Fantasy Island is a show mainly remembered for Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Rourke and his assistant Tattoo played by Hervé Villechaize. The show was an anthology series where every week, guests would arrive to fulfill a fantasy. Usually it was for an adventure to address a regret. The show was remade for television in 1998 with Malcolm McDowell stepping in as a more sinister Mr. Roarke.
Twenty Years later Blumhouse has given us an updated version that may or may not be meant to begin a franchise. And…
Well, I did not hate it.
But to be clear, it is not really that good either. Now, the big deal made was that this was a horror re-imagining of the series. Except, not really. It follows the formula pretty closely. People arrive to live out fantasies that seem impossible. There is a sentimental story, a live the big life dream, an adventure and petty revenge. The petty revenge ends up being the horror plot (as was common on the series, Fantasy Island often had at least a few scary episodes each season). And the fantasies turning on themselves is totally part of the franchise.
The movie brings everyone together at some point, all their fantasies coalescing into a fight for survival. Most of the cast is okay, though I really was bummed that Michael Peña is so…well, not invested. He constantly feels like he has a better role lined up so he is just delivering his lines as fast as possible so as to be done with the film.
The twists are somewhat predictable, but fine…save one. The film’s biggest twist requires a scene that has to happen to keep the audience in the dark…but the minute you discover the twist, that scene makes absolutely no sense.
The film is pretty much TV movie level, and hey, maybe rent it when it hits streaming or Red Box?
A group of desperate criminals are hired to kidnap and hold a young boy for ransom. But it turns out that the purpose of the kidnapping is much darker than any of them initially thought.
Wyatt Earp arrives with his wife Mattie in the town of Tombstone during the silver boom. He meets with his brothers Virgil and Morgan and their wives. Shortly after taking over work in the local saloon running the poker table, his friend Doc Holliday shows up.
Young Thad Beaumont experienced painful headaches when doctors performed surgery, they found the remains of a twin Thad absorbed in the womb. Years later, Thad is a teacher and writer. He is approached by Fred Clawson and asked to sign a book. Thad claims he is not the author, pointing to the author being George Stark. but Fred has worked out that Thad and Stark are one in the same. And he is threatening to expose Beaumont as the writer of the lurid books by Stark.
Guardians of the Galaxy was a bit of a risk for Marvel Studios. It was really their first film that had little name recognition. It also was their first film not closely tied to the Avengers. And yet, under the guidance of James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded with a healthy dose of humor and action. Towards the end of the film, Yondu mentions knowing who Starlord’s father is. In this sequel, we meet dear old dad.
When Marvel announced Guardians of the Galaxy, it was met with a pretty collective “huh?” The announcement of director James Gunn was not much help. Gunn had directed 2 films prior. The Sci-Fi comedy Slither and the dark super-hero satire Super. His writing credits were a bit more substantial. While comic fans knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were, the masses did not. And this did not bode well for early anticipation.
Tripping Through Gateways 