Isle of the Snake People (1971), dir. Juan Ibanez and Jack Hill, Azteca Films/Columbia Pictures
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Actors rarely go out on a good note. If Targets had been the last film Boris Karloff did, it would be help up as probably the finest film of the 1960s but sadly Mr. Karloff followed that up with a series of four films released after his death. This would be the second to last.
On a remote island, Captain Labische (Ralph Betrand) is the newly arrived police presence. The place has a bad reputation, what with the voodoo, murder, and voodoo murders lurking about. One of his first stops in local bigwig Carl Van Molder (Karloff). He welcomes the captain but begs the man to leave well enough alone.
He also meets the man's niece, Anabella Vandenberg (Julissa), who is trying to get an International Anti-Saloon League chapter started on the island. She's pretty sweet on the only other cop on the island, Lt. Andrew Wilhelm (Charles East), despite his equal love of rum.
The police have their work cut out for them, as there are roving bands of zombies on the island. They don't labor in the cane fields either. No, they love falling on people and devouring them whole, especially nosy cops.
The zombies take orders from the snake dancer Kalea (Tongolele) but she in turns takes her orders from the sinister and mysterious Damballah. Who is this siniser figure and what does he want with Ms. Vandenberg?
Sad; Karloff was supposed to go to Mexico City and shoot his scenes there, but ill health forced him to shoot on a soundstage in LA. That's not to say he doesn't give it his all, but he was already looking a wreck in 1968's Targets. Here he just looks worn out.
The zombies here are again more folklore inspired, although they act more like the modern take. In the end, this is another zombie island mystery. More Scooby-Doo than Romero.
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