Fear Island

I try to find something to say about most films, but with Fear Island, I have to warn you that this 'review' will be pretty short.

It's hard to imagine a more 'average' film than this. I do like a daft 'slasher' flick as much as the next gore-hound, but this brought absolute zero to the genre.

I know all slasher movies have had the bar raised in 1997 by Scream, but at least some try to be original.

Fear Island is about a group of friends who go to stay on an island and mysteriously start getting picked off one by one. Hopefully, this won't spoil too much when I say that the film opens with one traumatised girl being found on said island by the authorities. The film then consists of her account of what happened to her friends to a police detective and criminal psychologist. I found that this kind of tells you most of what you need to know about the film. You never have to guess who will survive as you already know that from the start.

Normally, you may at least get a few amusing/interesting/disgusting kills. Not here. There's hardly any gore and what little there is comes few and far between. I know that no one expects an Oscar-worthy performance in a teen slasher film, but, seriously, the killer might as well be hunting trees since the actors are so wooden (even 'Jinx' from Warehouse 13 can't elevate it at all). Then there's the most clichéd detective ever to be put on film who's in charge of the (meagre) investigation. He spends most of his time barking stilted dialogue at an unfeasibly attractive, intelligent and calm psychologist.

Some film you can watch if you're bored. However, this is not even one of them. If you like slasher films and are in the mood to sit through one. My advice would be to put one of your own DVDs on. This one isn't worth the time.

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Netflix is like celebrating Christmas every day. I can surf Netflix and find a satisfying film or television show to watch every night. The most recent film I took the time to see is "Fear Island." "Fear Island" (2009) is a horror/thriller film directed by Michael Storey.

Five students set out to party on a desolate island. Things go array when Jenna, the only surviving person, is interrogated by Detective Armory and Psychiatrist Jamie Chalice. It is while Jenna is being interrogated, the audience is drawn into Jenna's storytelling capabilities and is left with an uneasy feeling as to whom the mysterious killer really is.

This horror film draws my attention immediately. I'm captivated by the storyline, plot, theme, and character profiles. I am hooked. Who is the killer? If it's not Jenna then who? Because I am actively living this creepy scenario, continuously drawing conclusions, replaying the six character profiles in my head while looking for clues, makes my heart skip a beat. The music escalates to the fast-pace of a pulse, da-da, da- da, da-da. All of a sudden a snake leaps out of a cupboard, and I jump three feet off my bed. Holding my heart, I catch my breath, "Geezeee," I shout at the computer.

After gathering my sanity for a moment, my suspicions are aroused as my mind and body wants something else to be lurking behind an inanimate object. With every foot step, my heart pounds as I anticipate another melodramatic creature feverishly suspending midair wanting to gouge, claw, or bite into another character, making him or her fall suspect as a victim. I can't blink. I can't swallow. My breathing is shallow... and then the mind twist. I am lead down a path one way, then out of left field, my mind is shoved down a different path leaving me with a psychological thriller for an ending. Not a surprising ending, but the journey captivating the end result is rewarding.

The only problem I see with psychological thrillers is that by the end of the film, I am left wondering who the heck does that? And, then, one day down the line, a sociopath is suspended into reality leaving me with a comparison of the sociopath to a scenario with twisted motives in a movie much like "Fear Island."

Jenna (Haylie Duff) is found alive and with amnesia. Detective Armory (Martin Cummins) and Dr. Chalice (Anne Marie DeLuise) investigate the six dead and Jenna slowly recalls the events. Jenna and four friends (Aaron Ashmore, Kyle Schmid, Jessica Harmon, Jacob Blair) sail to an isolated island house. The island caretaker Keith finds 15 year old Megan (Lucy Hale) stowaway on their boat.

This is not scary, and that's the first thing I look for in a horror. The basic story of young hot people in an isolated location is nothing special. It could be a reasonable TV B-movie, but the no thrills kills won't get many horror fans excited. The problem is the wrapped-in-a-flashback-retelling construction. It takes away all the tension. And whether she's telling the truth or not, Haylie Duff just takes away all the excitement. I didn't care about Jenna or her story.

The film starts out with a girl being found on an island. Later she's interrogated by police and starts to explain what happened...

Seen any horror films where the introductory elements feature either someone telling the story secondhand, a psychologist/phychiatrist or mental asylum? Any recent ones?

Congratulations, you could probably guess how this movie turns out, because you've seen this overused twist before.

But there's more - emulating "House of the Dead", we're already told the other characters died, meaning even this in-story story has an obvious outcome.

Well everythings predictable, at least gorehounds have something worth watching... actually wait, the kills usually happen offscreen.

In my eyes this movie was produced ten or more years too late. It seems like a typical 90s slasher. Teenagers get hunted down one by one. The acting is poor, story is lame. Only the story telling in flashbacks is kinda interesting. Another small plus point is that the ending is not really predictable.