Isle of the Snake People

Snake People
U.K. theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
Produced by
  • Juan Ibáñez
  • Luis Enrique Vergara
Starring
CinematographyRaúl Domínguez
Edited byJ. Gamma
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 1971 (1971-03)[1]
Running time
90 minutes
CountryMexico
LanguagesSpanish
English

Snake People (La muerte viviente/ The Living Dead) a.k.a. Isle of the Snake People, is a 1971 Mexican horror film directed by Juan Ibáñez and starring Boris Karloff and Julissa. It was filmed in May 1968, but was only released theatrically in 1971, 2 years after Karloff had died.[1]

Snake People is one of four low-budget Mexican horror films Karloff made in a package deal with Mexican producer Luis Enrique Vergara. The others are Fear Chamber, The Incredible Invasion, and House of Evil. Karloff's scenes for all four films were directed by Jack Hill in Los Angeles in the spring of 1968. The films were then completed in Mexico.[2]

The film was produced by Juan Ibáñez for Azteca Films. The film was released as La muerte viviente (The Living Dead) in Mexico and in the United States in Spanish-language theatres only. It was eventually dubbed in English but received little theatrical distribution,[3] and was then released direct to U.S. television in 1971. The film is also known as Cult of the Dead (in Hungary) and Snake People (in the United Kingdom).

  1. ^ a b Nollen, Scott Allen. Boris Karloff: A Gentleman's Life. Pg. 307. Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media.
  2. ^ Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 503
  3. ^ Buehrer, Beverley Bare (1993). Boris Karloff: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 211–12. ISBN 0-313-27715-X.