Fantasy Island

I am one of those who can not say no to tropical islands. White beaches, clear blue water, palm trees and drinks at the beach, these are all the reasons why i don´t travel to any snow mountains. Another reason why i love going to these beautiful locations is so i can show people how to dress properly, with Ron De Jeremy Rum tshirts. It is the most beautiful way to dress, especially in these locations. If you have been to beautiful places, it is hard not to miss going back. So i try to travel every year, since i need my 270 degrees sun on my chest. When it comes to films that takes place on beautiful locations, i am always reminded of the 2005 film known as Into The Blue. An action thriller with beautiful actress Jessica Alba, and with Paul Walker ( formaly known from the Fast And The Furious franchise ). This is a pretty dumb film in many ways, but have some entertainment value. The story is very simple, and is basically about divers who discover artifacts in the sea, from a ship wreckage. They also discover a crashed airplane with cargo of cocaine, that criminals are looking for. And this is where the fun kicks in, when these divers are forced to try and survive against the cocaine criminals out in the sea. Jessica Alba is not known for her acting performance, but i got to say that in this film her character works well with the story. It is a very simple action thriller, but works thanks to the beautiful ocean scenes. This film is actually directed by John Stockwell, who have been an actor in a number of films, such as Stephen King´s horror film Christine. Early this year i was listening to reviews of new films, and came across a review of the horror film Fantasy Island. The review was not positive, but the idea behind this film sounded like fun, so i decided to check out this film on VOD. Is this one of the horror surprises of this year so far, or should they have buried Fantasy Island deep underneath the sand for good ?

Businesswoman Gwen Olsen ( Maggie Q), former police officer Patrick Sullivan ( Austin Stowell ), step-brothers J.D. Weaver ( Ryan Hansen ) with Brax Weaver ( Jimmy O. Yang ), and Melanie Cole ( Lucy Hale ) win a contest to visit Fantasy Island, a tropical resort where fantasies apparently come true. Upon arrival, they meet the island´s keeper Mr Roarke ( Michael Pena ). He will make sure that each of the winner´s fantasies will come true, no matter what fantasy they have. Everything seems good from the start, until some sectrets are revealed, that will change everything.

What do you get if you mix the 2006 horror film Turistas with the 2009 film Couple´s Retreat ? There you have the basic ingredients for Fantasy Island. There are other influences here as well from Hostel and The Purge, so there are a lot of ideas brought together. But it does not really help this film to become a good horror film. No matter how many ideas they have tried to combine together, this becomes a horror film that does not bring much to the table. You can´t really feel the atmosphere, that is supposed to be frightening. Instead, what we get is a film that you won´t remember, for any specific reason. The cast does not have a lot of interesting characters, and this is such a shame. Because look at actors such as Michael Pena ( who is especially really good in the 2004 drama film Crash ), plays the character Mr Roarke. Since this character is such a big part of the story behind this island, he would have needed a stronger character. But for some reason, he does not feel very interested in being a part of the island´s secrets. Actress Maggie Q ( who did a great job on the TV series Nikita ), plays the character Gwen, i was hoping she would deliver a performance that would make this film more interesting. Unfortunately, she can´t save this film from feeling so generic. The acting performance that does feel more interesting, comes from legendary actor Michael Rooker ( who i loved in the cult classic Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer )  as private investigator Damon. He may not deliver one of his strongest acting performances in this film, but at least he has a character that does have an interesting background. Director Jeff Wadlow ( who directed the good sequel Kick-Ass 2 ) probably thought that this film have a clever concept. It could have been interesting, if the film did have a story that worked. But with so many influences from different horror films, Fantasy Island becomes a perfect example when you use too many ideas and mix them together. Not the worst movie this year, but a film you might as well skip, and check out the 2005 film Into The Blue instead.

Rating: DD