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).

preppy-3 Writer, TV host and debunker Phillip Knight (Boris Karloff) is hired to investigate a South Pacific island where people have mysteriously disappeared. He takes along a bunch of obnoxious stereotypical characters. When he gets there he discovers zombies, man-eating trees and hostile natives.Slow and VERY boring movie. The movie is more than half over before they even GET to the island! There's endless talking and tramping about a jungle, stupid looking "man-eating" trees and a totally unnecessary love story shoehorned in. The dialogue is terrible and the story goes nowhere. The only good parts of the movie are good acting by Karloff and Elisha Cook, hunky Rhodes Reason is good to look at, there's a good music score by Les Baxter and, in a surprise subplot, Claire (Jean Engstrom) is clearly a lesbian and hits on the one other woman in the expedition (Beverly Tyler)! Still it doesn't make this worth sitting through.

dbborroughs Boris Karloff stars as a TV host who is very much into debunking the supernatural. A hotel magnet shows him a man who appears to have been turned into a zombie. the man had been part of a lost party that was sent off to survey an island in the pacific for the location for a new hotel. Karloff insists that there is a rational explanation for what happened to the man and the party. he then heads off to investigate what happened. Plagued by weird happenings and equipment failures they eventually make it to the island where weird plants and weird creatures begin to widdle down the party.This is a creepy little drive in movie that is probably better than its reputation suggests.Up until you get to the island you really don't know whats going on and the film nicely exploits our fear of the unseen. Only when we get to the island and we see the inflatable plants and stiff crab creatures does the film begin to falter since the build up is better than the revelations. The film is clearly a 1950's B film with many of the island scenes stereotypical of similar movies. Making things so much better is Karloff playing a know it all man of science is very good in a role that is not his typical monster or mad doctor. its a strong role that avoids the histrionics of many of his later roles. The rest of the cast, including Rhodes Reason and Elisha Cook Jr is also good.Tim Lucas at Video Watchdog and others have mentioned this film a couple of times on their blogs with recent airing on Turner Classic Movies. The film gets noticed partly because Karloff is in it but also because one of the characters is very clearly a lesbian. The speculation is that this is possibly the first overt lesbian role in a horror film (or at least an American horror film). I might go farther and say I don't remember ever seeing a lesbian that openly portrayed in any film released prior to this. Sure we have say the tension in Johnny Guitar or other films where strong women are suppose to be equated with being a lesbian, but this is the first time where I remember one woman actively pursuing another while fending off her male pursuers by all but saying she wasn't interested because she liked girls. I think for my money this is probably the most open any "mainstream" movie was to dealing with a lesbian character prior to its release. (of course I could be wrong).Worth a look for those who like B-horror films

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.