La Isla Fantasma

First of all, I'm a horror film fan. The scarier, bloodier and crazier the better. That's not to say I have unsophisticated taste, though. I absolutely loved this movie. It's not "scary" scary, or bloody. It's not particularly crazy either. This isn't a cheap looking home movie, like some low budget flicks out there. It had a Hitchcock style vibe to it (think Vertigo) that drew me in from the beginning. I usually hate dream sequences as a cheap plot device, but here it's really hard to tell what's a dream, a fantasy, or reality. The atmosphere of a foggy, cold island with the creepy sheep and bell from the lighthouse take you on a journey of psychological horror. This is a very well done, well acted movie. I highly recommend this for a more mature audience. It's not a popcorn horror movie, which is actually nice for a change.

Every now and again you come across a film that you don't expect to be different to the norm, but this one kept me guessing throughout and was genuinely frightening at times. If you liked the Woman in Black or any of those Lighthouse keeper films then you are going to appreciate the haunted nature of landscape in this. Filmed on Mull, it probably did not cost a lot but stands up to most of the US-CGI type stuff you see these days. Loved Greta Scaachi and Kate Dickie's performances. Won't spoil it but well worth your time and thank you to the team that created it, will keep an eye out for more from this director.

Well you know it's going to be slow as it is based on one man alone on an island so don't go in looking for a high octane thriller. The film itself is well enough made with a lower budget than many get but I have to say that having immersed myself into the solitude of the subject I didn't get any real satisfaction from the ending. I guess many will have their own interpretation on the meaning of it all. Me, I wanted a little more clarity.

Far under-rated at 4.9! One of the problems with today's viewers seems to be their extreme need for fast, gory, action packed "horror".

This is a great film for those who can deal with a slower paced show with things to think on. There are fabulous, unusual, eerie views of some very remote and very old scenery of house, and decrepit light house quite possibly now gone.

Would have liked to have seen the sheep theme worked in more. Never did we see a flock of hundreds as mentioned in the want ad. They can have such distinct personalities it would have been cool to see them as representatives of people of his past... and a bit more relationship with his 8 year old dog.

What spurred me to watch this obviously wasn't the ratings. It was the remoteness of the Scottish countryside and part of a trailer showing the great cinematography expressing the power of wild nature.

Recommended for a relaxing watch which might leave you with things to think on about your own relationships, paranoia and phobias. Enjoy - I sure did!

After his adulterous wife dies in an accident, a grieving husband decides to take a job shepherding sheep on a remote island nearby to process the situation only to be tormented by a seemingly malicious spirit intent on unearthing a hidden truth about the incident.

Overall, there's not much to this one. The fact that it manages to evoke a mysterious and generally eerie atmosphere here is about all that works as this one generates some impressive atmosphere due to the situation. The sense of isolation here with his physically being stranded on the remote island as well as mentally with the ghosts of his past rendering him incapable of anything other than taking a job on this island offers a fantastic building block to work The supernatural sequences off of. From strange behaviors by his dog forcing him to look around the house, eerie bowling in the distance that no one else can respond to or the strange discoveries around the island he keeps making, this one manages an effectively chilling scenario that may or may not be in his mind. However, while this creates a fantastic starting point the film never does much else with it. That's due to the dreary and depressing tone that carries on throughout here as the quiet, slow-burn setup keeps the overt scares away in favor of a more unnerving series of psychological mind games involving a person not ready to accept their fate. This offers up a highly puzzling setup that might not work for most out there which gets this one off to a rather underwhelming beginning point. Less troublesome but also detrimental is the somewhat overlong running time for this kind of genre effort which does make this one somewhat of a challenge to get through. Otherwise, these are the only flaws here.

Rated R: Violence and Language.