Betsy is a nurse hired by Paul Holland, a sugar plantation owner on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian, to care for his comatose wife. Upon arrival, Betsy finds her patient's condition shrouded in mystery, a bitter family feud and the powerful influence of the local voodoo traditions. To complicate matters, she gradually falls in love with Paul ...
This is an extremely original, fabulous little film, which, despite its lurid title and meagre budget, has become a respected cult classic which continues to intrigue audiences on TV decades after the glossy romances and musicals it played as a B-feature to have been forgotten. Its power comes from the genius of two Hollywood immigrants; French director Tourneur, who creates an incredible style and atmosphere from almost nothing, and German writer Curt Siodmak, who seamlessly incorporates Gothic romantic elements from Jane Eyre and Rebecca into a a creepy, haunting tale of voodoo and hedonism. The sequence where Dee and Gordon walk through the canefields in search of the Houmfort is one of the subtlest, most spookily effective in all horror cinema, and the tragic plight of the characters, ending in a murder-suicide and a grim epitaph is still as potent and shocking as ever. This short film is crammed with memorable scenes - the minstrel's sung warning to Dee ("Her eyes are empty and she cannot talk / And a nurse has come to make her walk / The brothers are lonely and the nurse is young / And now you must see that my song is sung ... "), Ellison suddenly emerging from the shadows behind Conway, Barrett's guilty confession of the voodoo curse, all of the shots involving the amazing-looking Jones. Beautifully photographed by J. Roy Hunt, and handsomely produced by Val Lewton. Tourneur is probably the classic example of the refined Old School of horror film-making (though he worked in lots of genres) where what the movie creates in your own imagination is much more terrifying than anything you see. He was a brilliant director, and this is arguably his best movie. Sensational.
This is an extremely original, fabulous little film, which, despite its lurid title and meagre budget, has become a respected cult classic which continues to intrigue audiences on TV decades after the glossy romances and musicals it played as a B-feature to have been forgotten. Its power comes from the genius of two Hollywood immigrants; French director Tourneur, who creates an incredible style and atmosphere from almost nothing, and German writer Curt Siodmak, who seamlessly incorporates Gothic romantic elements from Jane Eyre and Rebecca into a a creepy, haunting tale of voodoo and hedonism. The sequence where Dee and Gordon walk through the canefields in search of the Houmfort is one of the subtlest, most spookily effective in all horror cinema, and the tragic plight of the characters, ending in a murder-suicide and a grim epitaph is still as potent and shocking as ever. This short film is crammed with memorable scenes - the minstrel's sung warning to Dee ("Her eyes are empty and she cannot talk / And a nurse has come to make her walk / The brothers are lonely and the nurse is young / And now you must see that my song is sung ... "), Ellison suddenly emerging from the shadows behind Conway, Barrett's guilty confession of the voodoo curse, all of the shots involving the amazing-looking Jones. Beautifully photographed by J. Roy Hunt, and handsomely produced by Val Lewton. Tourneur is probably the classic example of the refined Old School of horror film-making (though he worked in lots of genres) where what the movie creates in your own imagination is much more terrifying than anything you see. He was a brilliant director, and this is arguably his best movie. Sensational.