Fantasy Island Movie Review: Horror served tasteless

Fantasy Island. Pic/Youtube

Fantasy Island
U/A: Adventure, Comedy, Horror
Cast: Michael Pena, Jimmy O. Yang, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Ryan Hansen, Maggie Q
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Rating:

Fantasy Island is a needless derivative of the 70's era TV series. This new spin-off, a picturesque, horror-affected adaptation, scripted by Jeff Wadlow, Chris Roach, Jillian Jacobs fails to rouse interest or scares.

A motley group of seemingly, randomly chosen players, are invited to live their deepest fantasies in an Island that supposedly has magic powers. Mr. Roarke (Michael Pena) makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests (contest winners) Gwen Olsen (Maggie Q), Patrick (Austin Stowell), Melanie (Lucy Hale), JD (Ryan Hansen) and Brax (Jimmy O. Yang) come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort. But the fantasies turn lurid and terrifying - what purported to be an intriguing adventurous vacay ends up becoming a never-ending nightmare (pun intended) replete with gun-wielding never-say-die zombies and villainous humans.

Watch Fantasy Island Trailer

Obviously, not all the fantasies are life-enriching - in fact, most of them are based on regrets and early childhood trauma. That psycho-babble may be the platform for the deepening bloodiness of this narrative - but it remains a single note take-off point for the inevitable negative arch here. There's barely any tension build-up, nor is there much entertainment. Just a whole lot of needless dialogue and an implausible forced twist leading to a rather bedevilled climax. The treatment here is TV grade - not really meant for the cinemas. Performances, charm load and VFX are on the lower side. And there's no excitement that comes with game-turned-movie shows either. Step into this fantasy at your risk!

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