FilmZombie Witchcraft & Occult Folk Horror

Isle of the Snake People1971

Name: Isle of the Snake People
Genre: Zombie, Witchcraft & Occult, Folk Horror
Released: 1971-03-01
Rating: 4.4

Directed by Juan Ibáñez, Jack Hill

4.4

Crypt Score

Blended from 2 sources

IMDb 3.4TMDB 3.1

✍ Review

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Year

1971

Runtime

90 min

The premise

The inhabitants of a small, remote island have been practicing voodoo rites and worshipping an evil priest named Damballah for years, but the local law officials generally turn a blind eye to this death cult's bizarre activities. Captain Labesch arrives from the mainland, determined to crack down on the island's lawlessness and clean up the ineffectual, hard-drinking police force. He appeals for assistance from wealthy plantation tycoon Carl Van Molder, who owns nearly half of the island and wields a great deal of influence over the population. Van Molder has made the study of parapsychology his life's work and believes in the secret powers of the mind. He warns Labesch not to interfere with this forgotten island's ancient ways. Also visiting is Van Molder's niece, Annabella, a temperance crusader who wants her uncle to help fund the International Anti-Saloon League. She falls in love with handsome police lieutenant Andrew Wilhelm

Horror Vault's take

On a fog-shrouded Caribbean island, a secretive voodoo cult devoted to the serpent god Damballah operates in the shadows while the local authorities look the other way. When a reform-minded captain arrives from the mainland to impose order, he finds an island whose most powerful resident has his own deeply personal reasons for keeping the old ways undisturbed. Caught between crumbling colonial law and genuine supernatural menace, a young woman visiting her enigmatic uncle begins to sense that the island's darkest secrets run far deeper than anyone will admit. Boris Karloff lends his iconic presence to this atmospheric late-career entry steeped in voodoo atmosphere and lurking dread.

Content: Cult Ritual Depictions, Human Sacrifice Themes, Undead/Zombie Imagery, Mild Violence