If it wasn't for Boris Karloff, I probably would not have seen Voodoo Island. After seeing it, I do think that Karloff is the best thing about Voodoo Island, he has given far better performances but he brings a lot of class and command to his role. Elisha Cook is also good, the music is haunting and adds successfully to the sense of danger and dread and the ending is kind of creepy. Very little else works however. The cinematography is not so bad, it is sharp and looks decent enough, it's just that there isn't much that is particularly memorable and little special is done with it. The plants to put it kindly do look stupid and have absolutely nothing to do with the story or title(which was quite misleading). They don't serve much of a purpose either, they don't have much personality and the deaths(quite a low body count here) are utterly forgettable. The script and story were the biggest flaws. There is far too much talk in the script and in quality it is flimsy and has little flow. I'd forgive the slow pacing if the story and atmosphere were compelling enough. Sadly though they are not, the lack of thrills, suspense or genuine horror as well as the fact that little of it makes sense made Voodoo Island a chore to sit through in all honesty. The lesbian subplot was surprising but I am not sure whether it merged with the rest of the story or whether it was out of place and stuck out like a sore thumb, by all means it holds interest value but it leans towards the latter for me. The characters are severely underdeveloped, playing second fiddle to everything else, so we have no time to care for or even like them. Apart from Karloff and Cook, the rest of the cast don't register. And I do agree about the voodoo issue, there is little of it so you do feel that the title and story bear no relevance to one another, and the fact that the film seems to think that it occurred in the Pacific rather than the Caribbean(not nit-picking at all, this is common knowledge) is rather disturbing. I've seen MST3K mentioned here and I also agree, there are worse films that have been torn to shreds on that show but I think MST3K would think of some good material talking about Voodoo Island. Overall, not as bad as its rep but despite two good performances, a good score and the ending Voodoo Island is pretty bad. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Voodoo Island
