from watch val lewton film and it seem that he be fascinate with dichotomy . for example representcat people explore self repression vs. uninhibited passion . curse of the cat people explore reality vs. fantasy . the 7th victim explore the desire to live vs. the desire to die . lewton movie be usually very rich in these psychological theme and but isle of the dead may explore more dichotomy than any of his other picture . here be just a few of the theme deal with representprotection vs. domination cold hearted rationalism vs. illogical compassion science vs. superstition faith vs. superstition fight fate or death vs. accept fate or death control vs. helplessnessas far a the story be concern and general nikolas pherides ( boris karloff ) and reporter oliver davis ( marc kramer ) follow a pleasant and mysterious sing woman voice to a remote house . their interaction with the house occupants generate an eerie and compelling story . i would not give away anything more than to say the plot revolve around the superstition of the vorvolaka a greek nightmare figure and a the foreword describe it and that can slowly drain the life from it victim ( s ) and even cause plague and epidemic in a community . i do not know how many dozen of boris karloff film i have see and but this be one of my favorite . in isle of the dead he be never someone we be allow to identify with and but he still manage to make u understand his every action . his character undergoes several development and and they all seem perfectly logical and understandable within the context of this twisted character worldview . though no one in the film really seem greek more american and british and in fact it doesn not really matter where the film take place or what culture it in . this be a secluded world that only exist in the movie and but it a powerful world that force u to confront our fear in a very real way . isle of the dead isn not a monster film or a jolting shock you out of your seat jolt a minute horror movie and but it definitely creepy and unsettling and and even scary at time . be write be at a much high calibre than most horror movie and and if you let yourself really get into the story and contemplate the idea present and you will find yourself captivate .