Orang Ikan

The title "Monster Island" is awfully generic and does not promise much, but I am a huge fan of creature features and therefore had to give this a try. We follow a Japanese soldier and a British prisoner of war who are stranded on a deserted island during World War II and have to put their differences and hatred aside to survive a creature that is hunting them.

The movie is somewhat of a mixture of Predator, since the creature is rather smart and can even heal itself during the hunt, with a design that resembles The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The effects were overall fine considering that this is a low-budget production, but it was clear that beneath the creature there was just a person in a suit, which took away some immersion at times. However, the design itself looked pretty good and there were also some really enjoyable gory moments with decent effects.

The premise sounds very interesting, but unfortunately the movie handled its themes rather shallowly and did not do enough with its unique character setup in my opinion. It is still enjoyable, and we get to see both of our protagonists shift their attitudes toward each other in order to survive and fight the real threat. The film also had some choppy editing that made certain scenes a little hard to watch and sometimes confusing, and the pacing was not always perfect.

Still, for a low-budget creature feature B-movie, this was certainly enjoyable, and if you like this kind of film you will probably find something to enjoy here, even with its awful title. [5.7/10]

I recently watched the Japanese film 🇯🇵 Monster Island (2024) on Shudder. The storyline follows a group of war criminals whose boat explodes, leaving them stranded on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. But they're not alone-something deadly hunts them, picking them off one by one. Where is this creature from, and can anyone survive it?

The film is written and directed by Mike Wiluan (Buffalo Boys) and stars Dean Fujioka (Fullmetal Alchemist), Callum Woodhouse (B&B), and Alan Maxson (V/H/S: Beyond).

There was a lot I enjoyed about this film. The practical effects were fantastic, and I especially loved the creature design-it had a strong Creature from the Black Lagoon vibe. The gore and kill scenes were impressive, but the CGI was hit or miss. Explosions, fire, and blood effects didn't quite land and pulled me out of the moment a bit. The story itself was very straightforward and lacked imagination, and by the final act, it started to lose steam.

In conclusion, Monster Island is a solid monster movie that mixes old-school creature feature charm with modern special effects. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

No pun intended - since Predator came out many moons ago (decades actually) any movie that is close to what it did, will be compared with it. You know: if it bleeds, we can kill it. Same applies here and again no pun intended. Just saying for arguments sake and all that.

Now I do not remember the budget that Predator had, but it was big budget (Schwarzenegger just to name one of the actors in it) - and this right here is anything but. So if you consider the budget this had, this is really well done! And while the story may not have many surprises, the effects work as intended. Also the run time is short enough - so I don't think anyone will be annoyed at any point. Action and stunts are good too - the make up/costume is also quite good ... yes you can tell it is a human in a suit ... but suspension of disbelief is needed with most movies anyway, this is no different in any regard.

Just go along with the ride ... not a holiday vacation of course.

What can you say when the scrip is obviously one of Bruno Mattei's old leftover Preditor rip offs, literally whole scenes ... In this day and age how on earth could this get passed as anything other than a pastiche ? ... But no, sense of humour is totally absent ... Its well filmed and acted ... It isn't written, its some dreadful cut and paste job ... The creatures are quite good, though obviously a guy in a suit, which is cool in my book ... The pacing is awful, it draaaaaaaaaaags from the start ... What should have been a fun romp creature feature is just handled far too seriously and it totally ruins it ... Just a complete waste of time and money when they obviously had enough money to make something decent ... Main problem must have been obvious from pre production ... Who green lit this and didn't have the suss to see that it could have succeeded with a bit of work from a decent writer and a director that knew what he was doing.

Watched this on Shudder and it was really good - a canny little story with silly monsters. Acting of the two main characters was believable - if you have watched The Durrells, well the English actor was the lad who played Leslie Durrell.

It doesn't take itself too seriously which made it an enjoyable movie. If you do the Nightmare on Film Street "31 days of Horror Movies" in October, this one's great for a Creature Feature movie.