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| All Images Courtesy Eureka Entertainment |
For this year’s Halloween season, Eureka Entertainment gave their limited-edition blu-ray treatment to a lesser-seen Hong Kong horror film with major cult potential. 1985’s The Island (no relation to the Michael Bay film) has long languished in obscurity, receiving very sparse distribution over the years, despite having all the ingredients of a film that international horror audiences would be quite interested in. The film is a Hong Kong cocktail of various Western horror influences: The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Deliverance. But while it wears those influences on its sleeve, the film’s sensibility, and its particular mix of darkness and humor, is distinctly Hong Kong. Bolstered by some solid extras, Eureka’s disc is a great, belated opportunity for US cult cinema fans to finally visit The Island.
THE FILM:
A high school geography teacher (John Sham, of Yes, Madam! and I Love Maria) leads a group of students on a summer-break camping trip to an island off the coast of Hong Kong. But what is meant to be a fun long weekend of hiking and beach relaxation instead turns into a battle for survival, because the island is home to a deranged family of three brothers, still ruled by the tyrannical memory of their dead domineering mother, and the brothers have set their eyes on one of the girls in the group, who they plan to abduct and make part of the family. The setup is fairly similar to The Hills Have Eyes, as is the mix of slasher thriller and tense survival horror that results. But unlike the deadly-serious The Hills Have Eyes, The Island also has a vein of goofy (if sometimes very dark) humor, which is a bit more reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 at times, filtered through the slapstick lens of Hong Kong comedy.
On paper that sounds like a blast, and when it is working at its best, The Island is a quite effective and quite surprising film. But it is also a very mixed bag, ultimately because the film is so all over the place tonally. Hong Kong genre films are known for freely mixing tones, and taking hard shifts from comic to serious and back again, but The Island does that to a more severe degree than most I’ve seen. After a very dark opening sequence, the first chunk of the movie leans heavily into very broad and goofy slapstick comedy. John Sham’s bumbling idiot of a teacher feels purely comedic, as do many of his broadly-characterized students. All of this led me to expect a bonkers, gonzo horror-comedy more in that Texas Chainsaw 2 vein; a film that The Island absolutely evokes. But then as the movie shifts more towards horror, rather than taking that path, it opts for a tense, slow-burn build leading up to an explosion of violence. Each of these approaches work wonderfully in a film that fully commits to them, but since The Island has a foot in each tonal approach, they have a way of undercutting each other. The slow-burn build of horror doesn’t feel as gonzo and batshit as the level of slapstick would lead you to expect, and the amount of comedy tends to dilute the suspense. Both of the film’s approaches result in some very fun, effective, and memorable scenes, but ultimately the movie lands awkwardly in the middle, and doesn’t fully work as humor or horror.
That is, until the last act, when the slow burn finally explodes into the violent battle that the movie has been teasing, and the tonal balance shifts decisively towards horror, at which point the ingredients coalesce, and the movie finally does work. The climax of this movie is very good, providing a very tense and effective mix of backwoods slasher and survival-situation suspense. Sham’s goofy teacher character also displays some solid growth into a much more compelling protagonist, as he must dig down and find his survival instincts. The film also packs some quite nasty kills, and very effective setpieces.
Ultimately the film is such a mixed bag that it doesn’t fully work, but when it is on top of its game, it can be quite good, and it is never less than interesting. It definitely is worth a look if you are a fan of both Hong Kong cinema and slasher movies, since it is one of the only Hong Kong slashers I’ve encountered, and fascinating to see the unique take on the genre.
THE EUREKA SPECIAL EDITION:
Eureka’s disc features a new 2k restoration of the film, which looks excellent. It’s a nicely filmic transfer, which boasts very good-looking colors and contrast, and little to no print wear or damage. The disc doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of extras, but what’s here is very good. The disc features two commentaries, both by film experts: one by Frank Djeng, and one by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Both commentaries are very good, and filled with quality information on the film and its production. Rounding out the extras is an interview with the director, from a film festival, and it is very interesting. He has some great stories about the film’s ambitious and chaotic production, shot entirely on-location on an actual isolated island, on a very tight budget. It’s a great interview if you’re an appreciator of the film.
All in all The Island is a mixed bag, with some elements that really work, some that don’t, and an overall scattered tone as a result. But it is definitely an interesting watch, and a unique genre blend, as basically Hong Kong’s answer to The Hills Have Eyes. Slasher fans and Hong Kong cinema fans might find it worth a look, and there are definitely things to enjoy here, although I would say it is more of a rent than a buy.
- Christopher S. Jordan
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