262.
Fantasy Island
3/10
Another horror movie coming out of Blumhouse Productions and I'm already wondering whether it will be heading to the good pile of movies to come out from the company or the bad pile. In my opinion, they are a hit and miss kind of franchise but when they hit, they usually get the bull's eye. From the trailers, this movie did look very interesting and excited me a little but I still had an apprehension, just in case all of the good scenes had been already shown. Michael Pena and Michael Rooker were the only two members of the cast that I could recognise coming out of this movie and I had already, mentioned in a previous review, a lot of these movies could have a young cast that we would be introduced to and then never see again. This doesn't sound like I'm setting a confident picture, but let's find out.
The movie introduces us to a gang of people who have been promised that traveling to this island can make their dreams come true. The group is as diverse as it comes, with a businesswoman, step-brothers, a former police officer and a girl who could be classed as a little disturbed.
The movie seems to be revolving around her a little more than the others and once we are introduced to Mr. Rourke, Pena's character. who is the island's keeper, we are thrust into people fantasies. The brothers head to a party in a mansion, the officer heads to war in honor of his father, Gwen the businesswoman has the chance to accept her ex's marriage proposal and Melanie, our little crazy girl, gets the chance of revenge on an old bully. It isn't long until these fantasy's start taking a turn of the worse. As Melanie releases a video to her old bully's husband regarding her cheating, she also sees a video of the bully being kidnapped and brought to the island against her will. Now she realises that, indeed, shit is getting very real. Some sort of crazed doctor walks in to get in on the act but Melanie begins to act. Freeing her old bully, they both finally escape but run into Damon, an investigator on the island played by Michael Rooker.
Before coming into this movie, I had no idea he had a role. He takes the girls to a cave and explains that these fantasies come from the 'spring water'. The had it mixed with their welcome drink and a crystal heart under the islands shows the guests their deepest desires, no matter how wrong they may be. Damon is there to investigate Rourke until he was offered to see his dead daughter. He took the chance and got trapped on the island for his troubles. After collecting some of the water, our trio heads to the resort to find a phone.
As for our other characters, Gwen has said yes to marriage, she has a kid but doesn't feel right, she isn't enjoying her fantasy. Rourke appears and tells her that he once made a wish which came true. That was to have his dead wife back but to keep the dream alive, he has to make the guest's wishes come true. If he doesn't, everything is over. Gwen somehow talks Rourke around and gets to change her fantasy. The island doesn't like this and starts turning everyone else's fantasy into nightmares. To be fair, I already thought Melanie's was. The brothers at the part get set upon by some cartel, while Gwen is taken to the night that she accidentally started a fire and killed a neighbour. She tried to rescue him but passed out in the smoke. She was actually rescued by Rourke's assistant Julia. We, along with Gwen, realise that every guest except for Melanie was there that night in their own little roles.
We haven't spoken about that former policeman much and his fantasy was to see his father in the war. Knowing that this was his last chance to see his father alive, he even tries to manipulate the fantasy by stopping the troop from going on their last mission. This last mission turns out to be saving the brothers from the Cartel that have captured them. After killing the cartel, the island brings them back as zombies and Patrick, the ex-cop, watches as his father sacrifices himself so that Patrick and one of the brothers can escape. The Asian brother survives yet the American gets shot to death. That's right, they are step-bros. The girls are set upon again but the surgeon, now a zombie but Damon flings himself and the zombie off the cliff, killing them both. This movie has now turned hectic. After making their way back to the resort, Sloane the bully, gets her husband to call in Damon's military buddies, even after seeing the video that he saw of his wife. The remaining survivors regroup and are cornered by Rourke who explains that they are all part of someone else's fantasy in which they are all killed. The gang realise that this has to be about Nick who died in the fire and maybe Rourke and Julia are his parents. They try to escape, ready for Damon's men to come and save the day but they are shot down by the Cartel who have made their way to the resort and now that the setting has become daytime again, I feel that it is drawing to a close of sorts. If I'm honest I'm actually getting bored of going into the little detail that I am.
The group runs to the cave to destroy that mysterious rock but on the way, they are confronted by manifestations of their demons but making their way through the tunnels, we have our final twist to the tale. Melanie stabs Patrick, the ex-cop, whilst taking her bully hostage. It turns out that this was Melanie's fantasy after all, she wanted to get everyone else here as revenge for the death of Nick, who she was meant to be going on a date with the night that he died. It is also revealed that the worker on the island, Julia, is Rourke's wife but I think we had already guessed that one.
Outside of the cave, Julia begins to die, as she does every day but this time she asks Rourke to let her go, forgive himself and help the others escape from the island. Sloane, who is the bully, is the only one who can think at the moment. She realises that being on the island, she can have a fantasy too. She wants Melanie to be with Nick and this causes Melanie to be attacked by a Zombie version of the guy she was meant to go on a date with and she gets drag into the water by him.
Before she drowns, she manages to pull the pin on a grenade and send it in everyone else's direction. Patrick, the once coward who wanted to prove himself in war and was too much of a coward as a policeman to run in and save Nick, throws himself on the grenade and the scene turns to black.
The gang now wakes up in their hotel beds and realise what has happened. Rourke seems healed from the dark power and agrees to let the tourists leave the island. As they board the plane, the remaining brother makes a deal with Rourke to bring the dead one back to life. He makes the deal to stay behind and Brax, the remaining brother becomes Rourke's new assistance and changes his name to Tattoo, which is the start of the TV series which was out in the 70s'.
That movie is over and with that, so was another poor attempt by Blumhouse in my opinion. When I saw the trailer, I had high hopes that this could be one of the top entries to come from Blumhouse but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. The trailer seemed to contain the action and when we actually sat down to watch the storyline take place, it seemed every clustered. I understand the story and enjoyed the major twist that came along with it but there were loads of little side stories, which filled up important space to expand on certain characters and this led to rushed storylines and a very rushed ending. I didn't see the main twist coming, I'm going to admit and it came at the right time within the movie, just as we were wondering if it was going to be a very safe and predictable ending. Looking back though, nothing made sense regarding the ending. Melanie has this plan all along but a lot of the movie, we were watching her panicking, being attacked and even nearly escaping on the plane she called. So which ending did she truly want?
The cast was mostly unrecognisable, with a few exceptions, I had finally gotten around to realising that the actress who played Melanie, Lucy Hale, was in another Blumhouse production, Truth or Dare. Clearly, she is a favourite with them but that movie wasn't great either. Everyone else was pretty damn forgettable and the role for Michael Pena, as mostly being a villain, didn't suit the guy at all. I was always kind of waiting for a comedic moment from him.
Always one to give horror a go, I came into this open minding and although the movie had some potential and dark moments, they would always stop short of actually getting right where I wanted it to head. Again, this could have been down to the cohesion of the storyline but having never seen the TV series, I have no idea who it would resemble it. The movie felt really lazy and depending on a younger audience to connect with some characters rather than taking too much of an interest in the plot holes that came along with it. The only major things that the movie had going for it was the location if that can be a thing. I'd love a trip to the island if it didn't come with the horror aspect. It reminded me of how much I need a holiday. It would take a desperate person within me to go back and watch this movie again on my own accord. I don't envisage this being a franchise or even producing a sequel unless it goes straight to VHS!
