Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (Unrated Cut)

[GoneJoel]

Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (2020)

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: MAY 12, 2020
On Digital: APRIL 14, 2020

[The Great Owl]

I enjoyed this movie, so I'm in. Here is my film content review...


The television show, Fantasy Island, which aired from 1977 to 1984, is a favorite relic from my childhood years, when I would watch with fascination as guests arrived by plane (“The Plane! The Plane!”) to the titular location, were greeted by the suave Mr. Roarke, played by Ricardo Montalbán, and were allowed to live out their innermost desires, which always came with a hefty price. I loved the dark edge of the stories, which dabbled in supernatural subject matter, despite the fact that the new arrivals during each episode generally found themselves in cloyingly clichéd scenarios.

When I found out that Blumhouse Productions, the company that gave us Paranormal Activity, Get Out, and Happy Death Day, was unleashing a cinematic reboot of Fantasy Island for younger generations, with Jeff Wadlow, who directed the so-bad-that-it's-good horror outing, Truth or Dare, two years ago, at the helm, my rational expectations were low, but the part of me that lives for scrappy B movies was in like Flynn. As I suspected, the end result is not a particularly good movie by conventional standards, but it is wildly entertaining in its own haphazard way and it throws enough Easter eggs to fans of the original series to keep the proceedings lively.

This time around, Mr. Roarke is portrayed by Michael Peña, who inserts a fair amount of menace to the part, despite his reputation as a comedic supporting actor in Marvel's Ant-Man films, as he meets the new arrivals and explains the rules of their wish fulfillments. Lucy Hale (Truth or Dare) stars as a young adult who dreams of exacting revenge on a girl who tormented her during her school years. The forever elegant Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard) is a downcast woman who wishes to relive a regretful moment that has since dictated her life. Austin Stowell (Whiplash) plays a police officer who always wanted to serve in the military as a soldier. Finally, Ryan Hansen (Like a Boss) and Jimmy O. Yang (Patriots Day) appear as brothers who just want to party hard.

Like Wadlow's Truth or Dare, this fresh take on Fantasy Island is a PG-13 affair which serves as a training wheels bicycle for younger horror fans before they sink their teeth into more visceral and more multilayered offerings from the genre, while also providing an easily-digestible moral for that target audience. Older viewers who, like me, just want to indulge in our nostalgia for the old television series should...(drumroll, please)...be careful what we wish for, because the experience of letting the fantasy play out to its end can sometimes inspire eye-rolls or unintentional laughter. The first hour of this film sets the stakes with appropriate unease, but the final 50 minutes overstay their welcome by pulling the rug out from under the main players a few too many times. Fortunately, even the storytelling missteps are engaging in their own endearing way. If nothing else, the location sets are worth the price of admission.

[zeze]

So is the unrated cut the R-rated version the director originally wanted?

[tallrichard]

I think the critics 8 and the audience 48 on rotten tomatoes says it all....

[Mystic]

Another bad reboot / remake from Hollywood that is an easy pass for me.

[GoneJoel]

Press Release

Fantasy Island will be released on digital April 14 and on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 12.

Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Bonus Materials

• Deleted Scenes
• Unrated and Theatrical Versions of the Movie Included
• Audio Commentary by Director Jeff Wadlow and Cast (Unrated Version Only)

Specs
Run Time: Approx. 109 minutes
Theatrical Version Rating: PG-13 for violence, terror, drug content, suggestive material and brief strong language
Feature: 1080p High Definition/ 2.39:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French, Spanish, English-Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital

[mredman]

Nice an Unrated cut is great news for the Blu-Ray. Will this be region free.

[Chaotic]

That cover......

[mredman]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

That cover......

I actually like the cover

[halloween5309]

I love blumhouse films and lucy hale

[Member-222782]

I walked out of this one. Bored me to tears.

[filmbuffTX]

It’s not great, but I thought it was entertaining enough. The premise is good. I’m curious to see if the unrated version is much different.

[Nailwraps]

Originally Posted by Mystic

Another bad reboot / remake from Hollywood that is an easy pass for me.

Because it takes something that's originally light-hearted and turn it into something it's not.

The Banana Splits Movie is another good example.

[levcore]

Looking forward to checking this one out.

[SpaceMind]

Originally Posted by zeze

So is the unrated cut the R-rated version the director originally wanted?

Originally Posted by filmbuffTX

I’m curious to see if the unrated version is much different.

That's what I am curious about. It may really change the movie.

[Kaiju]

"From Producer"

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by Nailwraps

Because it takes something that's originally light-hearted and turn it into something it's not.

The Banana Splits Movie is another good example.

The Banana Splits movie was really good. Haven’t seen this but might blind buy out of curiosity.

[lethalkrs]

I never even saw this hit the theaters before they all closed! Hmm, probably just get a digital copy on the cheap at some point.

[ghostbobb89]

Originally Posted by mredman

Nice an Unrated cut is great news for the Blu-Ray. Will this be region free.

Yep, it will be. All Sony blu-ray releases are region free.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

"From Producer"

Yep, that is indeed what it says.