Review: Monster Island (2025)

Review: Monster Island (2025)

[Music] Hey kids, I checked out a uh new movie on Shudder called the unimaginable title. middle of Monster Island. This is set in World War II in the Pacific. Uh it sort of borrows it’s a movie I’ve never seen before, but there’s been other things that were inspired by uh the plot or the setting of this movie or the original movie called Hell in the Pacific. uh John Borman movie with Lee Marvin and uh Tashiro uh no my fu oh how do you pronounce his name again? Oh, my he was somebody who uh worked with uh uh Akira Kurasawala. Well, this movie has the same kind of a setup. Uh other other things that were inspired by it. Uh the first time I saw this type of story was uh Galactica 1980, the return of uh Starbuck where Starbuck is stranded on a planet with a Sylon Centurion. Uh they of course they have to get along to survive. And then of course, even though it’s based on a book, the book is probably in partially inspired by uh the hell in the Pacific movie. Uh and that is Enemy Mine. Uh for those who don’t know, that’s uh a human and an alien that’s at war, much like the World War II situation in uh uh Hell in the Pacific and Monster Island. Uh but of course they have to get along to survive. Uh this is same type of situation except there’s a monster much like the Gilman and uh a creature from the Black Lagoon. Uh they do quickly start getting along, especially uh the monster attacks one of them very early on. Now the monster suit at first I really didn’t think was very good. uh the way they were shooting it, there was a lot of fast cutting and things obscuring it and such. It almost in a way that you would figure uh they’re trying to hide it, but eventually it comes out and is shown much more. and it ended up being pretty decent suit, but it it ends up being an acceptable suit. Uh there’s not a lot going on other than them sur eventually, you know, they get along and then they have to survive. You know, there’s uh the you know, the inevitable showdown between the two and the creature and finding out there’s probably more than the one creature on the island. Uh, pretty decent acting. Uh, not sure of the cast. I have to look those up. Uh, the Japanese character, uh, Dean Fuji Oka, I think that’s how you pronounce his name. And uh the American is Colum Woodhouse and Allan Maxon is the uh creature. It’s a It’s a pretty decent uh film. It has a you know nice island setting. Uh pretty good action uh with the monster especially at in the last scenes of the film when uh you know all hell breaks loose. Uh yeah, there’s almost a suggestion that somebody might also uh later on visit the island, you know, little sequel. Of course, the worst thing part of of of this movie is kind of a generic title, uh Monster Island. I don’t know, they could have come up with something a little bit better than that, but hey. Uh well that’s it for uh my Shutter release my Shutter original uh review or exclusive of Monster. Until next time, stay safe and always happy. Bye now.

The 2025 film “Monster Island” (also known as “Orang Ikan”) features a cast including Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse as the main leads, alongside Alan Maxson who plays the creature. The movie is set during World War II and follows a Japanese soldier and a British prisoner of war who are stranded on an island and hunted by a mythological creature, the Orang Ikan.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1V4mciJa8I