The producer Val Lewton known for his atmospheric "B" horror films for RKO studios in the 1940's was coming towards the end of his run. Lewton was an extremely creative producer who when stuck with small budgets and at times lurid titles forced upon him from the studio, could turn something into nothing with clever writing and atmospheric noirish photography. Lewton was responsible for giving talented but relatively unknown filmmakers like Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise and Mark Robson opportunities to direct which helped launch their careers.
Boris Karloff who was basically stuck in the horror genre had good parts in Lewton's pictures with The Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead and Bedlam. Lewton was a very influential figure in the horror genre and his influence can still be found on many horror films produced today.
Isle of the Dead concerns a group of people stuck on an island during the plague. One of the group begins to believe that they are being haunted by a spirit called the "Vrykolakas." an undead creature. The film focuses on the interactions of this group while balancing the expected scary stuff the studio was looking for. Lewton and his writer Ardel Wray mostly focused on character development which was rather unusual for these types of films. A good film.
The film runs a compact 72 minutes.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment