Red Island

Glad to see Alex Essoe getting her due in Mike Flanagan productions and after Starry Eyes in spite of this effort. This film is embarrassing to her talent and hopefully it was one of her first (or a favour to a friend). She's the only thing about this that makes this even worth watching at all. Her talents are wasted here in a dark film (darkly shot but not dark in mystery or story, just bad cinematography). It looks horrible and acted poorly. Back Country this is not. Skip it unless you are an Alex Essoe completist. Zero talent outside of her. The guy playing her husband was a real zero. 3/10.

The term Sci Fi is over used yet again. There is no SciFi in this movie, it is more Drama and Horror. So if you are a SciFi fan don't get sucked in. Critics need to be re-educated on what SciFi really is.

That's about it. 20 minutes of material stretched out over 90 minutes. Lots of stuttery drone and gimbal shots with no narrative purpose and on top of that all shots are way underexposed and desaturated. It almost looks as if they skipped the color grading phase. The characters are boring and nothing happens.

Oh, I almost forgot: the movie, just like "Mary (2019)", is set within a framing narrative of a police interrogation that basically spoils the movie right at the beginning, deflating any hint of suspension.

Do not watch!

This is one of those movies you watch that turns out to be a surprise, and you find yourself in total disagreement with the abysmal IMDb rating the movie has received.

While this may not be blockbuster, I really enjoyed it and thought it was a good movie. The cinematography and outdoor scenery were very nice, and it had a creepy feel overall. It certainly is not reflective of the low rating we see here, at least not in my personal opinion. I have seen movies that received far higher ratings that I thought were much worse than this movie.

The acting in this movie was very good, and for a low budget thriller it's one of those movies that you can watch multiple times. I would be more inclined to watch this movie again versus some other big box bonanzas that I never feel like watching Beyond the first viewing.

If you like outdoor type movies with a camping and wilderness type of element, this will be right up your alley.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me just say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you see something with a low rating, it doesn't necessarily mean it's lousy and the same goes for movies with a high rating. Those might be just as unsatisfying.

This is a low-budget film with a mediocre cast except for the main actress, Alex Essoe. The dialogue is not well-written and the direction isn't very good.

It's categorized as sci-fi, but it doesn't fit well into that genre and because of this, I'm sure sci-fi fans who watch it will be especially disappointed.

However, it has one positive attribute: it is genuinely frightening. For sheer horror, this one isn't bad at all.