‘Everything you desire. Everything you fear’
Fantasy Island is a 2020 American horror feature film about guests who have to fight for their lives on the titular island.
Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare; Cry_Wolf) from a screenplay co-written with Chris Roach and Jillian Jacobs, the Blumhouse production stars Lucy Hale, Michael Peña, Michael Rooker, Charlotte McKinney, Parisa Fitz-Henley and Austin Stowell.
Plot:
The enigmatic Mr Roarke (Michael Peña) makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort.
However, when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives…
Reviews:
” …despite the excruciating length dedicated to characters behaving irrationally, the plot is stretched way too thin. It’s predictable, oh so dull, and downright groan-worthy. Especially the final act. The level of cheesiness will have your eyes rolling out of their skull.” Bloody Disgusting
“Missing from Fantasy Island is a great deal of coherence and consistency, as Wadlow makes a poor attempt to clarify what always worked as an offering of enigmatic Saturday night escapism. He’s strangled the appeal of the brand name to make a junky, frighteningly overlong B-movie. Wadlow’s fantasy is apparently to make terrible films, and to his credit, he’s certainly living his dream.” Blu-ray.com
“While there are some entertaining and fun sequences, the majority of the movie feels extremely generic and does not have a lot to offer. I suppose it could come across as somewhat eerie to people that don’t watch too many horror films, but for seasoned veterans in the genre, this will feel like a walk in the park.” BRWC
“The results don’t add up to anything very coherent, even as I found myself entertained. The lack of any real logic and the superficial nature of the story help to keep the film moving along in a satisfying C-movie fashion, but “elevated” horror this is not.” Den of Geek!
“Pena’s Mr. Roarke lags in comparison to charismatic Montalban’s charming ease and effortless way with mincing poetic words. The various characterizations are spotty in blandless. The fantasy sequences feel uninspired and forced. The sophomoric dialogue is needlessly annoying.” Flickfeast
“Truth be told, the idea of doing a Fantasy Island film exploring the darker side of the show’s premise is not that bad. The problem here is that the horror aspects—which includes zombie-like creatures, a torture sequence, and numerous eyeballs dissolving into black goo (though never in measures that might threaten the all-important PG-13 rating)—have not been placed into the mix in an effective manner.” RogerEbert.com
“All the plot huggermugger also drops the ball when it comes to making the terror relatable; in the end, this is not an identifiable tale of people finding what they thought they wanted from life being turned against them, but another bunch of plot pawns being run through a narrative bag of tricks that empties out long before its creators think it does.” Rue Morgue
“All things considered, this isn’t a terrible set-up for a scary movie, but Fantasy Island is so nonchalant, so lifeless, and so lethargic that nothing here lands. The comedy isn’t funny, the horror isn’t scary, and the twists aren’t the least bit surprising. It doesn’t help that Wadlow’s direction is painfully casual, bordering on incompetent.” Slash Film
“As unwitting role-players watch their fantasies nosedive wildly out of control, so do the film’s conflicting intentions and utter lack of urgency. What should be a most dangerous game is an overlong destination disaster that’s missing the nightmare aspects you’d expect from Blumhouse. Toothless, halfhearted, and an all-around unfantastical misfire.” We Got This Covered
Release:
Valentine’s Day, February 14th 2020.
