Island of the Dead (2000) (V)

User Rating:

2.9/10   

Director:

Tim Southam

Writers:

Peter Koper (story)
Tim Southam (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Never disturb the dead.

Plot:

Stranded on a deserted island, a group of people struggle to survive against a swarm of supernatural flies.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Fly | Siege | Mortuary | Land Developer

Cast

Malcolm McDowell	...	Rupert King
Talisa Soto	...	Melissa O'Keefe
Bruce Ramsay	...	Tony Matos
Kent McQuaid	...	James Neely
Mos Def	...	Robbie J
Paul Hopkins	...	Rodger Mackloe
Tyrone Benskin	...	Dwight Truman
Michel Perron	...	Captain Chanon
Daniel Pilon	...	Mayor
Steffen Wink	...	Reporter
Mike Tsar	...	Guard
Richard Jutras	...	City Mortician
Philip Le Maistre	...	Squeegee Man
Andy Bradshaw	...	Inmate #1 (as Andrew Bradshaw)
Robert Daviau	...	Crewman #1

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Norway:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

One of a kind...I hope

A bunch of people--including evil industrialist Malcolm McDowell, policewoman Talisa Soto and prisoner Bruce Ramsay--are on Hart Island--an actual island off the coast of NYC where unidentified dead people are buried. While there they desecrate one of the graves. You would expect by the title that the dead would come to life and attack. Wrong! They instead are attacked by...flies. If the flies bite you, you die and almost immediately begin decomposing.

This sounded pretty promising--not in a good way but a bad camp movie sort of way. Unfortunately this is just bad. The soundtrack has annoying rap songs which don't even fit the movie; the dialogue and characters are all clichés that you've seen and heard before; the fly POV shots are hysterical; in one shot it's daytime--a minute later it's pitch black night (shades of Ed Wood Jr.!); lousy makeup and boring CGI effects and a stubborn refusal to be scary even once! I was so bored I dozed off for about 10 minutes (I didn't miss anything). It really boggles the mind that anyone would think this would ever work.

Some good performances make this bearable--Soto is beautiful but wooden however Ramsay is surprisingly good and McDowell is just great--he's obviously enjoying himself and his enjoyment rubs off (a little). Still this is a stupid, dumb, boring and completely illogical horror film. Right down there with "House of the Dead". A must miss.