Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Rainey Dawn The film starts out a little slow but once they get to the island (about 30 minutes into the film) the movie gets good - funny. There are some suspenseful moments, a neat mystery to solve and plenty of comedy to kept it interesting.Panama Pete (The Phantom)is played by Foy Van Dolsen but I could easily see John Carradine in this role for some reason. But The Phantom is not the only reason to watch this one - the rest of the cast/characters are likable in a neat plot - so this movie is worth watching if you like a pretty good comedy-mystery story.I would not say this is Universal's best film of the time era but it certainly is a joyful watch.6.5/10

JohnHowardReid Filmed most efficiently by George Waggner on a small budget and in record time, this little movie was such an audience-pleaser that Waggner was immediately promoted to Universal's "A" unit, where he directed Maria Montez in "South of Tahiti" and Lon Chaney in "The Wolf Man" (both 1941).Although lensed on a piffling (for Universal) budget of only $93,000 on a tight twelve days' shooting schedule, there is no sense of rush or poverty on the screen. I'm told that many of the players were often ill-at-ease, but this of course adds rather than detracts from the movie's over-all atmosphere. In fact, the film can be enjoyed on several levels, thus enhancing its appeal to a wide spectrum of moviegoers from kids to adults, from sophisticated to uncultured, from cosmopolitan to backwoods, from know-alls to know-nothings. Whatever the audiences, Waggner delivers fun, thrills, suspense and above all, identification. Unless an audiences identifies with the actors on the screen, their interest in the proceedings is minimal. But when they do identify – as here – you have a blockbuster movie on your hands, no matter whether the budget was $93 thousand or $9.3 million!The movie wrapped on March 15, 1941 and was actually in theatres on March 28 – so fast that it was actually released before it was copyrighted!

Scarecrow-88 Bill Martin(Dick Foran)has been a failure at almost every small business he has started, his pal, Stuff(Fuzzy Knight), always wondering when the two would find real jobs so that they could get themselves out of debt. Martin has the deed to an island and castle, deciding to try his hand at a new business venture, inspired by a peg-leg "pirate", who discovered a treasure map found in a corked bottle floating in the ocean. The mysterious "The Phantom", a shadowy man in a black top hat and cape, attacks Peg-Leg and takes a part of the map. Martin accidentally crashes into the car of Wendy Creighton(Peggy Moran), owner of a yacht club, sweet-talking her into coming on board his boat, the Skiddoo along with other customers who fork over 50 bucks for the treasure hunt trip to his "ghost castle" for "adventure and thrills". Also along for the ride is Bill's cousin George(John Eldredge), who wants to purchase the island, Professor Jasper Quinley(Hobart Cavanaugh), who authenticates maps(calling the one in Martin's possession a fake)and walks in his sleep, Thurman Coldwater(Lewis Howard), a friend of Wendy's(bored almost immediately, seemingly only on the trip as a favor to Wendy), Sergeant McGoon(Walter Catlett; a policeman who charges Martin of false advertising in regards to ghosts being on his island), Rod Grady(Ralf Harolde; actually a criminal on the lam)and Rod's wife, Arleen(Iris Adrian; with eyes for George). The Phantom(Foy Van Dolsen)immediately attempts to harm members of this expedition using a crossbow and suit of armor, while also speaking across an intercom set up by Martin and Stuff to spook the customers as to frighten them off the island so he could get his hands on actual treasure possibly inside the castle. Like in other Universal features, the castle has secret passages and members of the treasure hunt fall prey to a killer. A terrific cast(Moran and Foran were together in the best Mummy sequel, THE MUMMY'S HAND)works wonders and the treasure hunt, not to mention the whodunit that develops when one among the group starts picking off individuals(after each murder, the killer uses chalk on a wall to decrease the number still remaining), is entertaining. HORROR ISLAND is over before you know it and benefits from the wonderful chemistry between Foran, Moran, and Knight. I consider HORROR ISLAND the kind of enjoyable B-movie fare perfect for a Saturday afternoon when you have some time to kill, but it's more of an adventure than a horror film. I think HORROR ISLAND would team very well with the other Foran vehicle, THE MUMMY'S HAND..I just wish he had made a few more for Universal studios, he is quite charming and has a nice presence on screen, as does the lovely and vivacious Foran. Probably the most pleasant surprise in the Universal Movie Archives set released not long ago.

dougdoepke Fast-talking promoter takes motley group of people to haunted island in search of hidden treasure. Shot, edited, and released, all in 25 days, and frankly it shows. Must be some kind of record, even for a B-movie quickie. In my book, it's the screenplay that suffers most. Looks like they took 90 minutes of material and crammed it into 60 minutes of film. If you can make sense of the castle goings-on, there should be a place for you in the space program. Also looks like the writers took every dark-house gimmick and shoe-horned it in somewhere, anywhere. Note how many puzzles (crossbow killing of the phantom; George's killing) are given abruptly awkward and hurried explanations. Apparently, there was no time for anything else. All of which would be okay if the scary parts were really scary or the funny parts, funny. But unfortunately they're not.What the movie does have are expensive leftover sets, Woody Bredell's first-rate photography, and two really likable leads (Moran and Foran). Foran makes an engaging fast- talking promoter, while Susan Hayward look-alike Moran is both cute and lively. There were a number of these haunted mansion films during this period. My favorite is Bob Hope's Cat and Canary (1939), which really shows how the premise should be done. Too bad that Universal didn't give the production more time to develop, especially to better organize the screenplay.