What can be of interest to the viewer of the Canadian “Fear Island” Michael Story? No, not the vast budget (only $4 million), and not the famous names of the director or writers who devote more time to TV projects than feature-length, and again no, not the shining faces of famous and world-famous actors, such as Aaron Ashmore, Hayley Duff and Lucy Hale. First of all, for me personally, the project was interested in ideas, albeit not the most original, but really worthy of an interesting action thriller, namely, to transfer the action not to a huge metropolis, but to a small island, closed from humanity. Something similar could be observed in “Wildness” by Michael Bassett, and this experiment can be called quite successful, but could “Fear Island” surprise? We'll find out.
Five friends of students take a break and go with the whole company to a small, closed island. Arriving on the island, leaving the yacht on the dock and entering the house begins a real fun with funny stories and booze, but the next morning the guys realize that there is someone else on the island who is definitely not happy with them. Strange notes and signs are more like threats from former, long-forgotten offenders, but it seems that the guests pretty much offended the attacker - the yacht on which they arrived is not on the dock, and soon the killer strikes the first blow. Who is this killer? What does he want from the students and who will survive on this island of fear?
The film was directed by Michael Storey. Don’t think, this name is unlikely to tell you anything, because almost all his career he worked as an operator. What to say, from the very first minutes of Story, and at the same time screenwriters Jack Harry (debutant) and Jeff Martel (newcomer) destroy the whole intrigue of the thriller, namely, reveal the number of survivors in the whole story. Unfortunately, this loses its original rhythm and some interest, since it was expected that the number of “lucky” viewers will know only at the end, as befits in a action thriller. There are no special questions for the director, he did everything he could to wrap his picture with a web of reflections, building a lot of guesses in choosing a killer, but a true fan of detectives / thrillers will easily understand what is what, closing the case. It's not the director's fault, he's just the opposite, well done, it's the writers' problem, to which there are more than one question. For example, if the heroine does not remember what she did on the island and certainly does not remember her name, it is amazing how she remembers what is happening. Detective Armory also notes this: How do you know what they said and did when you weren't around? This is a beautiful question, to which the heroine answers very unconvincingly, from which trust from her, and especially sympathy, escape immediately. Not a bad question is how did the stowaway get on board? Well, maybe the writers themselves got confused in the dialogue, but in the actions they completely fell. “Poor guy hanged himself,” says one of the characters, and he is not bothered by the fact that the “poor guy” is suspended not by the neck, but by the legs! There are only two good questions in addition: Why, since heroes are so afraid of death and so eager to live, do they paradoxically keep their doors closed throughout history? How did the killer find a big rattlesnake on the island? There are no answers to all these questions and actions, and from the words of the heroine it looks like the nonsense of a crazy woman, sometimes contradicting herself. If the writers wanted to play detective, they should have come up with a story much stronger, more believable and more interesting than a distant version of Bryan Singer’s Suspects. No, the finale is certainly not like this, but it will be very often to remind about this tape of Fear Island. By the way, watching Singer’s film will not be difficult to split the entire script like a nut. The idea is great, the implementation leaves much to be desired. Not bad cameraman Glenn Warner, to the best of his strength and financial capabilities, if I may say so, worked confidently, giving the film a share of the atmosphere laid by the script and the situation in general. The music of John Sereda and Paul Michael Thomas was not particularly memorable, just music without the challenge of drama or thriller state, or any other emotion, although it could help to complement that very atmosphere for immersion.
Speaking of actors, you can quite understand the producers, for such money stars of the first magnitude is impossible to find, but if there were good funding, then put on different roles stars would not be difficult. For example, Detective Armory, whose role was played by Martin Cummins (great job!), would suit Billy Burke or Timothy Oliphant. It is not worth highlighting someone, except for the very Cummins, everyone played not brightly, but confidently, diligently, any significant mistakes can not be found if you do not find fault. We are talking about Hayley Duff – no offense, her feelings and game do not believe. No matter how much she roars, shows surprise, or screams, the game doesn’t feel like it should be. The viewer should get confused, this is a thriller, but here the viewer can and break his head, slightly, but trust, empathize, the heroine will not.
Total:
Fear Island can be forgiven for the low budget and inexperience of writers and directors. You can forgive a lot, but not everything. Of the weighty pluses here is a great idea, if it came to the mind of smart, experienced screenwriters, it would be a real bomb, and not that — here to fall into pieces and drown in predictability. The writers just needed to build a different approach, leaving a few moments for the finale, answering all the questions in the failed middle. Another plus (rather a plus than a minus) is the acting. It is possible to recommend the tape except that it would be easy to train in splitting detective scripts or look at it for a good idea, without thinking about the consequences. Everyone else, at their own request.
