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There is an old saying saying that good horror actors don't stay
dead (for very long) - though I'm not at all sure if I haven't just
made up that old saying -, so it's only fitting that Boris Karloff, Bela
Lugosi and Lon Chaney jr, undoubtedly 3 of the greatest horror actors,
would star in a 2005 film, decades after their respective deaths. Of
course their scenes are entirely made up from scenes of their old (poverty
row) movies, as Terror in the Tropics understands itself as a
loving hommage to poverty row cinema from the 1930's and 40's, and, just
like in Dead Men don't Wear Plaid, to which the movie boldly
compares itself, old scenes are intermingled with newly shot footage made
to look just as old. The films material was lifted from include such genre
faves like Devil Bat, The
Ape, Bela
Lugosi meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, films from the Mister
Wong-series, the classic The
Most Dangerous Game, and even the silent special effects spectacle
The Lost World from 1925.
The story: Young Mary Ankers (Kimberly Hannold) is invited to Fog
Island by mysterious Armand Tesla (Mark Redfield) to the reading of a will
... but somehow she doesn't trust the whole thing, so she takes quarelling
reporters Rose (Jennifer Rouse) and Ace (Leo Wayne Dymowski) with her.
Aboard the ship she meets Grant Gardner (Jonathon Ruckman), with whom she
promptly falls in love, as well as others going to Fog Island for the
reading of the will ... and she meets detective Flanagan, who is working
on a case that would prove the real-life existence of Skull Island from King
Kong (which is where the dinosaur footage from Lost World comes
in). But after he has solved his case, he agrees to accompany Mary to
Skull Island, as she figures she needs all the help she can get ... and
bloody right she was, because Armand Tesla is a madman who wants to bump
off all the prospective heirs in one go to keep the inheritance all to
himself. And occasionally he uses his brother's (Bela Lugosi) giant bat to
do the dirty work (which is where the Devil
Bat-footage comes in).
Eventually, Armand Tesla has killed all the heirs but Mary and Grant,
whom he has hunted across the island just like in The
Most Dangerous Game, but he has made one mistake: He has killed
Zoltar (Philip Holthaus), the son of his housekeeper (Diane Gervasio), and
the housekeeper thanks him for it by stabbing him. Our hero and heroine
are saved, Flanagan has solved his case (well, not really), and our
quarelling reporters were locked away in a cupboard ...
... and somehow the film doesn't really work: First off it's because of
an aimless plot, the dinosaurs do not go well together with the old dark
house storyline, the extended scenes on the cruiseship waste way too much
time setting up way too little plot, and the constant, oh-so-knowing name
dropping of vintage B-movie stars and characters gets annoying before
long. Secondly the old footage is not integrated into the new film all
that well, most of it seems to be just there as a way to save on special
effects or to have an excuse to put big names onto the poster/DVD cover.
Of the three stars, only Bela Lugosi seems to be integrated into the story
at least half-heartedly, Boris Karloff, as both an old professor killed by
a gorilla (from The Ape) and Mister
Wong does little to further the plot, and Lon Chaney jr only
lies on an operating table perpetually grunting for no apparent reason at
all.But what's most annoying about Terror in the Tropics is that
it's not really funny. It seems yet another reference to an old film
always stands in the way of a good joke, the story in itself is too
aimless to induce laughter, and ultimately the comic relief roles come
across less entertaining than in the old movies.
That all said, Terror in the Tropics still comes across as a
labour of love, made by people who are well versed in poverty row horror,
and if you consider yourself to be a fan of these old films, this one
might just make you smile warmly despite all obvious flaws the film has
...
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