Paranormal Island (2014)
Three college students have taken up posts as summer staff at a bar. The bar in question happens to be in the middle of nowhere - standard horror film scenario - Blarney Island, off the coast of Grass Lake, Illinois. The only access to their employment is by boat both to and from the location. The threesome are aware of that staying at the island after hours is a bad idea but do so anyway partaking in a few drinks after their shift has ended. Why is it a bad idea? Well they now have no means of transport back to the mainland and the island is rumoured to be haunted by a malevolent spirit known as The Caretaker.
The Caretaker is the spirit of the island's previous owner who had decided that losing a game of poker was good enough reason to commit suicide. For whatever reason said ghost feels he has grounds on which to kill off those that remain behind on the island apparently for revenge. This idea doesn't seem ideologically sound to me but then we are talking about someone who took losing a card game rather too much to heart.
One of the students Mike (Randy Wayne) is looking to obtain a degree in forensic science with a heavy leaning to his real interest of the paranormal and debunking it. Mike sees this situation as an opportunity to do so however he and his friends, Lori (Sarah Karges) and Henry (Ben Elliot), find out the hard way that on Blarney Island that the paranormal activity is not only real but kills too.
Paranormal Island has an interesting, if familiar, premise but is rather one note in its execution. There's no tension or surprises and consequently no scares either. What is refreshing in writer/director Marty Murray's is that the young cast are likable rather than irritating and their performances are agreeable. Where Murray loses the ball is in the plot details some of which are vague. Why, for example, is The Caretaker (the film's original better title) killing off folks that have no connection to him?
Big on set-up but lacking much in the way of a pay off Paranormal Island wastes Sorority Row's Briana Evigan - so good tiger horror flick Burning Bright (2010) - to be the point that she actually seems she would rather be somewhere else. You will too as everything quickly becomes flaccid soon after our threesome start work at the island. It's a shame as there seemed to be so much potential upfront.
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