Island Monster

Island Monster is a movie more endured than enjoyed. I hope you won't consider this a spoiler, but there is no actual monster in this movie. The villain is a figurative monster because he is a ruthless gangster not because he is something actually inhuman. This is not a horror movie.

The story centers around an Italian drug smuggling ring. When Mario investigates his young daughter is kidnapped in an attempt to keep the authorities at bay. As he tries to crack open the organization to save his girl and stop the drug flow his wife befriends the criminal kingpin without realizing it.

The story telling in this is haphazard and sloppy. A showgirl Mario is investigating breaks his cover but how? And Mario's wife figures out the showgirl has something to do with the kidnapping and for whatever reason thinks it's a good idea to approach her about it rather than, oh I don't know, tell the police? She had no interaction with the showgirl and didn't do any investigating depicted in the movie so how did she even deduce what she did? And what mother is going to run off leaving her sleeping child alone in a hotel room with the doors open? From a narrative perspective this whole thing is a travesty.

And let's talk about acting. I figured with Boris Karloff involved this would be an English movie, but it's actually Italian dubbed in English. Maybe Karloff speaks Italian, I don't know, but the voiceover actors are really really bad. The little girl in particular is so bad it's comical (if you can get past the annoyance). She sounds like an adult trying to do a high falsetto voice.

There's no mystery, no intrigue, no interesting conflicts, and nothing worth watching. Even Karloff can't save this thing. He's not on screen all that much anyway. The action scenes are pitiful. There's one piece of music that gets repeated over and over until it becomes annoying. The plot is slow and tedious. So there's everything wrong with nothing redeeming to make it worth sitting through the crap.

MORALITY:

This is slightly more questionable than the average black and white movie though it's still pretty tame by modern standards. We get a brief flash of a breast as a girl changes. We get some people getting shot and beaten over the head. There are drug references throughout though no usage unless you count tobacco. There is no strong language that I noticed.

SPIRITUALITY:

Ummmm..... don't be a monster?

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Unless you are a Karloff completest or have a particular fondness for old Italian movies don't bother.

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