Question: Build a movie plot around this: What are the hot dry winds called? sirocco
Answer:
An onscreen text warns of the superstitious belief in a vorvolaka, a malevolent force in human form. The film proper begins during the Balkan Wars of 1912. While his troops are burying their dead, General Pherides (Karloff) and American reporter Oliver Davis (Marc Cramer) visit the Isle of the Dead to pay their respects to the General's long-dead wife. They discover the crypt despoiled; hearing a woman singing on the supposedly uninhabited island, they set out to find her. They also find retired Swiss archeologist Dr. Aubrecht (Jason Robards, Sr.), his Greek housekeeper Madame Kyra (Helen Thimig), British diplomat Mr. St. Aubyn (Alan Napier) and his pale and sickly wife (Katherine Emery), her youthful Greek companion Thea (Ellen Drew), and an English tinsmith.While Aubrecht apologizes for his part 15 years ago in inspiring local peasants to rob graves for valuable Greek artifacts, Kyra whispers to the General that a vorvolaka, in the guise of the red and rosy Thea, is in their midst. The General laughs at such superstition and accepts Aubrecht's invitation to spend the night as his guest.The next morning, the tinsmith is dead. Dr. Drossos (Ernst Deutsch) is summoned; he determines the cause to be septicemic plague and quarantines the island. The Doctor explains how plague is passed and how it may be eradicated in one day if the hot, dry sirocco winds arrive. The archeologist says that Mme. Kyra's explanation that God sends the plague to punish them for harboring a vorvolaka makes just as much sense. When Mr. St. Aubyn dies, the General demands that his body be buried immediately, to the horror of the cataleptic Mrs. St. Aubyn, who fears premature burial.Next to die is Dr. Drossos, proving that the advice of modern science does not guarantee victory over the disease. Suspicion returns to Thea, and Kyra harasses her with taunts and threats. The General vows that he will kill Thea if evidence appears that she is vorvolaka. Fearing for Thea's life, Oliver plans to escape with her, but the general...