This is an unusual, very gloomy, picture from producer Val Lewton.
Boris Karloff plays Nikolas Pherides , a martinet general for the Greek Army in the First Balkan War. He is being shadowed by a US war correspondent Oliver Davis ( Mark Cramer ). When the two visit the island cemetery where Pherides' wife is buried they find a small group of disparate refugees is living there. An old woman Kyra warns him that the young girl Thea is possessed by an evil spirit, the vorvaiyaka and when the community starts dying of septicemic plague he starts to believe her.
It's a bit talky and short of action but there's bags of atmosphere and Karloff is great.
Ellen Drew ( as Thea )
Sex : No
Death : Survives
Ellen was originally Terry Ray from Missouri and made a number of movies under that name before changing to Ellen Drew in 1938. She was a busy actress in the forties then moved into television before retiring in 1961. She died in 2003 aged 88.
Katherine Emery ( as Mrs St Aubyn )
Sex : No
Death : Falls off a cliff in a mad frenzy after being buried alive
Katherine was more of a stage actress who made relatively few films. She retired from acting in the fifties. She died of pulmonary disease in 1980 aged 73.
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