La muerte viviente

In one of the four Mexican-American horror films he made before his death, Boris Karloff remains typically fun to watch. He plays Carl van Molder, an evil plantation owner out to create an army of zombies. Opposing him is righteous police captain Pierre Labesch (Rafael Bertrand), who arrives from the mainland to deal with the lawlessness on van Molders' island. Also newly arrived is van Molders' niece Anabella Vandenberg (the lovely Julissa), who preaches temperance. Van Molder appeals to alcoholic Lieutenant Wilhelm (Carlos East) for help with his problem.

Admittedly, the low, low budget "Snake People", a.k.a. "Island of the Snake People", a.k.a. "Cult of the Dead", is not exactly high art, or great cinema. But there's a place in the world for schlock like this, too. Juan Ibanez is the credited director, with cult icon Jack Hill handling the Hollywood-lensed scenes, and they strive hard for weirdness and atmosphere. The script is full of mumbo jumbo involving the living dead, voodoo legends, and LSD, but it's certainly amusing. And there's enough reptile action for the film to earn the use of the word "snake" in two of its titles, not to mention some effective sensuality and erotic dances.

The film goes as far as it can on the strength of the always compelling Karloff, supporting actor Quintin Bulnes (as the shady Klinsor), who has a great character face, the enticing Tongolele as the striking villainess Kalea, and another fine character player, Santanon, as the demonic dwarf. Bertrand is fine as the protagonist of the piece, receiving decent support from East.

There's enough bare skin and moody ambiance here to make this reasonably entertaining, especially on the level of a classic "late show" type of movie. Don't go into it expecting a lot of sense and logic, but one *can* expect a moderate level of fun if they're into this sort of thing.

Five out of 10.

This is one of Boris Karloff's last films. It's a confusing train wreck featuring Karloff as Damballah / Carl van Molder, a sexy-as-hell snake dancer named Tongalele, a maniacal grinning dwarf, zombies, and lots of big snakes of course. The basic premise of the movie is that the island has been taken over by zombies and followers of a voodoo cult who worship their leader, Damballah. The local police force are more interested in finding the bottom end of a rum bottle than they are in stopping the activities of the voodoo cult. A superior officer of the police arrives on the island to clean things up, and he tries to enlist the help of a large plantation owner, Carl van Molder. Van Molder is uninterested in helping the police, telling them to leave things as they are, that they don't know what they're messing with.

It's campy but fun, I've seen a lot worse that's for sure.

"La Muerte Viviente" aka. "Isle Of The Living Dead" aka. "Snake People" of 1971, is an extremely trashy and unintentionally hilarious movie, and one of the last movies of the great horror icon Boris Karloff. I have utmost respect for director Jack Hill for movies like his great blaxploitation classic "Coffy" starring Pam Grier. "Snake People", directed by Hill and Juan Ibanez, however, is one of these movies that are so bad they're actually pretty good. I'm a big fan of trashy B-horror flicks, but the only two reasons why I enjoyed "Snake People" were Boris Karloff, who plays a rather small role in this, and the movie's unintentional fun value.

The tropical island "Korbai" is reigned by a bizarre voodoo cult. The cult's unholy priests, amongst them a creepy midget and a scary snake dancer, sacrifice beautiful local girls to their occult deity "Damballah". The girls, who volunteer as sacrifices in order to achieve eternal life, are then resurrected from the dead as mindless zombies. Determined to put an end, to these rituals, that are ignored by the local police, Captain Pierre Labesch comes to the island. He asks the islands richest landowner, Carl Van Molder (Boris Karloff) for help. In the meanwhile, Van Molder's niece, who came to the island to fight alcoholism, befriends a local police lieutenant.

As a horror movie, "Snake People " fails entirely. As an unintentional comedy, however, it is hilarious. The dialogue is extremely poor (and therefore extremely hilarious) and apart from Karloff, the acting is really bad too. The locations are amateurish, the plot has huge holes and many logical errors. While Captain Labesch, for example, is obviously French, and came to the island sent by 'the government', other law enforcement officers of this government have English names. I laughed a lot when I saw this movie the first time, and I will definitely watch it again. Don't expect any suspense, but watch this as the unintentional comedy it is and entertainment will be guaranteed. 3/10

This film is also known by it's shorter name "Snake People". This is not what you would call a good film... but it's not completely horrible - it's so-so.

We have Boris Karloff as Carl van Molder / Damballah a man that owns over half of the island and studies parapsychology. He is a firm believer in leaving the island natives to their ways - but there is a deeper reason for this.

We have voodoo cultist killing people, a beautiful voodoo priestess and zombies. If this sounds appealing to you and you like older low-budget horror movies then you might like this film. This is not one of those "must see for horror fans" films but rather for those that like some of the older trash horror films.

This is a good film to have for Boris Karloff fans - it's one of his last films.

4/10

One of the four films that Boris Karloff made at the end of his life. He made four low-budget films for a company that produced the films in Mexico, although Karloff's scenes were shot in California by director Jack Hill. Karloff is visibly old and haggard, and frequently sits through most of his dialogue. I'm afraid that his presence cannot save this film from being utterly tedious and ludicrous. Karloff plays a French plantation owner seemingly connected with some snake cult, voodoo worship, and a lot of weird characters. There is a dwarf that wears crazy glasses and is slain for some inexplicable reason. There is also a woman that stares at people while she dances around with a snake. She has a wild white streak in her hair. The island has a new police chief that acts with all the conviction of a puppet. The actors are all Mexican (except for Karloff and one other actor). The blending of the footage shot in Mexico and that shot in Hollywood is done adequately, however, the film makes little sense. Script and editing are poorly conceived and poorly executed. Poor Boris! At least it is nice to see him again.