Directed By Michael Storey
Starring Haylie Duff, Aaron Ashmore, Kyle Schmid and Lucy Hale
Fear Island went under the name Deep Cove for a while on its road to eventual release. The film’s dual names are rather fitting considering it’s really two films crammed into one runtime. One is a decent, engaging and well shot horror thriller with a few talented actors that does an admirable job avoiding most slasher clichés, while the other is a tedious Hallmark Channel psychological crime drama. Alas, like two people shoved into a donkey costume, the better half’s usually steered around at the whim of the other and ultimately stuck looking like a horse’s ass, too.
Beginning in medias res, the film opens with teen Jenna (Haylie Duff, whose distractingly elongated horse face looks like Sarah Jessica Parker’s if it melted) picked up by police on a secluded island after her friends are murdered during a weekend getaway. In true police procedural fashion, it’s left up to a grizzled cop and a kind-hearted psychologist to struggle through Jenna’s amnesia and piece together who offed her pals and why. As they chip away at the mystery, Jenna soon reveals that someone with a long-haboured grudge was on the island, too, ready to enact revenge for something horrible her friends did years ago.
Unfortunately the after-the-fact framing of Jenna’s interrogation only detracts from the story. These scenes interrupt the island antics whenever things start to gain momentum as cutting away to the cop drama unfailingly deflates any tension as soon as it arises, while giving the bulk of the screentime to Duff, who is undoubtedly the weakest actor in the cast. The Usual Suspects this isn’t. Having Jenna be introduced as the sole survivor only serves to signpost the ending and make the plot more predictable, like an unwelcome reassuring hand on the shoulder telling you, “Hey, it’s okay, don’t bother rooting for anyone; only the most annoying character survives.” That writer Jeff Martel has the audacity to steal one of the most memorable endings in film history almost shot-for-shot only cements the problems.
The major failings are unfortunate though, as Fear Island’s a step above the usual direct-to-video horror ilk in most other respects. There’s high production values on display for the island scenes, which certainly look great, not hurt by the incredibly attractive cast. Duff aside, Director Michael Storey snagged a cast that have talent to go along with their impossible good looks. Aaron Ashmore (perhaps recognisable from Smallville, Veronica Mars or being Bobby ‘Iceman’ Drake’s twin brother) has oodles of charisma and makes for an incredibly likeable lead, while Lucy Hale’s especially good, too. Even amongst the predictability, the film manages to side-step a great deal of eye-rollingly dumb teen slasher moments, too – the kids quickly arm themselves and travel in a group rather than split up Scooby Doo style to hand themselves to the killer on a silver ready-to-butcher platter.
Fear Island has its involving and enjoyable moments, while the requisite gorgeous teen fodder actors are a great deal more charismatic than the usual direct-to-video horror casts. Sadly though, it’s mired in a predicable lack of originality and adopts a framing device that only diminishes the film’s more tense moments. Fans of the cast or those craving a low-key throwback to the late-’90s teen slasher boom might have a blast with Fear Island, but more discerning horror fans will be left disappointed.
On the DVD:
The DVD kindly sent along by High Fliers to review was a promotional screener, so I can’t comment on the visual or audio quality of the retail version. The transfer reviewed was certainly attractive, which bodes well for the final release, which comes with a 16×9 anamorphic widescreen transfer, 5.1 and stereo English tracks, but no extra features.
Rating:
Fear Island is available to buy on DVD in the UK on 26th July 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk for only £5.99.
