Isle of the Dead – Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Collins]

In the 1940’s, the undisputed master of horror among film producers was Val Lewton. Starting with Cat People (1942), Lewton specialized in a series of stylish and moody psychological thrillers, a couple of which were directed by some up and coming directors in Hollywood like former film editors Robert Wise (The Curse of the Cat People & The Body Snatcher) and Mark Robson (The 7th Victim & The Ghost Ship); the latter would reunite with Lewton for Isle of the Dead. Previously released by Warner Bros. on DVD as part of a box set devoted to Val Lewton, the studio has revisited the movie for its Blu-ray debut as part of the Warner Archive series.



Isle of the Dead (1945)



Released: 01 Sep 1945
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 71 min




Director:...

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[warnerbro]

I love this. Now Warner Archive please give us THE SEVENTH VICTIM and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.

 

[aPhil]

My screen goes almost blank and never loads the linked review.

 

[aPhil]

Can't load this review on both my old 2010 iMac and my 2020 MacBook Air.
It will load on my Samsung Cell phone.

 

[benbess]

In the perceptive review above t1g3r5fan writes:

"Underrated by most standards, Isle of the Dead is nonetheless one of the best psychological horrors Val Lewton ever produced outside of Cat People. What started out as an adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla in pre-production emerged as a battle between superstition and scientific fact – courtesy of screenwriter Ardel Wray with uncredited contributions from Lewton and Josef Mischel – amidst a plague in the final cut, playing out on a set clearly modeled after the eponymous painting by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin (which is also used during the opening credits). Under the direction of Mark Robson, the film never lags in its brief running time, which allows the slow burn suspense to fully take hold, especially after when General Pherides starts to seriously believe in the existence of the vorvolaka in their midst. There’s really not much to complain about here, except for the fact that it ends too soon. All in all, Isle of the Dead is a remarkably crisp little chiller that’s worthy to be talked about more among the greatest horror movies to come out of Hollywood during the Golden Age; it even has a notable fan who considers it one of the scariest movies of all time: director Martin Scorsese."

I saw this one long ago, and this new blu-ray sourced from the OCN is a huge upgrade for picture quality. The movie itself is a modest but good little suspense film of its era, with gravitas added by Boris Karloff. Below is one of the versions of the 19th century painting mentioned above, Isle of the Dead, by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. He may have based his painting on the tiny Greek island, or islet, called Pontikonisi near Corfu, which is also shown below.

 

[benbess]

 

[t1g3r5fan]

In the perceptive review above Kevin C. writes:

"Underrated by most standards, Isle of the Dead is nonetheless one of the best psychological horrors Val Lewton ever produced outside of Cat People. What started out as an adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla in pre-production emerged as a battle between superstition and scientific fact – courtesy of screenwriter Ardel Wray with uncredited contributions from Lewton and Josef Mischel – amidst a plague in the final cut, playing out on a set clearly modeled after the eponymous painting by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin (which is also used during the opening credits). Under the direction of Mark Robson, the film never lags in its brief running time, which allows the slow burn suspense to fully take hold, especially after when General Pherides starts to seriously believe in the existence of the vorvolaka in their midst. There’s really not much to complain about here, except for the fact that it ends too soon. All in all, Isle of the Dead is a remarkably crisp little chiller that’s worthy to be talked about more among the greatest horror movies to come out of Hollywood during the Golden Age; it even has a notable fan who considers it one of the scariest movies of all time: director Martin Scorsese."

I saw this one long ago, and this new blu-ray sourced from the OCN is a huge upgrade for picture quality. The movie itself is a modest but good little suspense film of its era, with gravitas added by Boris Karloff. Below is one of the versions of the 19th century painting mentioned above, Isle of the Dead, by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. He may have based his painting on the tiny Greek island, or islet, called Pontikonisi near Corfu, which is also shown below.


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Just a little heads up: I actually wrote the review for the Blu-ray. It got posted under Kevin's name by mistake.