Another delightful guest post today from the one and only Andrew M. Boylan of the famous Taliesin Meets the Vampires blog! Enjoy! Thank you to Andrew for allowing the publication of this piece on the Eternal Vigilance website! If you are unfamiliar with his blog, do check it out today and be sure to bookmark it!


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Isle of the Dead
A review by Andrew M. Boylan


For those who don’t know me I have, for a few years now, produced reviews of vampire movies and books for the blog Taliesin Meets the Vampires under the online name Taliesin_ttlg. When given the opportunity to produce work for this site I wanted to change the style – rather than have a facsimile of reviews placed on my own site – a difficult task as the content of the films has not altered but hopefully I have succeeded.


Isle of the Dead is my favourite vampire movie of all time. Directed by Mark Robson and released in 1945, this was a film I loved both as a child without even realising it was a vampire movie – indeed there was one particular scene with Boris Karloff in his role as General Nikolas Pherides that stuck in my mind through the years, as he made sacrifice to the old Gods – and as an adult when I realised the nuances of the film. How, you may ask, did I not realise it was a vampire movie? Probably it was down to a combination of being very young, the use of the vorvolaka as our particular vampire type and the fact that this is actually an example of a vampire movie that doesn’t actually have a vampire in it.


It is set during the first Balkan War and, following a battle, the General visits a nearby island to visit the tomb of his wife. He is accompanied by American journalist Oliver Davis (Marc Cramer). The General is a man who demands obedience. In the opening scenes an officer who failed him is stripped of rank and shoots himself at the General’s behest. The exhausted soldiers are quickly burying their fallen comrades as there have been outbreaks of septicemic plague.


On the island the General is disgusted to find that the tombs have been disturbed and the corpses removed. He and Davis are about to leave when they hear singing. They follow it to a house owned by an architect, Albrecht (Jason Robards Sr). The house is filled with refugees from the fighting and they persuade the General to stay the night, despite the obvious animosity felt for him by Thea (Ellen Drew), maid to Mary (Katherine Emery) – herself the wife of British Consul St Aubyn (Alan Napier). We hear that the tombs were raided for antiquities some 15 years before but the housekeeper, Madame Kyra (Helen Thimig), says that the corpses were all destroyed as one of them was known to be evil.


In the morning they discover that a salesman called Robbins (Skelton Knaggs) has died. The army doctor, Drossos (Ernst Deutsch), is summoned to the island and confirms that it is the plague. As a result the General quarantines the island until the Sirocco Winds come – the plague is spread by fleas and the winds will kill off the fleas. However as more and more succumb to the plague science begins to be abandoned and superstition comes to the fore.


It is within the superstition that we get our vampire aspect. The vorvolaka is a hybrid, almost, of the vampire and werewolf myths. Also known as vrykolokas it is the spirit of a wolf which inhabits a human host and, often astrally, drains the vitality of its victims – it is this vitality draining that the film seems to concentrate on. This hybrid of the folklore would seem to come about because the creature was probably introduced into Greek folklore as Slavic culture merged into the Greek mainstream and the Slavic werewolf (that would become a vampire on death) and Greek revenant merged. There is also some indication that the vrykolokas might also feed on blood, in fact Dr Bob Curran in Vampires (a field guide to the creatures that stalk the night) concentrates mostly on the idea that they are blood drinkers


It just so happens that Mary suffers from a debilitating illness and Thea is young and healthy. Madame Kyra is convinced that Thea is a vampire – draining the vitality from her mistress and killing those who succumb to the plague. This fits in with the vampire as a plague spreader – another feature of the vrykolokas myth – but also highlights the idea of panicked villagers using superstition to explain why those around them are dying. Of course the vorvolaka is not the fanged blood sucker we are, perhaps, more used to but that (and the fact that there isn’t actually one in the film) is what makes this even more fascinating as a movie.


The General eventually becomes ill with the plague and, in his delirium, turns to the old Greek Gods and finds himself buying the snake-oil that Kyra is selling. Add into this the fact that Mary suffers from catalepsy and the one man who knows this, Doctor Drossos, dies of plague and we have opportunity for a burial alive. This, of course, captures another aspect that might explain where the origins of the vampire myth lie, when an insane Mary breaks free of her coffin and prowls the island.


It is not just the unusual story basis that makes the film. The superb acting helps. Karloff is on fine form as he descends into paranoia and a scene where Thea is locked in a room with the body of Mary (whom she believes has died) as Madame Kyra prowls outside repeating over and over that she is vorvolaka is superbly acted and drips with atmosphere.


It is the fact, however, that this film has stayed with me that makes it my favourite all time vampire movie. It is intelligent and unusual but has unforgettable scenes. The film was obliquely referenced in the episode of the Middleman, the Vampiric Puppet Lamentation, as the auctioneer character was named Nicholas Pherides. I also understand that it is on the cards for a remake and, to be honest, I dread the idea. The concept is to move it from Greece to Afghanistan – presumably it wouldn’t therefore feature a vorvolaka – but you can almost smell the creature effects. If a creature is put in the film it isn’t a remake or even a re-imagining and, to be honest, would we need a remake anyway?

Tags: Andrew M. Boylan, critic, Horror, Isle of the Dead, Movies, review, Taliesin Meets the Vampires, vampire movies, vampires

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