Fantasy Island has released its first trailer and it will make the hairs on your arm stand up.
The film follows the enigmatic Mr Roarke (played by Michael Peña) who runs a luxurious, remote tropical resort. There, he makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true. But when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island's mystery in order to escape with their lives.
So, Saw on an island, basically? Sort of. More Westworld meets The Cabin in the Woods. But the source material for this film actually predates all of these things.
Blumhouse's horror film is actually a retelling of a 1970s show from the USA, which also had its own film version in 1977. The show, however, made Mr Roarke a more positive figure who would intervene if his guests' fantasies got out of hand, or seemed poised to cause serious harm.
The film, on the other hand, paints Mr Roarke not as someone who would intervene in a fantasy going wrong, but rather someone who would delight in the misfortune.
Blumhouse is leaning heavily into the horror and shying away from the camp that could easily define this kind of film. Like The Cabin in the Woods it also presents a meta-possibility, that the guests aren't there for their own fantasy but as part of someone else's.
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But whose?!
Fantasy Island also stars a Guardians of the Galaxy favourite, Michael Rooker, though his role is unknown. They are joined by Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) as Melanie and Jimmy O Yang (Crazy Rich Asians) as Brax.
Also in the cast are Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday, Ryan Hansen, Charlotte McKinney, Parisa Fitz-Henley, and Austin Stowell.
Fantasy Island is out in cinemas on February 14, 2020
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Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.
