Horror Island

(1941) **1/2

Captain Bill Martin and his loyal first mate are having financial problems and consequently most of their days are spent dodging bill collectors. One day Martin is approached by peg legged sailor, Tobias Clump, who seeks his aid in a treasure hunt. According to Tobias, there is a wealth of treasure buried somewhere on an island that Martin just so happens to own. Apparently he inherited it long ago and never gave it much thought. This all sounds well and good to Captain Martin, who sees this as an opportunity to evade those pesky bill collectors. Yet there is a catch; Tobias only has one-half of the treasure map that would lead them to their fortune. The other half of the map was stolen by a mysterious shadowy figure known as The Phantom who has already killed others in his pursuit of the treasure.



Nonplussed by the looming threat of The Phantom, the trio create a “haunted house island tour” in order to lure some suckers into financing the trip. Martin reasons that the suckers can spend their time exploring the “haunted” house, outfitted with cheap scares, while the three of them locate the treasure. After gathering up a handful of misfits, they set sail for the remote island. Once on the island it doesn’t take long before the cheap scares become something more sinister. The Phantom has managed to make his way to the island and he begins killing off the various oddballs that Martin put together. The result is a whodunit in a creepy house.

Horror Island is known as one of Universal’s lowest budgeted films. Apparently it was released 13 days after production wrapped and swiped its score from other Universal movies. This in no way detracts from its charm. I’m a sucker for films that involve a group of disparate individuals trapped in a “haunted house” while someone is knocking them off one by one. Not scary for one second, and more humorous than anything else, this silly little offering from Universal’s b-movie heyday nonetheless hits all the marks for me. The structure is similar to The Black Cat (1941) also released by Universal that same year.