User:ChessPiece21/sandbox/Blumhouse's Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island, also known as Blumhouse's Fantasy Island, is a 2020 American supernatural horror-comedy film written and directed by Jeff Wadlow. Serving both as a darker reimagining and a prequel to ABC's 1977 television series of the same name, it follows a group of people who, while visiting the eponymous island, discover that their dream fantasies brought to life begin to turn into horrific living nightmares they must try to survive. Jason Blum produced through his Blumhouse Productions banner.

Plot
The enigmatic Mr. Roarke makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort, but when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island's mystery in order to escape with their lives.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) It turns a beloved 1970s television series, which is fun and lighthearted in tone, into a dark and gory horror movie. While this is somewhat unique, it has terrible execution, and angered and horrified those who grew up with the original Fantasy Island. In fact is nothing like the original series other than keeping the character of Mr. Roarke.
 * 2) The film has an abysmal grasp of the original source material - Mr. Roarke is a much more benevolent figure in the original series and constantly attempts to show the island's guests that fantasies can be dangerous, while here he distorts their fantasies and tortures them for his own pleasure. Tattoo, the assistant in the original series, is actually an island guest named Brax who is turned into the character by Roarke as his "punishment."
 * 3) The film relies too much on jumpscares and body horror compared to the psychological and realistic conflicts in the original. The humor also feels incredibly out of place, and the film's attempts at situation-based humor feels like a bad attempt at copying The Cabin in the Woods.
 * 4) Abysmal acting, even from decent actors like Michael Peña, Lucy Hale, Michael Rooker, and Jimmy O. Yang. None of the cast shows any enthusiasm with their roles.
 * 5) Anachronism. While this is supposed to be a prequel to the 1970s series, which takes place in the decade it was filmed in, there are showcases of and references to the Internet as well as contemporary popular culture.
 * 6) Unlikable characters, especially Melanie (an extremely emotionally disturbed young woman with no redeeming qualities whatsoever) and Patrick (a cop who becomes extremely power-hungry once he gets his fantasy there).
 * 7) A confusing and strange message at the end of the film - while Mr. Roarke was trying to show the guests that fantasies are not always ideal, he still says that they shouldn't stop following their dreams as long as they don't hurt anyone.
 * 8) False Advertising. The film's trailers exclusively show Melanie as the only island guest (presumably because Lucy Hale, her actress, is the most popular person in the cast aside from Michael Peña), but her role is extremely limited in the second half of the film. One trailer additionally shows additional footage of the scene with Melanie torturing her childhood bully with no

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) J.D. and Brax, two stepbrothers who visit the island with the goal of getting rich, are likable characters and have believable character development. This is not the only bad film their actors did in 2020, however.
 * 2) Mr. Roarke is also likable enough, and, while somewhat boring, Michael Peña did a good job playing him in a way that respects the late Ricardo Montalbán's portrayal of him in the classic series.
 * 3) Tthe film is well-shot and the special effects look very good.
 * 4) A decent soundtrack from Bear McCreary, known for his work on Battlestar Galactica, Human Target, and several video game soundtracks.

Reception
The film, a box office bomb, received extremely negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 7% based on 107 critics, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The site's critics consensus read: "Fantasy Island tries to show audiences the dark side of wish fulfillment, but mainly serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of exhuming long-dead franchises." On Metacritic, the film had a score of 21 out of 100 based on 29 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.