Yeah, it's a heavy movie. Heavy not in the sense that it is difficult to understand something, or there is some philosophical and semantic load on the psyche. No way! Watching this kind of movie is like watching some sitcom My Fair Nanny, the same blunders, the same lack of logic, the terrible acting of actors, and not funny! (Please don’t compare it to the original The Nanny, which is very funny.) It’s not funny, and it’s not scary!
Well, I'll start describing this movie after a little lyrical digression.
First, bad, very bad acting. You can imagine. You have a rainbow, cool life, you are young, your parents are the cream of society, and then you find yourself on an island where a maniac has penetrated, the boat disappears somewhere, there is no Internet and in general communication with the outside world. Scary? Those who are close to you are cut off without pity. But it's hard to anger our heroes. When they feel sorry for someone, they twist their faces and cover them, like crying. When afraid, like Kristen Stewart, they open their mouths wider and bulge their eyes. They can't even scream naturally. Oh, and don't forget to breathe hard! And then they walk as if nothing is happening. Just ran out of chips and beer, judging by the expression on their faces. And there's a lot of fuss. They go there, run, cheaply and casually try to create something like a saspiens or panic.
The plot about students on the island, who are destroyed by a maniac, is already so beaten, not new that very rarely come across good films on this topic. Basically, they are all typical, and template. But, this one is not just typical, stereotyped, it is also stupid! Very stupid! That feeling comes from the investigators leading the case. Then, sighing, and grief, you remember the tandem of Ben Chaplin and Sandra Bullock in "Homicide Count." How they masterfully and beautifully calculated the maniac. Eh!
Second, there are 30-year-old aunts and uncles playing college students again. Looks like everyone here is over 25, except for the more or less famous charming Lucy Hale.
Third, shit! The survivor talks about things she shouldn't know. There was no evidence of his presence.
What the investigators led the eyebrow, and continue to listen.
And if at first, everyone on the island was cut, and only one girl survived with amnesia, or it is unclear what. But with her brain, she has a problem and a specific one. The investigator who took up this case should resign altogether, for he suffers from hysteria, does not rely on logic, and the facts, think so subjectively that one is amazed that he has not yet been dismissed.
The funny thing is that the investigator is emotionally unbalanced. I don’t understand, does he not care about the testimony of others?
No survivors, of course. But there are, damn it, parents of the dead. And they seem to be powerful people. Instead of yelling and throwing at the girl, making her remember who she is from and to, we could call the parents of the dead kids. After all, for sure, they would tell exactly which one of them she was close friends with, slept with, etc. Hell, Hale's a mess. She wasn't supposed to be with them. She's not their friend. I don't know how she got on the boat, and what the hell they took her with them? Oh, yeah, the blonde motivates it because Hale was special, sexy. Good reason.
Forensic psychiatrist in the same furnace. First, he shouts at the investigator so that he does not press on the survivor, then plays the detective. But, at least a psychiatrist relies on logic at times. The girl does not remember her name, is confused in everything, she is full of gaps in the stories, not the connections, but they interrogate her with such a predilection for several days, as if she knew the truth. Is it okay that she has mental illness and amnesia? A question arises. Do they have to close the case now? Ahead of vacation? Why doesn't a detective who has sworn to prove her guilt do anything? If against the background of stress and horrors, she no longer knows who she is, does not remember when she met a friend, can you trust her testimony?
It was very funny to hear that her parents had gone to Cambodia, so no one could identify her. Especially when the whole press is screaming about the massacre. America is an open country. It's not the DPRK.
Why do investigators sit with a blonde girl from morning to night without questioning anyone else directly involved in the case?
Fear Island is a horror film (though what horrors are there?) that intrigued me because it has a rather impressive audience rating, despite the fact that it was shot in Canada by an unknown studio. Usually, such unpublished projects have rather dubious artistic qualities, but the picture of Tim Storey stubbornly holds if not from the top, then in the middle of the genre rating of recent years. Plus, I note the participation in the project Aaron Ashmore, which starred in a number of inexpensive, but remarkable horror. The very picture “Fear Island” is primarily a detective thriller and most of it is built on the search for a mysterious killer, so you do not have to be afraid, however, as a puzzle for the brain, the film also does not shine, although it can captivate.
