Island of the Doomed (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Mel WellesRelease Date(s)
1967 (May 12, 2026)Studio(s)
Órbita Films/Theumer Filmproduktion (Mondo Macabro)- Film/Program Grade: C+
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: A
Review
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Robinson, but you were about to touch my giant... gardenias.”
More entertaining than it has any right to be, this Spanish-West German co-production released in the former country as La Isla de la muerte (The Island of Death), in West Germany as Das Geheimnis der Todesinsel (Secret of the Island of Death), it was first issued theatrically in the United States as Island of the Doomed, but today may be better remembered under one of its alternate titles, Maneater of Hydra.
Famously bad—it gets a lowly 4.6 rating out of 10 on the IMDb—part of its reputation seems due, up to now, to the extremely poor-quality video transfers out there. I last saw it via a 2006 DVD version that not only panned-and-scanned its Techniscope image, but which was also derived from a very damaged 16mm television print, with tracking issues to boot. Mondo Macabro was unable to locate the original camera negative, so for their Blu-ray scanned two different 35mm theatrical prints in 4K. Though the result isn’t perfect—it’s a little soft at times, there are a few scratches, and the audio is murky at times—it’s still a vast improvement. Now it looks like a real movie.
Of course, even these efforts can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but it does prove Island of the Doomed isn’t that bad. The new transfer reveals a slickly-made if moderately low-budget effort, yet with decent production values and some creativity here and there. Its poisonous plants and man-eating monster tree are more credible and imaginatively designed than those in other man-eating plant movies (e.g., Womaneater, Konga, the original Little Shop of Horrors, etc.) Certainly, these designs are no worse and often better than other cheap monster movies of the period (e.g., Island of Terror, etc.). However, the movie itself is a throwback, the kind of genre film that went out of fashion ten years before—at least.
Six tourists—erudite James Robinson (Rolf von Nauckhoff, a Euro André Morell-type) and his sex-starved younger wife, Cora (Kai Fischer); handsome architect David Moss (George Martin) and stock ingénue Beth (Elisa Montes); frumpy shutterbug Myrtle Callahan (Matilde Munoz Sampedro); and an inquisitive botanist, Professor Jules Demerist (Hermann Nehlsen) of the University of Michigan—embark upon an unusual vacation, spending their holiday at the island castle of Baron von Weser (Cameron Mitchell), a botanist apparently so desperate for cash that he’s willing to turn his picturesque estate over to the tourist trade.
There’s plenty of room, certainly: the Baron’s big island has been uninhabited since legends of a vampire-type creature sent its other residents packing. After a short digression with Mrs. Robinson living up to her name by trying to seduce an unresponsive Baron, people begin disappearing or dying under mysterious circumstances, including the Baron’s cook, the twin brother of mute manservant Baldi (Mike Brendel); and driver Alfredo (Ricardo Valle). Though the Baron is acting strange and overly-protective toward his prized petunias and such, everyone begins to suspect Baldi of the various murders, though it’s clear from the outset that the real culprit is the Baron’s pet project: a blood-sucking monster tree.
Directed and co-written by New York born actor Mel Welles, best-known for his performance as flower shop owner Gravis Muschnick in Roger Corman’s own man-eating plant film, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Island of the Doomed is actually quite atmospheric if predictable, ultimately silly but played with straight faces, and even the big vampire tree looks pretty good, far better than its American one-sheet poster would suggest.
The performances aren’t bad. No matter how awful Cameron Mitchell’s dialogue—and during the climax, with the Baron expressing undying love for his monster tree, it gets really awful—to the actor’s credit he plays it entirely straight, and without the old-school theatricality of a Karloff or John Carradine, Mitchell letting his odd, intimidating features do most of the work. Mitchell’s mad scientist character makes no sense: Given the Baron’s extreme fussiness around his beloved but frequently deadly plants, why does he open up his deadly private island to tourists in the first place? Plant food, maybe? Hermann Nehlsen’s bookish Professor Demerist is fairly good, and Elisa Montes is pretty.
Filmed near Barcelona, Island of the Doomed’s locations are colorful and moodily photographed by cinematographer Cecilio Paniagua, through the music, mostly a jazzy score dominated by saxophone, piano, and electric guitar, is emphatically inapt.
The English dubbing, likely supervised by Welles, is better and more amusing than its reputation. Though Cameron Mitchell is dubbed by somebody else, the lip-syncing is above average, and more importantly the dubbing actors deliver good performances, comparable with the fine work of Titra, the New York-based dubbing studio that dubbed so many A.I.P. releases. Amusingly, despite her character’s Irish-sounding name, the character of shutterbug Myrtle Callahan is looped with a broad, Brooklynese Jewish mother voice, uncannily similar to Susie Greene, the overbearing, explicative-laced wife of Larry David’s manager, Jeff, on Curb Your Enthusiasm. The more overwrought she becomes, the more she sounds like Susie, and the funnier it gets.
Mondo Macabro’s Region-Free Blu-ray presents Island of the Doomed in its original 2.35:1 Techniscope aspect ratio. As noted above, the video transfer was derived from two different 35mm theatrical prints (the back-and-forth is imperceptible), usually a last-resort when doing video transfers. Yet the results aren’t bad. A few faint scratches are visible here and there, but nothing intrusive, and the image most of the time is reasonably sharp, especially in daytime footage. The image gets a trifle soft especially during low-light scenes, but not ruinously so, and the color is good. This release even includes exit music. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono) of the English-dubbed version has dropouts toward the end, but this is only a minor distraction. An original Spanish track, with optional English subtitles, is also included.
The bountiful extras are a pleasant surprise. They consist of an archival interview with director Mel Welles; an audio commentary by David Flint; a video documentary on actor George Martin; an interview with Angel Sala on the horror films produced in the Costa Brava area, these latter two in Spanish with English subtitles; an original trailer and a stills & poster gallery. All of this material is interesting and worthwhile.
Derivative but colorful, dumb but entertainingly absurd, Island of the Doomed is a fun release and recommended for genre fans.
- Stuart Galbraith IV