Spoilers Alert:
A former feel-good series as a horror film – the idea behind it FANTASY ISLAND It’s nice, but the implementation is catastrophic. What’s particularly unfortunate is that the potential is there. We reveal in our review why that alone is not enough.
What does the mysterious Mr. Roarke (Michael Peña) plan to do with his guests?
If nothing feels like happening in “Fantasy Island” most of the time, those responsible have to finish the film somehow. The connection between the 2020 film and the 1970s original is obvious from the start. However, due to the botched finale, this connection seems almost pretentious; Hardly any fan of the series will be able to get used to how Jeff Wadlow places his film in the “Fantasy Island” universe. Above all thanks to the catastrophic denouement, for which the makers not only demystify the secret of the island, but also conjure up a justification for the scenario that is so contrived and crazy that you often think it’s a supporting actor and the only one that’s halfway known Ensemble member Michael Peña (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”) to be able to watch him literally threaten to despair because of the sometimes outrageous lines of dialogue. There’s definitely the idea behind this of wanting to do “something like ‘Lost’”. In the end, however, it degenerates into a well-intentioned attitude like the “Black Christmas” remake, which was also released by Blumhouse Productions last year – uninhibited overestimation of oneself. This is a shame, especially because after “Midsommar” by Ari Aster, this is a second horror film that is about to force the horror even in sunlight. But only one thing is terrible here: the film itself.
Conclusion: A nice idea implemented disastrously: “Fantasy Island” doesn’t give you any arguments as to why you should watch this film. Even Michael Peña seems disgusted – and he’s actually always in a good mood!
“Fantasy Island” will be available to stream from June 20th.