So, the plot of the film reveals the face of the only surviving party participant, Jenna (Haley Duff). The girl is caught by the police and taken to the station, where she must gradually describe all the events that occurred on a forest island located inside a bay framed by huge mountains. Our heroine went to rest in the wild in the company of good old friends of childhood. Among the guests is her ex-boyfriend Mark (Ashmore), who is trying to keep Jenna from traveling to the big city. The only living soul on the island besides the boys is Keith (Jim Thorburn), who organizes tours. Of course, on the very first evening, young people try to break away (but very faint and expressionless), and in the morning they discover Keith’s body. It becomes clear that they are not alone, but the killer skillfully hides between the trees, and the radio and the boat are missing. Thus begins a bloody game of cat and mouse in which few will survive.
All the data promised us that it will demonstrate a truly extraordinary youth thriller, which simply must be remembered. But very disappointed characters who, despite all their hidden secrets, look like walking patterns. I can't single out any of the young people, including the only star, Aaron Ashmore. The first half of the picture is quite fresh and without much spark. The most interesting, of course, begins closer to the final, when the number of victims increases, and it becomes increasingly difficult to determine the killer (although you can guess without any problems). Director Michael Storey even managed to bring a little suspense to the picture, thereby preventing the viewer from completely relaxing in front of uninteresting characters. The only part of the film that I don’t want to criticize is the ending. It is here that the plot tangle finally unravels and we can assume that the viewing was not in vain.
The picture itself is clearly divided into two plot parts: the first is the story of young people on vacation, the second is Jenna’s story for a police detective and psychologist. So the characters of the second part are also no different. The detective turns out to be too tough, the psychologist is on the contrary too malleable and sympathetic. Over time, they even change characters, but do not save from boredom, as they continue a number of uninteresting heroes. Personally, I would completely remove from the picture the scene in the police station and leave until the end all the secrets of the picture, including the survivor.
In conclusion, I want to say that Fear Island is not good enough to remember, but it is not bad enough to pass by. This is a good detective who tries to imitate the classics, but still does not reach the best examples of the genre.
5 out of 10
From the very beginning of the film, you understand that the plot is stamped. And I can’t count how many movies begin with a group of friends going to some remote place to have fun. And then everything is standard: the murders begin. The survivors suspect each other. And by the way, they're thinking in the right direction. But then they decide to stick together.
In addition to the standard plot, the film will present stamps in the form of murder methods, motive for murders and special effects. The methods of murder that the maniac chooses are so unoriginal that I would like to advise the director to at least turn on his creative thinking. The death of each of the heroes is stupid and ridiculous. And stupidity is not compassionate. So you will not cry or regret any of the characters killed.
Play actors is one of the main disadvantages of the film. Each actor and actress plays so that they can only be advised to complete acting courses. The characters talk about the death of each of their friends as about what furniture is better to buy. There is nothing more to say about acting, because it is completely false and unnatural.
The director could still save the film by adding some unusual special effects that the maniac could scare the company of friends. And the director added a couple of special effects, the absence of which would not accuse Michael Storey of bad taste. One of the special effects is the burning of spruce, which is completely unclear for what purpose the maniac burned. And another special effect is a poisonous snake in the house that killed one of the heroes.
The only plus of the film is the intrigue around the image of a maniac. It is not known who this evil killer is. And so when all the facts speak against one of the heroines, the maniac turns out to be a completely different person. This is probably the only thing that will make you feel better.
Fear Island is one of those movies you laugh to tears at. And not because they are funny or funny, but because comical dissonance between the declared genre of the film and its essence.
You cannot recommend this film to any audience to watch. Spectacular viewers will be disappointed, and the average audience after watching the film will be puzzled: what they have just watched.
Like the title, as well as the whole plot, the whole film turned out to be just as banal. From the standard phrase "You look there, and I'm here" became ridiculous 10 years ago (over which the creators of the parody "Scarious movie-2"). Instead of sticking together, one boy goes looking one way for the missing hero, the other boy goes the other way, and the girl left in the house goes looking for the missing dog. Although she was told to lie down and rest (I do not understand why, since she was neither wounded nor sick).
But most of all, I was amused when the guys suddenly began to solve some anagrams, puzzles, to talk about the topic “the killer wants to tell us something.” And the ending was more banal and the title, and the plot, and everything that was worn out in the film.
To somehow hide the mediocrity of the film, the course of the story was as if from the story of the only surviving hero. Because of what the viewer knew in advance that everyone would die, and this one is the only one who will survive. But the movie became even more boring.
But despite the swearing, I know that the film will still put the mark “Like”. I didn’t expect anything new, but the snake impressed me in the chest.