Fear Island is a story that revolves around five friends who go onto a secluded island for a getaway, only to discover a dead body and the only boat gone. Trapped, alone and being hunted by a vengeful killer, their only hope for survival is to try and unravel the mysterious messages and clues that the killer leaves behind and hope and pray that they’ll figure out who the killer is, before it’s too late.
Fear Island was not as fun as one would think. Sure, it’s about a group of friends on an island, and yes, it’s got some pretty girls in it, but as far as “thrilling” goes, it’s only moderate. The plot was a well worked out one and could have worked if it wasn’t slightly predictable, but unfortunately the plot was predictable and there was hardly something to keep the viewer from yawning and wanting to turn the channel. Fear Island plays itself out in an a-chronological manner, we have Jenna (Haylie Duff) that’s the only survivor and she’s basically telling the story as how all her friends had succumbed to the murderous revenge of this killer. The backstory as to why the killer had sought revenge also comes out eventually and how she was able to survive the terrors and elude the killer. Obviously there will be some psychosis involved in this type of situation, especially when one survived and the deaths of your friends continuously replays itself through your head, but something is very off about her story…
Firstly, it’s quite apparent that there has been a lot of money involved in this film, you won’t be able to get a list of C-list actors in a horror movie if there wasn’t, and it’s quite obvious that this movie was meant for mainstream audiences. To some extent these actors clicked well together as a unit too, but what didn’t help them was that the story itself is somewhat cliché and not particularly going to give the viewer’s brain much of a work-out. Yes, there’s a twist at the end and although it’s not apparent immediately, as the story build itself up, eventually you’ll get to work it out for yourself. I feel that this group of actors did a good job, even if the story failed them. However, all my ranting aside, it was still watch-able in the sense that the movie was well directed and that there was enough horror to keep one entertained to some extent. I must admit that some of the kills were somewhat creative, but then the others were so everyday that you hardly realised anybody died. Therefore, on a personal level, this was simply one of those movies that can be described as “meh”. It’s okay for when there’s nothing on TV, but it’s not one of those films that’ll haunt your nightmares and make you shudder in fear.
I’ll advise folks to give it a watch, but not to have high hopes of the movie. Fear Island stars, Haylie Duff, Aaron Ashmore and Lucy Hale and was directed by Michael Story.
