Phillip Knight(Boris Karloff)makes a living writing books that debunk superstitions, curses and the such. He is hired by a mega-rich industrialist to prove that an island in the Pacific is safe enough to build a future resort in spite of mysterious disappearances. You can bet that real estate prices plummet after the discovery of carnivorous plants and roaming zombies.Really nothing to see that is horribly frightening. Your imagination is suppose to do that for you; although the score by Les Baxter is superb in the category of creepiness. Actually not a bad movie; Karloff himself stoic and bit mysterious...and he's the good guy. Familiar B-movie stalwarts fill the rest of the cast: Elisha Cook Jr., Rhodes Reason, Beverly Tyler, Joan Engstrom and Herbert Patterson.

The film begins with a rich guy hiring Boris Karloff to get to the bottom of a zombie-like trance one of his employees is experiencing. Karloff is apparently a world-famous occult debunker and he assures everyone that the man is NOT a zombie and the island this man recently visited it NOT endowed with evil powers. So, Karloff and a motley crew arrive on the island--only to find that the place is even worse than Newark. In fact, it's filled with man-eating plants and voodoo.Oddly, in the midst of all this silly carnage and occult, two characters fall in love and share some passionate moments. I don't know about you, but being stranded on a homicidal island and seeing my associates eaten or killed is NOT an aphrodisiac and this is the definite low-point of this silly and rather pointless film. Technically, this isn't a horrible film like PLAN 9 or THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN. The acting is just tolerable enough that the film manages to eke out a score of 3--though the terribly dull and silly script was just too much to allow the film to achieve a rating higher than 3. Imagine the work it took to put Boris Karloff in a film and STILL make it dull and tedious! Unless you are a die-hard fan of Karloff or like watching bad films, then I'd avoid this one. Sadly, it's bad but just not silly enough to make it fun to watch and make fun of it.

"Zombies and chomping plants greet an expedition led by a debunker of the occult." That's the description of VOODOO ISLAND given by TCM and it hits the mark. But the only real reason for watching is the presence of BORIS KARLOFF as the debunker. Others in the cast do little to help the project, but include BEVERLY TYLER as a frigid assistant to Karloff and RHODES REASON as the stalwart leader of the group. His romance with Tyler gets off to a bad start but heats up before the final reel.The special effects are unintentionally funny, especially a scene where one of the young ladies is attacked by a carnivorous plant. Les Baxter's score is a major asset though, accenting whatever danger is indicated by the script.But overall, the film is a distinct letdown for anyone expecting a good zombie movie. Most of the action takes place in bright sunlight amid sets that look like leftovers from Fantasy Island.Summing up: Karloff admirers won't mind watching him here, but no one is likely to be impressed by the lame storyline.

Scientist Phillip Knight(the always marvelous Boris Karloff, even in this) who debunks myths and superstitions as folly for the weak-minded, is sent by a major hotel industrialist to a specific island to see what has turned a man(Glenn Dixon)into a living zombie who appears healthy, but shows nothing on his face. Knight's secretary, Sarah(the simply stunning Beverly Tyler, who just looks fantastic from the moment she appears on screen to the close)and "designer" Claire Winter(Jean Engstrom)come along with Knight along with the industrialist's right hand man Barney(Murvyn Vye). Matthew Gunn(Rhodes Reason)is the skipper who will boat them to the mysterious island and Martin(Elisha Cook, Jr..who might..gasp..just die again in yet another movie)who stands to benefit financially from the success of a resort area if one is created on the supposed voodoo island. Upon once getting to the island, they encounter carnivorous plants(!), a voodoo cult who are shown often poking their heads slightly out of the forest leaves, and, gulp, possible death.It's corny, there's just no way around it, but fans of cheesy B-movie chillers might bask in it's lameness. The killer plants look like rubber inter-tubes, the hokey romance development between Sarah and Gunn is filled with horribly limp dialogue that might make you snicker, and could very well have the worst performance of Elisha Cook, Jr's career. His death scene towards the end is hilarious instead of frightening..the supposed impact of that scene elicits guffaws instead of fear. Karloff shows why he was such a wonderful actor and presence on screen when he can even make the flimsiest dialogue leap somewhat. He's damn good even when facing a dead body wrapped in killer leaves and stiff "Native Chief" Friedrich von Ledebur who looks bored out of his skull. The stench from this stinker can be smelled a mile away, but somehow Karloff still comes out of this unscathed. Known by many to feature an open lesbian seeking a relationship as Winters tries every way to convey her lust for Sarah.