Blumhouse's Fantasy Island has received a final trailer. Few (if any) studios have had quite as much success with low-budget movies in recent years as Jason Blum's production company. The majority of their hits have come in the forms of either director-driven horror films and thrillers like Get Out or home-grown franchises such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge. And while they're not above dusting off older properties, they've seen decidedly mixed results in that department so far, especially outside of the horror arena (e.g. Blumhouse's Jem and the Holograms).
1970s TV show Fantasy Island wasn't originally a horror IP, but is now being re-imagined as one by Blumhouse. Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare) from a script he co-wrote with Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach, the upcoming movie reboot follows a group of guests (played by names like Lucy Hale, Jimmy O. Yang, and Maggie Q) who stay at a luxurious, if remote, tropical resort where they can make their secret dreams and desires come true - but at a cost, as the island's mysterious owner, Mr. Roark (Michael Peña), warns them.
Ahead of its release as the anti-Valentine's Day choice next month, Sony has unveiled a final trailer for Fantasy Island. It doesn't reveal a whole lot more about the film than the first trailer did, but does include some previously-unseen footage, including a few glimpses of the movie's secret monster. Check it out, below.
The scene at the end of this trailer (where one of the characters encounter their doppelgänger) has a definite Truth or Dare vibe, for better or worse. Wadlow's previous Blumhouse film was highly profitable (thanks to its $3.5 million budget), but widely dismissed by critics for wasting a clever premise on generic slasher tropes. Fantasy Island has a similarly clever premise that's long been compared to The Cabin in the Woods meets Westworld, which only makes the cheap jump scares and flat characters in its trailers all the more foreboding. The movie's PG-13 rating isn't helping its cause either, considering a horror genre re-imagining of Fantasy Island sounds like something that absolutely lends itself to an R rating.
With a $7 million price tag, Fantasy Island shouldn't have a whole lot of trouble recouping its costs and becoming another commercial success for Blumhouse, regardless of its critical reception. It might even prove to be better than its marketing has indicated, with Peña lending his talents to the role made famous by Ricardo Montalbán in the original TV series. (For those wondering, the movie doesn't include Rourke's assistant Tattoo either, which is a discussion in and of itself.) Still, after a rough start for 2020 horror movies in January, it's probably better to approach Fantasy Island with lowered expectations and hope that it exceeds them.
Source: Sony
