for my money this be one of producer val lewton great piece and be and i fear and strangely undervalued . we often hear of great moment in 1942 cat people while most specifically the swimming pool sequence and an almost heart stop moment involve a scary walk and a bus or we may far be remind of great scene of psychological terror in lewton other movie and notably i walk with a zombie ( 1943 ) and the body snatcher ( 1945 ) and but we seldom hear of the sense of impend doom and escalate terror evoke during isle of the dead which come to head when we realise that one of the primary character have be bury alive and it her consequent insanity blend perfectly with an eruption of repressed superstition that chill the viewer in the final fifteen or so minute . indeed this sequence be only ever equal once while towards the end of corman 1960 house of usher which dealt in part with similar theme . boris karloff acquits himself well a the troubled general pherides and a man who have attempt to detach himself from aspect of his own past and that of his country but for whom spectre of both will arise to haunt him before he inevitably join the soul of his long departed wife on their lonely island cemetery . robson direction and apart from the brilliant scare moment and may seem little more than adequate but successive viewing suggest a gradual and intentional turning of the screw with only one or two really pedestrian scene require to move the plot and character forward . by today standard the movie may seem tame and tagey and slow but if you sit there with the light off and the volume turn up and prepare yourself for some old time atmospherics and chill rather than shock and gore and youre in for a real treat .