'70s Trash: Isle of the Snake People (1971)

It is better to die a hero than to live long enough to become the villain.  Sadly, that is not the case with today's Film.  Isle of the Snake People is a 1971 Horror Film that comes from a combination of Los Angeles and Mexico.  I'll get into that whole mess later.  Here's what you need to know: Boris Karloff was still taking work in his latter years and, sadly, wasn't too picky about it.  When approached to do FOUR Films for Jack Hill, he said 'yes.'  There was a catch though- he couldn't exactly travel to Mexico to Film due to a combination of lung issues (he had one removed due to Cancer and also had pneumonia) and other physical issues (his legs were in braces).  The strange solution: just shoot all of Karloff's footage in Los Angeles (where he lived) and film the rest in Mexico, where it was cheap to do so.  I should also note that these were shot in 1968 (his parts, at least), but the Films were released in a truncated manner.  That's how Karloff appears in two Films in 1971, even though he died in 1969.  Lastly, I should also note that there is a Film from 1968 with Karloff called The Snake People, but it has zero relation to ISLE OF The Snake People.  With that in mind, this Film is often listed as The Snake People, including on a DVD I just saw today.  Confusing, no?  Phew.  When I have to spend this much time on back story, you know that the Film must be a real gem!  The Plot involves voodoo, an older Cop looking to restore order, a teetotaler and lots of unfortunate animals.  Is Karloff's 2nd to last Film (I'll cover the last one in due time) worthy of his name?  To find out, read on...

In a Cold Open, we see a bunch of vague, PG-13 Voodoo stuff.  There's a little person, a chicken getting its head cut off, random dancing, lots of drums and no semblance of cohesion.

I don't know where I am, who they are or why I should care (in spite of the Film's lone bit of narration).  Great start!

The gist of the Plot is this...

A new Cop comes to Town.
The old guard are lazy drunks.
Voodoo is rampant.
Corruption is even more rampant.
Boris Karloff plays a rich guy who is clearly not the Villain.

Between Scenes of the Plot, we get more random Scenes of this lady doing snake dancing.  She has 3rd Billing, so I guess it makes sense.

More Plot as we learn that Karloff is trying to stop to new Cop from making trouble with the Voodoo Worshippers.  He says that it is for the benefit of the Village.

Yeah, that's it.

The woman also has a tentative romance with the younger, drunker Cop.  It goes nowhere.

The Head Priestess and her little companion break into the woman's room and make her have a weird dream.

It involves a copy of herself that likes to teleport and reappear 2 seconds later in the same location, her briefly making out with...herself and this oh, so subtle symbolism.

Oh and we get payoff late in the Film for that intro.  The guy there has a Zombie Woman as his 'Bride.'

That's it.  I hope you're happy.

It all ends in a big ceremony with the true Master coming forward and *gasp* it is Karloff.

Curiously, he dies when a snake bites the Cop's hand and 'makes him' shoot him.  His Voice and Body Double are sad.

The Cops seem to clear out the Voodoo Cult and all is right...I mean, save for all of the dead people and the collapse of their infrastructure.  The End.

 A pretty forgettable and unfocused Film.  In its best moments, Isle has the Voodoo Priestess and some nice visuals.  Sadly, those seem to be secondary to the overall Plot.  It is worth noting the other disconnect between parts of this Film.  Hill Directed Karloff and company in the Los Angeles parts, while Juan Ibanez did the stuff in Mexico.  For contrast, Hill has a number of notable credits, including Spider Baby, The Big Dollhouse and Coffy.  Ibanez, on the flip side, has these 4 Films and...nothing that really warrants much of an IMDB page (and also half as many Credits overall).  It kind of shows, for the most part.  The Plot stuff has this weird thing where it sometimes feels like boring filler, while the actual filler tends to be more interesting.  It's kind of like stuffing a cheap hot dog with fancy cheese, rare herbs and spices.  I couldn't ever tell you how important those Voodoo Scenes were, but I could at least stay awake easily during them.  The whole thing builds up to an obvious reveal for anyone who's seen any Movie ever.  I wonder if the previous Snake People Film has actual Snake People, as opposed to just people that like snakes.  The Plot is nothing special and the Pacing is odd.  The Film has a cheesy appeal, but it is less accessible for that kind of thing than I was hoping.  I do hope at least that she's in the next one.  After all, based on that haircut, she must be Seth Rollins' Mom, so that's neat.

***Like Mother, Like Son***

Next time, I try to finish off that DVD by the TV.  I can only hope that the final Film is passable at this point.  Stay tuned...