Isle of the Dead (1945)

Isle of the Dead: Directed by Mark Robson. With Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer, Katherine Emery. On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn’t enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka.

“Iu0026#39;m a big fan of Val Lewtonu0026#39;s atmospheric chillers. Of course, he did his best work with the great Jacques Tourneur, but thereu0026#39;s still some gems to found outside of that collaboration. Robert Wise/Boris Karloff film u0026#39;The Body Snatcheru0026#39; is a good example of that; but unfortunately, this collaboration with Boris Karloff isnu0026#39;t an entry in Lewtonu0026#39;s filmography that he can be proud of. Isle of the Dead suffers, basically, because for the most part itu0026#39;s boring. Unlike earlier and later efforts from Val Lewton, this one doesnu0026#39;t do a very good job in setting itself up; the characters are introduced and some ideas are put forward, but itu0026#39;s not done with any conviction and so the result is dull and dreary. Take u0026#39;Cat Peopleu0026#39;, for example. That film gave itu0026#39;s premise and the rest of the film drew you into it until the climax. Isle of the Dead doesnu0026#39;t do that, and instead weu0026#39;re basically given a premise and the rest of the movie features the characters festering in it. It really doesnu0026#39;t make for very compelling viewing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is of note for featuring a great performance from the legendary Boris Karloff. As usual, Karloff is creepy and malevolent, and yet very real at the same time. Even in a rather dull movie, Karloff can deliver a great performance; and thatu0026#39;s what he does here. Director Mark Robson doesnu0026#39;t live up to the high standard set by the likes of Robert Wise and indeed Jacques Tourneur and the film never breathes that foreboding atmosphere that you could cut with a knife that Val Lewtonu0026#39;s chillers are famous for capturing. The fact that nearly the entire piece is set on a Greek island, cut off from civilisation gives a stark impression of claustrophobia, but anyone that compares this film to the likes of u0026#39;I Walked With a Zombieu0026#39; and u0026#39;The Body Snatcheru0026#39; will find that it hardly does as good a job as the exhibition of atmosphere that is those films. The film never truly manages to get inside itu0026#39;s characters heads either, and this holds it back greatly as thatu0026#39;s what psychological thrillers are meant to do.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt least the film ends on a high, but the ending is really my only reason to recommend the film. I would suggest seeing some other films that Val Lewton produced before seeing this one, and giving this a go if you enjoy those films.”