Voodoo Island

I first saw this film on T.V. when I was about six years old back in the 1960s. Years later I heard this film was pretty bad. I happened to recently find a badly transfered video copy at my local video. I took it home and watched it. I did not find it as bad as I expected. The parts I liked as a kid I still found effective. Critics slammed Boris Karloff here, but he is smooth and professional. However I don't think anyone would say this was one of his best performances. The best performance in the film is Elisha Cook. The ending sequence is quite creepy and Cook pulls it off well. The rest of the cast just goes through the motions. The script however, leaves a lot to be desired. As far as I know, nothing remotely like Voodoo is practised in Polynesia where this film takes place. I also was annoyed with the mish mash of supernatural and science fiction elements. The giant carnivorous plants are explained as relics from a prehistoric age; hence science fiction. The Voodoo stuff is purely supernatural fantasy. The giant plants are effective. In frightening scene, they swallow a little girl. However they have nothing to do with the plot. They are thrown in just to use up running time and seem almost to have dropped in from some other film. None the less, this film does have a few good shocks.