The Isle

Why is this movie listed in the horror section? It is NOT HORROR! It should be listed under drama/suspense, but not horror. If you go into it (as I did) being misled, thinking it is a horror film, you might be sorely disappointed. I wasn't because I love atmospherics. I love movies & TV shows where the setting is as important as the story and characters. In fact, good atmospherics create another character out of the setting, (sometimes it is the most important character, as was the case here). This desolate, godforsaken isle, is as much of a character, as the rest of the disconsolate souls that are stranded here. Why are they stuck here? Why are they trying to convince the newly arrived shipwrecked sailors, to make this isolated place their new home? Everyone here seems to be in on the same secret, can the sailors figure it out in time? And will they all make it out alive?

If you like a spooky setting, with more suspense than gore, then give this movie a try. If you're looking for blood & guts, look elsewhere.

There's the makings of a good supernatural mystery in here somewhere but sadly it doesn't really come together. The lonely Island shrouded in most: check The unfriendly local man with something to hide: check The benevolent ingénue: check The ethnic minority character who wants to explore the island alone: check The spectre hovering in the background: check BUT it's sadly much less than the sum.of it's parts. There's no compelling story and no real scares.

Having read the very controversial reviews on The Isle I pretty much had to give it a go for myself, and I have to say that the feeling you get while scrolling past of those 1-star and 10-star ratings is itself the best review for this film.

The Isle has a good story and it would have such big potential, but it falls short for clearly too small budget. Either it's that, or lazyness that makes about the half of the film looking like a student film.

So I did have several issues with this film:

• Acting is all over the place, and some of the actors don't have a clue how they should carry their character. Many awkward moments.

• Directing is sometimes okay, sometimes it isn't quite sure of itself and how to continue from certain points of the story.

• The film stretches the running time needlessly. There are quite a few moments where the story simply does not need to take a moment to reflect or react, but nevertheless it's there and this accumulates to at least 15-20 minutes of pure nothing. It would be different if this time would be used cleverly and building the tension, but The Isle just can't manage it.

But, as I said earlier and as it reads in the title, the story has potential. If this story would be picked up by a more talented director and gathered a bit more seasoned actors and actresses, it might come out a brilliant movie. Sadly, that's not how it is now.

5/10, "meh, would not want to watch it again".

So I saw this last night and after seeing the high rating I thought that this film was going to be great, it wasn't.

The acting was okay. The story was okay, not used to it's full potential. No horror or jump scares what so ever.

Now should you see this film, well if you want to see a wasted chance of a great story done bad then this is it.

Don't believe the hype this film is not good. As people have stated before about false ratings is done by people associated with the film.

I wasted a whole evening watching this.

Absolute shocker of a film. The rating of 6.5 was enough to convince me to watch it, and although ratings can be wrong (I have seen some very good 4/10's in the past) There is no possible way on earth that this is a 6.5. I feel i'm being extremely generous with a 3 star. I'm still considering making it a 2 as i write this review.

Bad casting, bad acting (I mean, really bad acting) even the costumes weren't believable. The only saving grace was the occasional nice view and half decent camera work.

It's a stinker, folks. Watch it if you want......but don't say i didn't warn ya.