Review: Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island

I’ve seen some bizarre film pitches in my time, pitches that make those TV ideas Alan Partridge desperately tossed at his commissioning editor over an awkward dinner seem relatively sane by comparison. But Blumhouse Production’s latest film is quite honestly the oddest one I’ve seen in yonks.

Based on the ABC 1977 TV series of the same name (“the plane, the plane”), this horror film sees a group of young people win a competition to journey to fantasy island, where the mysterious Mr. Rourke (Michael Pena) helps make their fantasies come true. But of course there is a cost to getting everything you ever wanted. Of course there is, this is the movies!

Reviews have been pretty brutal for Jeff Wadlow’s supernatural paradise-turned-nightmare horror flick but if you can get past some of the flaws of this quite knowingly bonkers film, you will likely have fun with it’s picturesque madness. From the production powerhouse behind the latest Halloween film (and its two forthcoming sequels), Get Out, The Invisible Man and Sweetheart, there is no doubt that Fantasy Island is not a five star Blumhouse chiller but at least it has something on its mind, other than a diverse cast of young people complaining about the WiFi.

The plot goes from one wild twist to another and certainly does’t pull back with its joyously over the top wish fulfilment gone bad premise, carried over from the ‘of its time’ show. It’s all very silly and not particularly scary, feeling like a slightly more extreme episode of Lost at best and like a drunken dream at worst. There is some stupid dialogue but it’s all part of the film’s bonkers charm and whilst it is certainly ridiculous in every single way, I can’t say I dreaded my short stay on this crazy island, with its potentially menacing and ruddy untrustworthy characters.

Bear McCreary’s score does it's job as well as the Toby Oliver’s cinematography in providing a great backdrop for the lead group’s differing tales of dream lives turned survival thrillers. The acting is universally fine if not exactly De Niro-esque, though Michael Pena and Michael Rooker lend it some weight, with strong support from Maggie Q, Lucy Hale and Parisa Fitz-Henley creating some solid dramatic sub-plots that feel more human than many of the other stories being told. The twists are audacious but not out of place and there is a genuine moral of be careful what you wish for that comes through quite well.

People have called it absurd and it is, but as films that re-imagine 70s shows into horror thrillers go, I had fun with this big screen B-Movie silliness, which even references the show in a number of ways, ending with a veeeery optimistic sequel hook, suggesting this is a kind of prequel to the original show of sorts. Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island is quite a nutty little watch really.

15
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Michael Pena, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Jimmy O. Yang, Michael Rooker
Release Date: 13th July (DVD/Blu-Ray); Out Now (Sky Store)