Fantasy Island (Review)
Fantasy Island Has a Cool Enough Twist to Keep it Interesting.
Based on the long-dead television series, Fantasy Island brushes off the dust and adds a “monkey’s paw” twist to the concept. The end result is more or less what you might expect, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Now, I’m not going to try to convince you that Fantasy Island is a “good movie,” but I had a lot of fun watching it and so did everyone else at the showing. Sure, there are some pretty serious plot holes and there were more than a few parts that didn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s one time when a horror movie actually manages to execute a really cool premise pretty well. Personally, I think Blumhouse would have been better off shooting for an R-rating and really punching up the horror aspects with more disturbing imagery, but Fantasy Island was still a pretty good adventure-horror flick.
Five strangers (Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Ryan Hansen, Jimmy O. Yang, and Austin Stowell) arrive on a tropical island that promises to fulfill their greatest fantasies. None of them are sure what to expect since it all sounds too fantastic to believe. However, the island’s keeper, Mr. Roarke (Michael Peña), assures them that everything they experience will be quite real. Each of them sets off to enjoy their personal fantasies, and everything seems perfect. It wouldn’t be much of a horror movie though if things stayed that way. Soon the fantasies begin to take on dark twists as they slowly realize that not every fantasy turns out the way you hope.
First of all, I love it when horror movies have a solid sense of humor. Fantasy Island isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself, which makes it a little easier to swallow some of the plot holes in it. Most of the humor comes from Jimmy O. Yang and Austin Stowell (who you might recognize from Silicon Valley and Veronica Mars). The two have some really great chemistry as step-brothers who are incredibly close, especially after Jimmy O. Yang’s character was disowned by their parents for being gay. If it weren’t for the two of them, I might not have enjoyed Fantasy Island nearly as much. Their gratuitous fantasy and the twist that came with it could have been a film all on its own. I did see it coming, but I still enjoyed watching everything unfold, especially given how poorly the two were suited to handle it (especially with how villainous Kim Coates is in it).
Fantasy Island does the most that it can with a PG-13 rating and becomes an interesting combination of horror and adventure by the end. The film also has a surprising number of action sequences in it as the fantasies start to overlap with one another. The only downside is that Fantasy Island never actually manages to become truly scary. Sure there are some creepy things going on there, and some really interesting concepts that start to emerge, but, once again, it feels neutered by the PG-13 rating. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a little more blood and death just to really raise the stakes, because the biggest downfall of the film is that it never quite feels like the characters are in real danger. You never have to worry about something truly unspeakable happening, because it can’t show anything too intense on-screen
As I said before, I’m not going to try to argue that Fantasy Island is a “good” movie. It’s really not, but there was never any way that it ever could have been. It’s an update on an absurd television series that wasn’t that great (I’ve only seen a few episodes). However, I found myself sucked into the story, eagerly waiting to see what came next (mostly so I could find out if my ever-evolving theories were correct). There’s enough to make all the bad parts forgivable, whether it’s Michael Peña as the charming island keeper or some pretty spot-on casting when it comes to the off-putting employees at the resort (also, a pretty fun if not pointless cameo by Michael Rooker). I’m not blind to all of the problems that pop up throughout, but Stars & Popcorn was founded because sometimes movies are just supposed to be fun. Fantasy Island is about an island that grants twisted versions of wishes. It’s pretty much the opposite of everything that was crammed down our throats during awards season, and I’m okay with that.
We’re in an emerging new golden age of horror. The genre is being treated a lot more seriously with films like Midsommar and The Lighthouse diving deeper than traditional slasher flicks. That being said, I still love some mindless slasher flicks. Horror is a genre that requires a greater suspension of disbelief than any other, and Fantasy Island requires a fair amount. I have plenty of unanswered questions about pretty much everything, but why ruin the fun with logic? Fantasy Island invests more in the spectacle and creepy twists (Ian Roberts is especially good as “Doctor Torture”). Honestly, Fantasy Island is essentially a well-executed B-horror movie, but that’s not a bad thing. I’m a firm believer that even the worst movies can be a lot of fun and deserve love, and Fantasy Island is far from the worst movie I’ve seen this year.
