Fear Island (2009)

Fear Island (2009)

A film by Michael Storey

Not bad at all! This time, I didn’t waste my time!!!

It’s official: the six friends—Jenna, Ashley, Megan, Mark, Tyler, and Kyle—have graduated. Before they each go their separate ways, they want to party one last time and head off together to a remote island. But what starts as a carefree, festive trip turns into a nightmare with no way back. Everyone dies, and only Jenna survives this mysterious string of murders, wounded and traumatized. To the police, she’s the prime suspect in her friends’ murders, but Jenna fights to prove her innocence. She has more to hide, though, than anyone could imagine…

No, I haven’t spoiled the movie for you, because we learn these details right at the beginning anyway. The film uses flashbacks, but we already know there’s only one survivor.

The actors are pretty good!

Haylie Duff, an American actress, singer, and director, plays the lead role. She’s mostly used to B-movies. She rose to fame in 2005, at the age of 20, playing the role of Sandy Jameson in the family drama series 7th Heaven, until 2007. In 2006, she played the lead role in the film Material Girls, alongside her older sister Hilary.

Aaron Ashmore is apparently Shawn Ashmore’s twin brother! I didn’t know that before this movie. I’m not sure if I’d seen Aaron before, but I was already a fan of Shawn, whose movies I’ve seen, like X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003), and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) ! Yes, because that’s exactly how I discovered him—as a superhero. I also loved Frozen (2010). Sure, he’s also in some really bad movies, like Mother’s Day (2010), but everyone makes mistakes. By the way, he’s in Breaking the Girls (2013), a sort of lesbian Basic Instinct. He plays a horrible character in The Day (2011), but it’s always a pleasure to see him.

It’s worth noting that he’s also in It Feeds (2025), which is supposed to be the sequel to the famous It Follows (2014), and this time the excellent Ashley Greene stars in the lead role.

Without wanting to spoil anything this time—even though it’s hard—I’ll admit that this movie reminded me of Frailty (2001), Identity (2003), and even a little bit of The Usual Suspects (1995) as well. I’ll admit that, despite its flaws, I really enjoyed this movie. It’s a bit different from the usual slasher films. Here, we don’t witness a bloody murder every ten minutes, packed with gory details, guts, and repeated stabbings. No, there’s a certain subtlety and solid direction backed by a great script.

As for Lucy Hale, it’s really strange, because I had written in a review that this movie shouldn’t be confused with Fantasy Island (2019)… without realizing she was in this one too! Imagine my surprise when I saw her name in the credits and then watched her appear in the film. She’s an excellent actress. She was very young in this one.

Good entertainment, a movie I really enjoyed. No nonstop torture, no unbearable scenes, a certain subtlety. The group stays united and doesn’t split up at every turn. And each member seems very honest, which means everyone spills the beans on things others are trying to hide. Not with the aim of betraying, but rather to uncover the truth. Because we don’t know if the killer(s) are members of the group or someone from outside. And the ending is pretty cool.

Fear Island is better than Fantasy Island… and than quite a few other movies set on islands.