Voodoo Island is a 1957 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

directed by

Reginald Le Borg Reginald Le Borg (11 December 1902 – 25 March 1989) was an Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria with the surname Groebel and directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974. Le Borg made a series of low-budget horror films at U ...

and written by Richard H. Landau. The film stars

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

, with a cast including

Elisha Cook Jr. Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film ...

, Beverly Tyler and

Rhodes Reason Rhodes Reason (April 19, 1930 – December 26, 2014) was an American actor who appeared in more than 200 roles in television, film, and stage. Film and television career Reason was born in Glendale in Los Angeles County, California, the so ...

. It is set in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and was filmed on

Kauai, Hawaii Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

back to back with ''

Jungle Heat ''Jungle Heat'' is a 1957 American adventure film directed by Howard W. Koch and written by Jameson Brewer. The film stars Lex Barker, Mari Blanchard, James Westerfield, Glenn Langan and Miyoko Sasaki. The film was released on July 22, 1957, by ...

''. Adam West appears in a small pre-"Batman" uncredited role (his first film role).Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 391-392 ''Voodoo Island'' was released theatrically in February 1957 by United Artists on a double bill with '' Pharaoh's Curse''.McGee, Mark Thomas; Robertson, R.J. (2013). "You Won't Believe Your Eyes". Bear Manor Media. . Page 254

Premise

Property developers looking for the ideal

location for the new Paradise Carlton hotel, discover instead an island populated by

carnivorous plants Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis ...

and

zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

Cast

as Phillip Knight *

Beverly Tyler Beverly Tyler (born Beverly Jean Saul, July 5, 1927 – November 23, 2005), was an American film actress and singer who was a minor MGM leading lady who appeared in mostly B movies in the 1940s and 1950s. Early years Tyler was born in Scranto ...

as Sarah Adams * Murvyn Vye as Barney Finch *

as Martin Schuyler (as Elisha Cook) *

as Matthew Gunn * Jean Engstrom as Claire Winter *

Friedrich von Ledebur Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln ( – ) was an Austrian actor who was known for ''Moby Dick'' (1956), ''Alexander the Great'' (1955) and ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1972). Early life Ledebur was born in Nisko, ...

as Native Chief (as Frederich Ledebur) *Glenn Dixon as Mitchell *

Owen Cunningham Owen Cunningham (born 23 January 1967), nicknamed OJ, is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played his club football for the Manly Warri ...

as Howard Carlton * Herbert Patterson as Dr. Wilding *Jerry Frank as Vickers * Adam West as Weather Station #4 Radio Operator (uncredited)

Production

''Voodoo Island'' was Adam West's first appearance in a film.

Howard W. Koch Howard Winchel Koch (April 11, 1916 – February 16, 2001) was an American producer and director of film and television. Life and career Koch was born in New York City, the son of Beatrice (Winchel) and William Jacob Koch. His family was Jewish. ...

and

Aubrey Schenck Aubrey Schenck (August 26, 1908, New York City – April 14, 1999, Murrieta, California) was an American film producer from the 1940s through the 1970s. Biography The son of George Schenck, a Russian immigrant theatrical manager, and Mary Schen ...

's Bel-Air Productions signed Boris Karloff for a three-picture deal with ''Voodoo Island'' being the first film in the contract. The budget was estimated at around $150,000.

Release

''Voodoo Island'' was released theatrically by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

on a double bill with '' Pharaoh's Curse'' in 1957. The film was later re-titled ''Silent Death'' for a very brief 1963 theatrical re-release, sharing the bill with ''

The Black Sleep ''The Black Sleep'' is a 1956 American independent horror film directed by Reginald LeBorg, and written by John C. Higgins from a story by Gerald Drayson Adams. It stars Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Bela Lugosi, and Akim Tam ...

'' (1956), a film which is also known as ''Dr. Cadman's Secret''.

Home media

On September 20, 2005, MGM (which owns

) released ''Voodoo Island'' and ''

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake ''The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake'' is a 1959 American black-and-white horror film written by Orville H. Hampton and directed by Edward L. Cahn. It was one of a series of films they made in the late 1950s for producer Robert E. Kent on contract ...

'' together in a DVD

double bill The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

, marking the film's home media debut. The film was later released by Willette Acquisition Corp. on November 25, 2014.

Reception

Amongst reviews at the time of release, the reviewer for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote: "the thriller gimmicks come off with the desired impact under Reginald Le Borg's direction"; while ''The Motion Picture Exhibitor'' wrote that the film "may scare the kiddies and please the addicts of such entries", though concluded that "The cast is fair, the direction and production average, and the story of medium interest." Later, the film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

awarded the film two out of a possible four stars, calling it "boring"; and ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' gave it one out of five stars, calling it "a terrible film." On his website ''Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings'', Dave Sindelar criticized the film's dialogue as "painfully self-conscious", LeBorg's direction, and Karloff's "clumsy" performance; although he also stated that the actor's presence helped the film. Sindelar also noted that the film managed to avoid the usual voodoo cliches, and enjoyed the killer plants, concluding "This is just one of those movies that calls for a little patience." Dennis Schwartz from Ozus' World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade C, calling it "An unconvincing and dull horror story that has a hokey payoff", and criticized the film's lack of a good story, shallow acting, and flatness that prevented it from providing enough thrills. Bruce Eder from

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

gave the film a mostly negative review, writing, "Reginald Le Borg's ''Voodoo Island'' is one of those movies that used to get shown on late-night local television – ostensibly a horror movie, it didn't have quite enough scares or good visual monsters to rate a place on " Chiller Theatre", but it was unsettling enough in some of its details to get attention."

References

External links

* * * * * {{Reginald Le Borg 1957 films 1957 horror films American black-and-white films American supernatural horror films Films about Voodoo Films directed by Reginald Le Borg Films scored by Les Baxter Films set in Oceania Films set on islands United Artists films Films shot in Hawaii 1950s English-language films 1950s American films