I am a perennial supporter of underdog cinema. In fact, I pen a Dread Central column called The Overlooked Motel that’s dedicated to championing overlooked and underrated films. I began writing that recurring feature several years ago because I love discovering a diamond in the rough. It’s a rush to unearth a cinematic treasure lost to time. And it’s equally exciting to share these discoveries with like-minded film lovers.
With that in mind, I’m here today to spread the word about a picture from our distribution arm (DREAD) that remains woefully under-seen. But rest assured that no one asked me to write this piece and that I will be brutally honest so you know exactly what you’re in for. The film I’m championing today is called Island Escape. It’s a feature that melds action tropes with horror and science fiction elements. The flick delivers strong editing, an ever-present sense of paranoia, and a bevy of twists and turns along the way that lead to a rousing conclusion.
The setup for Island Escape goes like this:
When the daughter of a CEO with incredibly deep pockets and no moral compass winds up in trouble on an island off the coast of Nova Scotia, a group of mercenaries assembles to execute a rescue mission. As soon as they touch down on the island, it’s apparent that something is amiss. Duplicate items appear with no clear explanation as to why or how they got there; the core characters encounter zombie-like apparitions with violent designs; and there’s a collective sense of déjà vu amongst the mercs that suggests nothing is what it seems.
You may have noticed that I kept the plot crunch relatively vague. That was for your benefit, dear reader. Island Escape is a film that is best experienced without too much context. The less you know, the better. So, I will attempt to speak vaguely and avoid giving too much away in this critique. I will have to share some basic details to speak to the picture’s efficacy. But I will do my best to avoid giving away any more than necessary to run down the film’s strengths (and weaknesses).
Here’s what works well about Island Escape
Island Escape benefits from strategic editing. The picture flashes from the primary timeline to cutaways that foreshadow death, dismemberment, and various forms of malady. That is likely to find viewers confused and unnerved on a first-time watch. And I think that’s right where director Bruce Wemple wants us. A filmmaker wants their audience unnerved by a horror picture. And a twisty mind-bender like Island Escape works even more effectively when the details are a little hazy. The eventual revelations that await hit harder when you don’t see them coming.
The chaotic nature of the narrative and lack of information work as both a strength and a weakness. Less is usually more. When the viewer doesn’t have all the information, we must use our imagination to fill in the blanks. That’s often more frightening than anything a screenwriter could come up with to scare us. And that’s true to an extent here. The absence of an explanation regarding how the island’s magic (so to speak) functions invokes a sense of paranoia and augments the tension levels. With that said, I wish there had been more of an attempt to clarify some of the details.
Bewildering but never boring
Kernels of information dispensed at the right time can fill in blanks and make sense of a confounding narrative. We’re not given much to make sense of here. With that said, given the choice between knowing everything and knowing nothing, I will almost always pick the nothing option. I’d rather be unsure than bored. And Island Escape may be a bit bewildering at times, but it’s never boring.
Another aspect that impressed me is the way Bruce Wemple and his team make the most of a limited budget. It’s clear that Island Escape was filmed on the cheap, but the picture makes the most of its monetary resources by telling a compelling, self-contained story that doesn’t require a lot of bells and whistles to be immersive. Nearly the entire film takes place outdoors, which surely saved the production a pretty penny on set building and decor.
Despite being set in the great wide open, Island Escape still manages to feel contained and left me feeling like the proverbial walls were closing in. The mercs have a hell of a time getting off the island, and that makes the locale feel much smaller than it actually is. Tightly framed shots and the notion that danger is lurking around every bend bring a claustrophobic element to the proceedings. It can be challenging to make the indoors feel constricted on film, so doing the same outside is an impressive feat.
Claustrophobic nature aside, Island Escape is the kind of feature you may eventually want to revisit to piece together what you missed on the first go around. There are a lot of references to the series of twists at play that initially read as innocuous or maybe even irrelevant on an inaugural viewing. In rewatching the film, I was able to put some of those pieces together more easily.
Here are a couple of challenges I had with Island Escape:
Well, now that I’ve spoken to the film’s strengths, it’s only right that I weigh in on what doesn’t quite work. I found the fight choreography and accompanying sound design lacking. The way kicks and blows land upon connection and the sounds that accompany aren’t as polished as I’d like. It’s distracting, but not so egregious that you won’t be able to focus.
The CGI is also a little challenging at times. The film surely would’ve been more effective with higher quality CG (or preferably practical effects). But that’s a somewhat minor qualm and one that’s possible to look past.
All in all, Island Escape doesn’t get every last thing just right. But considering this is a lower-budget indie effort, I can overlook certain shortcomings. Considering the film’s strengths generally outweigh its weaknesses, I recommend giving it a shot. You can find Island Escape streaming on Prime Video as of the publication of this post. You can also grab it on physical media via the Dread Central store.
Categorized:Editorials
