she appears on screen to the close)and "designer" Claire Winter(Jean Engstrom)come along with Knight along with the industrialist's right hand man Barney(Murvyn Vye). Matthew Gunn(Rhodes Reason)is the skipper who will boat them to the mysterious island and Martin(Elisha Cook, Jr..who might..gasp..just die again in yet another movie)who stands to benefit financially from the success of a resort area if one is created on the supposed voodoo island. Upon once getting to the island, they encounter carnivorous plants(!), a voodoo cult who are shown often poking their heads slightly out of the forest leaves, and, gulp, possible death.It's corny, there's just no way around it, but fans of cheesy B-movie chillers might bask in it's lameness. The killer plants look like rubber inter-tubes, the hokey romance development between Sarah and Gunn is filled with horribly limp dialogue that might make you snicker, and could very well have the worst performance of Elisha Cook, Jr's career. His death scene towards the end is hilarious instead of frightening..the supposed impact of that scene elicits guffaws instead of fear. Karloff shows why he was such a wonderful actor and presence on screen when he can even make the flimsiest dialogue leap somewhat. He's damn good even when facing a dead body wrapped in killer leaves and stiff "Native Chief" Friedrich von Ledebur who looks bored out of his skull. The stench from this stinker can be smelled a mile away, but somehow Karloff still comes out of this unscathed. Known by many to feature an open lesbian seeking a relationship as Winters tries every way to convey her lust for Sarah.