Friday, October 19, 2018

October Horror Challenge 2018 #54: "Island Zero"



That's a cool movie poster too. Everyone's movie poster game is on point tonight, seriously.  One thing I really love about the horror Challenge every year is discovering great little low-budget or just lesser known horror movies I might never have seen otherwise, and today has been a great day in that respect. Every movie I've seen has been better than I thought it would be.

So in this movie, a remote island village in Maine suddenly seems cut off from the rest of civilization. The ferries stop running, people start to run out of food and supplies, and every boat they send looking for help disappears as well. It seems like something is out there in the darkness, picking them off one by one. Soon only a few survivors are left, and they must figure out what is happening before it's too late.

I wound up liking these characters more than I thought I would at first. They're hardly people, used to weathering storms in order to survive, and there's a terrifying unknown out there in the darkness that seems to want them dead. The suspense is palpable,  and that's due in part to the soundtrack, playing Christmas Carol's that become haunting in the context of what's happening in the movie. There isn't a ton of gore, but it's used well when it shows up, and there are some nasty death scenes. Once it becomes clearer what is out there in the dark, it rings true, and it's a scary thought...climate change is forcing many animals to flee their homes. What if it has the same effect on monsters too? Yikes. That's a scary thought, and it makes this movie that much more believable. I really enjoyed this one, and I didn't think I would, so yay!

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