Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Maleeha Vincent
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
mondo1287
The only thing interesting about this film was Hart Island's history. This is an island which contains the bodies of nearly one million destitute people, and the best idea they can come up with is killer flies and meal worms? This island's history is ripe for horror exploitation, and they chose killer flies. Forty five minutes and half way into this film nothing had happened and I was still hoping this movie was going to be about some zombies or monsters, or at least some ghosts. I got flies, and not in a good way like the X-Files episode from the first season.Then there's the actions of the characters. The first guy that gets attacked by the fies doesn't even run. He just stands there flailing around in slow motion, only it's not slow motion he's just moving slowly. Then when the guy dies in the office the inmate just has to bury the guy when the building is still full of flies? There also just happens to be a gun in an unlocked desk drawer where prison inmates are roaming freely. The boat captain places two big wads of chew in his mouth and doesn't realize it's giant meal worms and not chew until he goes for the third wad?Also, never mind explaining where these flies came from or how they even managed to make it back to the mainland. Worst movie ever.
lastliberal
This film doesn't make too much sense. A sergeant (Talisa Soto) assigned to missing persons, is looking for a little girl on an island where the indigent are buried. At the same time some real estate magnate (Malcolm McDowell) wants the island for homes for the homeless. Is it something he is doing out of the kindness of his heart, or does he have some plan connected to the pharmaceutical industry.No matter, they are all stuck on the island and the flies are p*ssed. Yes, flies. No alligators, or bears, or Godzilla, just flies. How much terror can you get from a swarm of flies? There are worms too, but that is just disgusting.Talisa Soto (Licence to Kill) is better than this. McDowell is washed up.
Johnathan B
Yes, I'm a sucker for zombie movies. I bought this thinking it was a zombie movie with Mos Def and Mc Dowell, two people I thought I would never see in a zombie movie. Looks like I was right. They could have at least tried to make it suspenseful. If you need to give it a try just remember to rest your fast forward finger up first. Its going to have a workout. Here is an idea, a giant granddaddy fly whose buzzing blocks cell phone transmissions. Put the sexy chick in some beat up outfit armed with a blow torch ala Aliens, or even better, a backpack sized can of Raid rigged up for use in a way not authorized by the makers. (A Raid Bomb!) My point is, there are ways to make movies like this better, They could have dumped one of those quickly forgotten actors to pay for the cheap rubber effects I mentioned. Hey, before it explodes she could say "Fly away, Mother*%@*&$!" I'll stop know, I'm making myself sick.
mstomaso
This is a low budget production which, at first blush, seems to have only a few things going for it. Sure, McDowell hasn't made a lot of good films lately, but nobody who has seen Clockwork Orange can really doubt that he has substantial talent. And whether or not Talisa Soto and Mos Def are in the plus column is a matter of personal opinion. OK, OK... the film really has very little going for it at first blush.So, going into this with absolutely no expectations, I was very pleasantly surprised. In fact, I am almost embarrassed to admit - given the hideous ratings here on IMDb for this film... I couldn't turn it off.What got me? Well, it certainly wasn't the plot. The story starts with a developer (McDowell) with questionably altruistic motives and a scheme to reinvent "the projects" by building an experimental community for the homeless on New York's Hart's Island. Also venturing to the island are a slap crew of short-term convicts and their overseers (assigned to grave-digging) and Soto - a missing persons investigator with a slightly mysterious past. Things start to go very very wrong after about half an hour, and people start to die and decay at a supernatural pace. I won't spoil the film by continuing my discussion, but I will say that although there are no zombies in the film, and virtually no special effects and minimal makeup, there are aspects of this film's atmosphere and basic dynamics which are very reminiscent of George A Romero. But this is very much a New York film.What got me was not the acting, though there's nothing really wrong with it. Burce Ramsay is very likable and so is Soto. McDowell has a few inspired moments, but this is not one of his best roles. The script didn't quite do it either, since there are at least a couple of spots where the behavior of the characters seems quite ludicrous.What got me was the way the film was made - the directing and photography, to be More specific. This is a very visually interesting film, involving simple visual ideas, metaphors and symbols which are eerie, creepy, but not at all heavy-handed. And Some truly wonderful decaying urban landscapes.Island of the Dead is absurd, noticeably low budget, and not very original in most ways, but it also reaches beyond its apparent potential and will entertain you if you let it - and if you like this sort of thing.
