VividSimon Simply Perfect

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . than one carrying the Plague," two-star commander Pherides says about 22:05 into ISLE OF THE DEAD. "The horseman on the Pale Horse is Pestilence; he follow the wars," is another of Pherides' favorite sayings (6:10), which I guess is better for this equestrian killjoy than following the Patriots. Perhaps the primary takeaway for contemporary viewers from ISLE OF THE DEAD is: don't even think about visiting Greece. Greeks have so many superstitions about Gods and Monsters that even they cannot keep them all straight. Also, ISLE OF THE DEAD documents that these central European folks will use sleep apnea or any other flimsy excuse to nail foreign visitors tight inside cheap wooden coffins while they're still alive! In this story, "Mary" has long enough fingernails to claw herself out of such a predicament, but what if she had been a nail biter, or just gotten a manicure? When the difference between Life and Death is whether or not you've been consuming enough gelatin, it's probably best to wash one's hands of such a capricious tourist trap, and avoid ISLE OF THE DEAD at all costs!

bnwfilmbuff Outstanding film dealing with people confronting death and their fear of death. The movie opens with the viewer experiencing what the professional solder must face: death by execution, pestilence, and war. Then we find a group of disparate people living on an island cemetery trying to avoid the war only to find themselves suddenly quarantined with the plague. This exposes fears that go beyond death to premature burial and vampirism. The casting and the acting were marvelous. For all but Karloff, this was probably their finest moment in film. The mood goes from melancholy to resignation to horror. No there are no scary monsters or overly introspective dialog. Just an expertly directed and produced melodrama. Highly recommended especially to anybody questioning if it is possible to make a great film on a limited budget.

Hitchcoc I do like Val Lewton's films. This one begins in an interesting setting with a war correspondent talking to a military man, Boris Karloff. He is a cruel and driven man, a total follower of military rule. Through a series of circumstances, a group of people end up quarantined from the plague. Karloff asserts his military power, forcing the people to do as he says, but some don't have the "proper" respect. He also shows himself to be very superstitious, believing in some old Greek werewolf stories. He directs his attention toward a young woman who defies him and gets people to believe that she is sort of an angel of death. As people begin to expire, he gains more and more power, but there is another woman who is, for all practical purposes, his equal. The movie is a moody portrayal of what people can do to each other when they are frightened. It's a good role for Karloff and comes off reasonably well.

Spikeopath Isle Of The Dead is set on a Greek isle during the First Balkan War in 1912–1913. When General Nikolas "The Watchdog" Pherides (Boris Karloff) and American war correspondent Oliver Davis (Marc Cramer) visit the isle, they find that Pherides' wife's tomb has been desecrated and the body gone. Upon hearing the sweet singing of a female they are led to a household consisting of the Aubin's, St & Mary (Alan Napier & Katherine Emery), Mary's nursemaid Thea (Ellen Drew), archaeologist Albrecht (Jason Robards) & his housekeeper Kyra (Helene Thimig), and salesman Andrew Robbins (Skelton Knaggs). As the talk turns to a mysterious Greek vampire called a vorvolaka being responsible for bad deeds on the isle, a septicaemic plague breaks out. Pherides sends for Dr Drossos (Ernst Dorian) and promptly quarantines all on the isle. But as the group wait and hope for the wind to come and blow the plague away, death and madness starts to take a hold.We open with a scene in Pherides' shadowy tented command point. Dark unflinching eyes stare out at the soldier in front of him, Pherides doesn't utter a word, he merely pushes a pistol forward, holding his gaze. The soldier takes up the pistol and leaves the tent, the outcome we know from Pherides' manner is obvious. The moody marker has been set, this is a Val Lewton {producer} & Mark Robson {director} picture.Working from a script from Ardel Wray that was inspired by Arnold Böcklin's painting of the same name, this was the fourth of five pictures Robson directed for Lewton, and the first of three pictures that Karloff made with the talented producer. Originally titled "Camilla," the production was not without problems. Karloff suffered a back problem that required surgery and thus delayed the film for a while and a central female character called Catharine was jettisoned from the original script. So not without problems it seems, but it doesn't show because Isle Of The Dead ended up as an atmospheric pot boiler dripping with the sense of unease so synonymous with the Lewton/Robson partnership.No doubt about it, this is a very talky piece, with the makers choosing fright suggestion and mooted superstition over actual actions for the most part; with Robson deliberately keeping the pace claustrophobic-ally sedate. It all then comes alive with horror relish as a premature burial {the audience are aware of this fact} brings about an upturn in pace. Which simultaneously gives the horror genre one of its best and most unsettling sequences from the 1940s. We then blend seamlessly into the last quarter of the piece where the mystery and horror unfolds amid shocks and hypnotic like fulfilment. 8/10