So, I Watched MONSTER ISLAND… 👀

So, I Watched MONSTER ISLAND… 👀

So, the kind folks over at the horror streaming service Shudder ended up sending me an early screener for a new Creature Flick that’s going to be hitting their platform starting on July 25th. When I first saw the poster for the film and the trailer, the first thing that came to mind was Creature from the Black Lagoon, aka the Gilman. And after having seen the film, that is definitely the inspiration for this film in a lot of ways. Not necessarily narratively, but in terms of the creature that we’re following in this film. The film takes place during World War II and focuses on a Japanese soldier and a British soldier who find themselves stranded on an island and at first are fighting each other only to realize that there is a bigger threat in the area, which is this fishman creature that’s on the island. And this leads to some pretty cool monster sequences for sure. This is a film that leans into the practical. If you’re like me and you’re a sucker for a good creature flick that, you know, has animatronics and costume design that doesn’t necessarily lean solely into CGI and allows the creature to be a practical thing in camera, then I think you’re going to enjoy a lot about this film. It’s a good-looking film when it comes down to practical effects. There’s some good blood and guts in the film. Somebody gets their head ripped off at a certain point, which is pretty cool, and all of it is practical. And while there are a few moments of digital effects that don’t look as good, and that’s where some of the limits in its budget start to show, I think for the most part, this is a good-looking film practically. And the fact that it’s mostly filmed in the actual jungles of Indonesia, added to the overall atmosphere and look of the film, definitely allowing us to be in beaches and and in the trees and in the mountains and allowing the overall look of the film to be, you know, feel tangible, have this good sense of practical effects, which I really thoroughly enjoyed. Outside of that, when it comes down to the narrative, it is fairly paper thin. I think with a runtime of only an hour and 23 minutes with credits, I think this film is definitely something that could have benefited from maybe an extra 15 20 minutes to really flesh out our characters because I think you have an interesting idea here where you have two characters, one who speaks Japanese and one who speaks English that don’t know how to communicate with one another, which at times can be an interesting way to tell a story and lean into visual storytelling. And while I do think that the monster island has moments like that, there’s unfortunately a lot of moments in this film where it just feels like they kind of do the bare minimum with the characters. And while it kind of leads up to a big fun action setpiece with the monster, it did kind of feel just okay as a movie overall, even though there are some pretty big moments in the film. I have a full review for this over on my YouTube channel if you guys want to hear more details. But I’m curious, are you planning on checking this out? Or if you’re seeing this video after you’ve already seen it, what you

Just checked out Monster Island, Shudder’s newest creature feature dropping July 25th. Set in 1942, it follows a Japanese soldier and a British POW who crash on a remote island and have to work together to survive a terrifying creature from Malay folklore. Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse lead the cast, and director Mike Wiluan brings some real old-school monster movie energy to it. If you’re into wartime horror with a mythical twist, definitely give this one a shot when it drops.

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