Uninhabited

Some people seem to have really, really hated this movie, and I'm surprised that it managed to elicit such a strong reaction from them. I found this to be perfectly watchable, even though it's a bit routine -- even clichéd. I don't see how it could cause either strongly positive or negative feelings.

Instead of a haunted house, the setting is a haunted island, but the effect is the same. Like your stereotypical haunted house movie, mysterious happenings start spooking our young lovers, ratcheting up the creepiness factor as time goes on. Footprints in the sand that start and stop suddenly. Oooh, mysterious. Whispering and sobbing that might just be the wind. Oooh, spooky. A run-down shack that they somehow never noticed before and a grave nearby. Oooh, creepy. A book that helpfully explains the origins of the ghost and its M.O. Oooh, cheap narrative device... I mean, oooh, scary.

It's nothing you haven't seen before, but it's competently shot. The acting has been highly criticized by others, but it didn't really bother me. The soundtrack was more annoying, I thought. It's basically some woman channeling the pain of the world in soulful, non-lyrical vocalizations. You know the kind. I hate it, and I wish people would stop scoring their movies with it. However, even this failed to give me a strong emotional response. Whereas some other reviewers have judged this movie quite harshly, with the requisite "worst movie ever" assertions, I just can't work up the strong emotional response necessary to hate it. It was OK. I'd recommend it to people who love supernatural suspense stories, as long as they don't have very high standards. It's a generic ghost story about generic people on a generic island, haunted by a generic ghost. If you're looking for more than that, then skip it.

This isn't a terrible movie, considering the budget there is a lot worse out there.

I can't put my finger on why it took me half the film to warm to the protagonists, but they do eventually grow on you.

The deserted island is creepy and there are moments of deep tensions but no actual scares.

A large portion of the film is dedicated to building up suspense but the director waits too long before bringing things to a head and by then the pay-off is just too light.

Good enough production, acting, no shaky cameras and this movie is totally watchable but it lacks the budget and the originality to make it anything more.

When Harry (Henry James) and his girlfriend Beth (Geraldine Hakewill) travel by boat with the sailor Jackson (Bob Baines) to one of the six hundred islands in the Northeast coast of Australia, they expect to camp along ten days alone in a desert paradisiacal place. However, they sooner find footprints on the sand and missing things in their camping and they believe that it is a child's prank that might be camping on the other side of the island. After an incident with two weird foreigners, the couple finds that a woman called Coral (Tasia Zalar) was raped and murdered one hundred years ago in that island and her ghost feels an intense hatred for men.

"Uninhabited" is a low-budget ghost story that unfortunately does not scare. The character Harry has the most inappropriate attitude with the two strangers and the performance of Henry James is not good. Geraldine Hakewill is beautiful and convincing, but the plot is too weak and does not help the young lead couple to have better performances. The impressive location in the introduction is a wonderful lost paradise. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Paraíso do Medo" ("Paradise of the Fear")

Beth and Harry goes on a island to spent a holiday there for ten days. Soon they discover some signs and realize they are not alone there and somebody else lives and visits them at night when are asleep. After finding an old cabin also they found an book that has something written and so will know that a girl was raped and killed there one hundred years ago and now seek revenge on every man that stays on the island.

I was anxious to see this movie because of the poster that looks alright but it was a disappointment. This is not a horror not even a thriller. Based on real events? Maybe for the first ten minutes.

I think that you don't need to pay too much attention at this film but instead let yourself be mesmerized by the stunning landscape.

Beth and Harry go vacationing on what they believe is an uninhabited island. Jackson, the guy who owns the boat, drops them off and seems to know something the way he's looking at the couple; well, either that, or he's jealous of young love. Most likely the former. So why isn't he telling? Afterall, many horror movies start out with dire warnings by someone which are, of course (lucky for us), ignored. The same could have happened here but in this movie the person who seems to know something keeps their mouth shut this time and leaves the couple on the island to fend for themselves (Suckers!!).

Alone finally, Beth and Harry think they're in paradise and it certainly looks like it when we, the viewers, get that wonderful cinematographic overview of the island. Nothing to do for 10 days but fish and f!!ck. And fish and f!!ck some more! Sounds good to me. Probably to you too, reader, I don't know. The happy couple have a courtship of playful teasing, trading friendly jibes and silliness in obvious anticipation of their time together on the island. Then shortly they get down to business (you know, with the f & f) but as soon as they do, the morning after, they discover signs that they are not alone. It's not so troubling at first. It just meant that they would have to share the island with others or another. It is understandably somewhat disappointing when they thought they'd have the whole place to themselves. But they're basic plan still seemed intact; they could still fish and discretely f!!ck as much as they liked (Arrriiight!).

The naturalness or comfort level between the couple didn't feel right to me. I don't know why. They're banter seemed scripted (which it actually is, but they're suppose to convince us otherwise). That could be just me, reader. But if I'm right, then the acting was not as good as it should have been. Still, a horror movie can still be rescued from a "little bad acting" by a good story and good scares. So Boloxxxi, did the story and the scares save the day? --Well, reader, the story --at least the general framework of it-- is okay. Basically: A couple vacations on what they think is a normal, uninhabited island, discover it's neither normal or uninhabited as they thought; that the island is in fact haunted. Nothing wrong with that. I think the big disappointment of this movie is that there was a certain amount of anticipation and mystery as to who or what else was on the island. And when it came time for the big payoff it turns out that it's nothing that really creeps you out or makes you shudder. My attractive companion didn't grab me once during the viewing which of course was my master plan (Foiled again!).

So basically 3 things torpedoed this movie in my opinion: the acting (an unconvincing couple), some of the execution (how the ghost GRADUALLY made it's presence known), and how it FINALLY made it's presence known. The last was so, so, so anticlimactic. That's the ghost?!! Hell, I can see that walking on the street. Love, Boloxxxi.