Director: Curt Siodmak
Year: 1932
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After surviving a deadly boat accident, a man reaches safety on a nearby island with an eccentric host and several other victims of other accidents and tries to recuperate in their company, but when he learns the intent of the accident is to procure people to hunt as sport tries to leave the island alive.
Review:
There was a lot to like about this one. Among the better elements found here is the setup that gets the group together on the island in the first place. With the beginning conversations about the dangers on the trip followed by the impressive shipwreck that strands him on the island as the only survivor, this one features an engaging setup that’s paid off incredibly well with the meeting that showcases their hosts’ love of hunting and general psychotic state. This adds an air of creepiness to the presentation with the secrecy about their story, lies about the state of the house, and the disbelief over his proclamations that hunting is a noble sport as he says.
Once this one gets through the eeriness of the early setup, the Adventure-filled setup in the second half that focuses on the chase through the jungle is a tense and thrilling battle of wits. Seeing the smarts on display which comes from the setting of traps to stop him, and then outsmarting them, adds to the film with a strong sense of tension about how they’re going to get away. Ranging from the thick jungle to foggy swamps and a massive waterfall, this has a lot of fun chases as they try to escape the hunter and his tricks to catch them, leading to a highly enjoyable twist finale that has a lot to like. These give this one a lot to hold it up overall.
There isn’t much to dislike here. The main problem here is that there’s just too much setup about the boat trip and their setup to get on the island. It has so much time spent rambling around the ship trying to give an idea of the different personalities on the trip and who they are which is all irrelevant following the accident as they don’t even make it anyway so it doesn’t really matter anyway. As the big chase doesn’t even start until the halfway point of an hour-long film, this wastes a lot of valuable time without getting to the important qualities in the film, yet it’s not early as detrimental as it could’ve been with the positives holding this down.
Overview: ****/5
A highly enjoyable adaptation that usually gets a lot to like and not too many flaws, this is a rather chilling classic horror effort that has a lot to really get into. Those who are intrigued by genre fare from this point in history, curious about the adaptation, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those who aren’t as appreciative of these factors should heed caution with this one.
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