Isle Of The Dead (1945) ***

More of a dramatic mystery than a horror film, Isle Of The Dead (1945) was the second to last (of eleven) features that Val Lewton produced at RKO and the fourth (of five) of those directed by Mark Robson. While I mostly prefer the films that Jacques Tourneur and Robert Wise made for Lewton, Robson evokes  a similar mood thanks to some atmospheric cinematography and a strong lead performance by Boris Karloff. 

It's a slow picture, especially for one that's only 71 minutes long, but it builds to a tense finale. IOTD serves as an entertaining tale of paranoia, folklore and control where science vs. superstition is front and center. With the themes of quarantining, hand washing and avoiding contact, it's hard not to draw parallels to the current pandemic.

You can find my Mark Robson Feature Films Ranked here.

You can find my Val Lewton RKO Feature Films Ranked list here.