L'Île des insectes mutants

A group of boozehound teens win a trip to a tropical island in the Bermuda triangle. Everything goes fine at first, until they find out a mad scientist's monstrous fauna have taken interest in them. 'Monster Island' is a perfect throwback to the monster movies of the 1950's. The makers throw virtually everything you can think of into this flick. Stop motion monsters, giant insects, a contaminated island, unconvincing miniatures, explosions, a mad scientist (Played by Adam West, named 'Dr. Harryhausen' no less!) and more. The intentionally campy effects are fun and the fast-pace make the film great fun for bad movie enthusiasts who are looking for something cheesy but enjoyable. My rating for 'Monster Island'-7/10.

ABOUT THE DVD: The picture for 'Monster Island' is presented in a full frame 1.33:1 transfer. Not a bad looking picture at all. I noticed a little grain early on but that quickly fades away and colors are bright, skin tones are good and there's minimal edge enhancement. The 2.0 Dolby sound is good, dialogue is clear and crisp and the various pop tunes and sound effects are judicially used and remain effects throughout. Extras on the disc are plentiful. There a roughly 15 minute featurette that covers the films various effects, stop motion armatures, miniatures, and the construction of the large-scale creature effects. Next up are interviews with various cast and crew members, an enjoyable feature in which everyone expresses they're views on the film and are obviously had a good time making the film. Also included are scene selection, the trailer for the film, a French language track and awesome animated menus. My rating for the DVD: 8/10.

As a horror movie it's anything but scary (other than some of the acting and posturing). As an adventure movie it's anti climatic. As a spoof it just isn't funny enough. As a cult film it just lacks conviction.

I was watching it for free and I admit it was good enough to finish but the commercials interrupting it were considerably better which only confirmed how badly it was done. On the other hand the fact that the computer graphics seemed to be intentionally bad it could indicate it's homage to pioneer science fiction horror. I have to agree with another reviewer and state I quite simply don't know what it was other than bad. Students of entertainment and film making are likely to find it uninteresting the project seems to have only survived due to a few names attached to it.

There is a lot of cheesy bad acting, with stereotype characters ripping off the styles and looks of other actors or actresses. At one point even the main character seemed to comment on the pointlessness of the scene. Some of the acting was true to the trade surrounded by others that seemed to scream "look, I'm on TV!" There was no quality continuity other than the headline entertainer's scenes were done fairly well while scenes without them seemed to just drop off the quality scale into oblivion. If you watch or buy it just because your favorite actor or actress is in it be assured they handled their scenes with dignity which they may have lost seeing the finished product.

Anyone looking for a well done movie will be disappointed but anyone in love with bad horror, low budget spoofs, or reality T.V. (hey look I'm on camera!) will probably be satisfied for bargain prices.

It wasn't as if I was deliberately trying to hate the movie, far from it, and I never try to do that watching any movie as I believe in being fair and encouraging when watching and critiquing. Any movie that aims to be a homage or poking fun at anything does promise to be good entertainment, and actually despite having Carmen Electra Monster Island did seem as though it would be one of those movies. Even when taking it for what it is though, the bad execution just took away from my enjoyment of the movie. It does have redeeming qualities of course, the production design is decent, the music score rousing, Adam West is a lot of fun even if hammy and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is very endearing here. However, I didn't like the look of the special effects at all, the monsters(looking at home in the 50s era but seem laughable now) seemed half-finished and fake, and actually I do agree with the commentator that wasn't sure about whether they were trying to honour or poke fun at those of Harryhausen(which I have always found amazing for their time and ones that still hold up). Some will like the tongue-in-cheek humour, for me the dialogue was lacking in wit and in freshness too and came across as awkward instead, the stupidest line going to West as outlined in a previous review. The story seemed stretched and contrived, with the horror elements ranging from tame to non-descript, while the characters are cardboard and irritating. Aside from West and Winstead, the rest of the acting is bland. That is especially the case with Carmen Electra, contrary to what was implied in the marketing she is only in the film 15-20 minutes and she doesn't do anything other than try and look pretty. Just in case I get flamed(and knowing the type of movie Monster Island is I know eventually I will do), I understand totally what Monster Island was trying to do, I just felt that it tried so hard that everything to make a homage/parody work just got lost. That is of course my opinion, and if you think differently(and I can completely understand if that's the case) that's fine, I have nothing against you. In conclusion, even when taking into account what Monster Island was trying to do I didn't care for it at the end of the day, sorry. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Watching this, it almost seems like it was filmed to be a comedy. But it's really hard to tell. If it's filmed as a horror movie, it's absolutely awful, and filmed as a comedy it's also terrible. The cover makes this look like a Carmen Electra versus the giant bugs movie, but it isn't. The plot is several teens win a contest and get to party with Carmen Electra on a deserted island. Problem comes when a giant flying ant swoops her up, and the select few kids that want to help, go on a journey to the big mountain to save her. The bugs were clay animated, and when the bug swoops her up, they have Carmen and her bodyguard clay animated also. It's a really ridiculous and tired premise, which moves from comedy, then to "horror" then back to comedy. The last 30 minutes of the movie are so painfully stupid it's hard to watch. And for anyone watching this because they enjoy Carmen's impressive resume'e, don't. She only has a total of maybe 15 minutes of screen time or less. Though I'm sure many people are amused by this, it's not a good movie and it's awfully stupid.

*Just to add, Adam West plays a role in the film as an island inhabitant, and has the stupidest line in the film, "You kids shouldn't be horsing around here." My rating: * out of ****. 91 mins. PG for language and violence.

Think about it for a second, everybody. Did you really expect THAT much quality out of an MTV-original-made-for-TV movie? I went into this will fairly low expectations, however it was a fun movie to watch (with a group of people). That being said, its not really good per se. Most of the acting isn't very good, and the characters are pretty unlikable. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is the only real exception, she can actually act and her character seems to be the only level- headed character for the majority of the movie. Adam West is also pretty good in the movie. In typical Adam West fashion, his overacting is great. The movie has too many stupid moments to list, however the one that stands out is the scene where the two grasshoppers look like their going to start fighting and instead start mating. In conclusion, this movie can be a fun throwback if you're with some friends who like monster flicks, but if you're alone, or you're just looking to see some Carmen Electra vanity project, you might want to avoid it. 4/10