Orang Ikan

I recently watched the Japanese film 🇯🇵 Monster Island (2024) on Shudder. The storyline follows a group of war criminals whose boat explodes, leaving them stranded on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. But they're not alone-something deadly hunts them, picking them off one by one. Where is this creature from, and can anyone survive it?

The film is written and directed by Mike Wiluan (Buffalo Boys) and stars Dean Fujioka (Fullmetal Alchemist), Callum Woodhouse (B&B), and Alan Maxson (V/H/S: Beyond).

There was a lot I enjoyed about this film. The practical effects were fantastic, and I especially loved the creature design-it had a strong Creature from the Black Lagoon vibe. The gore and kill scenes were impressive, but the CGI was hit or miss. Explosions, fire, and blood effects didn't quite land and pulled me out of the moment a bit. The story itself was very straightforward and lacked imagination, and by the final act, it started to lose steam.

In conclusion, Monster Island is a solid monster movie that mixes old-school creature feature charm with modern special effects. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

No pun intended - since Predator came out many moons ago (decades actually) any movie that is close to what it did, will be compared with it. You know: if it bleeds, we can kill it. Same applies here and again no pun intended. Just saying for arguments sake and all that.

Now I do not remember the budget that Predator had, but it was big budget (Schwarzenegger just to name one of the actors in it) - and this right here is anything but. So if you consider the budget this had, this is really well done! And while the story may not have many surprises, the effects work as intended. Also the run time is short enough - so I don't think anyone will be annoyed at any point. Action and stunts are good too - the make up/costume is also quite good ... yes you can tell it is a human in a suit ... but suspension of disbelief is needed with most movies anyway, this is no different in any regard.

Just go along with the ride ... not a holiday vacation of course.

The look of the creature in this movie is inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon but it is nowhere a pg13 creature.

The creature attack scenes r solid n so are the practical effects.

Thankfully nothing is shot in the dark n none of the shaky cam stuff.

The kills are very brutal.

Decapitations, heart removal, slashing via claws, etc.

The creature ripping apart the jaws of a big fat crocodile will remind King Kong ripping apart the jaws of a dinosaur in the Peter Jackson version.

The lead actor Callum Woodhouse looked a bit similar to Michael Hall of Dexter fame.

The Japanese actor showcased some good sword skills.

What can you say when the scrip is obviously one of Bruno Mattei's old leftover Preditor rip offs, literally whole scenes ... In this day and age how on earth could this get passed as anything other than a pastiche ? ... But no, sense of humour is totally absent ... Its well filmed and acted ... It isn't written, its some dreadful cut and paste job ... The creatures are quite good, though obviously a guy in a suit, which is cool in my book ... The pacing is awful, it draaaaaaaaaaags from the start ... What should have been a fun romp creature feature is just handled far too seriously and it totally ruins it ... Just a complete waste of time and money when they obviously had enough money to make something decent ... Main problem must have been obvious from pre production ... Who green lit this and didn't have the suss to see that it could have succeeded with a bit of work from a decent writer and a director that knew what he was doing.

Watched this on Shudder and it was really good - a canny little story with silly monsters. Acting of the two main characters was believable - if you have watched The Durrells, well the English actor was the lad who played Leslie Durrell.

It doesn't take itself too seriously which made it an enjoyable movie. If you do the Nightmare on Film Street "31 days of Horror Movies" in October, this one's great for a Creature Feature movie.