MONSTER Island feels like Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence just got marooned on a desert island with the lovechild of Predator and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Parts Tenko, The Sullivans, and The Shape of Water, this convoluted mishmash of old war movies, creature features, and castaway adventures is a funny fish indeed.
New to Shudder, Mike Wiluan’s film is a total muddle, but watchable for sure, despite the absence of a few key ingredients. Predictable from beginning to end, and totally bereft of the element of surprise, it does, however, have some strong performances from our two leading men, Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse.
Even with its low budget disposition, Monster Island’s shortfalls are more than plentiful but, thankfully, the film’s ghastly beastie is not one of them. It is a pity though, that the sharp-toothed reptilian Gill-man receives such a lukewarm introduction, without fanfare or fireworks — he gets no build up whatsoever, removing any component of shock or awe.
The acting is strong throughout, but where Monster Island really falls down is in the dialogue, pacing, and plot. The piscine amphibious humanoid does his job just fine — he’s all pointy teeth, nervous ticks, and cumbersome gestures. As it turns out, it’s everything else around the shouty sea monster that stinks of gills while withholding the thrills.
Based on Malay folklore, and drawing inspiration from the 1954 B-movie classic, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Monster Island is set in World War II. The action opens aboard a Japanese ship transporting prisoners of war to occupied territories for slave labour.
After being torpedoed by allied submarines, a Japanese soldier and a British POW are stranded on a deserted island in the Pacific and soon discover that they’re being hunted by a ferocious mythological creature, the Orang Ikan. Both the soldier and POW realise that they must now work together to survive the unknown, despite their differences and language barriers.
Wiluan’s film is fast-paced with plenty of action but proves to be poorly executed in its delivery and for the most part left me feeling detached and rather bored. For a movie that tips its hat to one of the great monster movies of all-time, more conviction, better plotting and a lot more oomph would have gone a long way.
(2/5)
