Voodoo Island

Voodoo Island is a 1957 American horror film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau.[2] The film stars Boris Karloff, with a cast including Elisha Cook Jr., Beverly Tyler and Rhodes Reason.[3] It is set in the South Pacific and was filmed on Kauai, Hawaii back to back with Jungle Heat. Adam West appears in a small pre-"Batman" uncredited role (his first film role).[1]

Voodoo Island
Theatrical release poster
Directed byReginald Le Borg
Written byRichard H. Landau
Produced byHoward W. Koch
StarringBoris Karloff
Beverly Tyler
Murvyn Vye
Elisha Cook Jr.
Adam West
CinematographyWilliam Margulies
Edited byJohn F. Schreyer
Music byLes Baxter
Production
company
Bel-Air Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • February 1957 (1957-02) (U.S.)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150,000[1]

Voodoo Island was released theatrically in February 1957 by United Artists on a double bill with Pharaoh's Curse.[4]

Premise

Property developers looking for the ideal South Pacific location for the new Paradise Carlton hotel, discover instead an island populated by carnivorous plants and zombies.

Cast

Production

Voodoo Island was Adam West's first appearance in a film.[5] Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck's Bel-Air Productions signed Boris Karloff for a three-picture deal with Voodoo Island being the first film in the contract.[6] The budget was estimated at around $150,000.[5]

Release

Voodoo Island was released theatrically by United Artists on a double bill with Pharaoh's Curse in February 1957, and released a premiere in San Francisco, California on March 8, 1957.[4][7] The film was later re-titled Silent Death for a very brief 1963 theatrical re-release, sharing the bill with The Black Sleep (1956), a film which is also known as Dr. Cadman's Secret.[5]

Home media

On September 20, 2005, MGM (which owns United Artists) released Voodoo Island and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake together in a DVD double bill, marking the film's home media debut.[8] The film was later released by Willette Acquisition Corp. on November 25, 2014.[9]

Reception
Drive-in advertisement from 1957 for Voodoo Island and co-feature, Pharaoh's Curse.

Amongst reviews at the time of release, the reviewer for Variety 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."[5] Later, the film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two out of a possible four stars, calling it "boring";[10] and TV Guide gave it one out of five stars, calling it "a terrible film."[11] 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."[12]

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.[13] Bruce Eder from Allmovie 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."[14]

References
  1. Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 391-392
  2. "Voodoo Island (1957)". Archived from the original on March 3, 2017.
  3. "Voodoo Island – TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
  4. McGee, Mark Thomas; Robertson, R.J. (2013). "You Won't Believe Your Eyes". Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-273-2. Page 254
  5. Senn, Bryan (2 September 1998). "Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema". Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media – via Google Books.
  6. p.215 Weaver, Tom "Howard W. Koch Interview" in Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup McFarland, 1 Jan 2006
  7. Voodoo Island (1957) - Release info - IMDb, retrieved 2023-07-08
  8. "Amazon.com: Voodoo Island/The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (Midnite Movies Double Feature): Boris Karloff, Beverly Tyler, Murvyn Vye, Elisha Cook Jr., Rhodes Reason, Jean Engstrom, Friedrich von Ledebur, Glenn Dixon, Owen Cunningham, Herbert Patterson, Jerry Frank, Adam West, Edward L. Cahn, Reginald Le Borg, Aubrey Schenck, Edwin F. Zabel, Howard W. Koch, Robert E. Kent, Orville H. Hampton, Richard H. Landau: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Amazon. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  9. "Voodoo Island (1957) – Reginald Le Borg". AllMovie. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  10. Leonard Maltin; Spencer Green; Rob Edelman (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. p. 727. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
  11. "Voodoo Island – TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
  12. Sindelar, Dave (6 April 2015). "Voodoo Island (1957)". Fantastic Movie Musings.com. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  13. Schwartz, Dennis. "voodooisland". Sover.net. Dennis Schwartz. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  14. Eder, Bruce. "Voodoo Island (1957) – Reginald Le Borg". AllMovie. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
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