Movie Review: Savage Island (2005)

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Keeping it in the Family!
The misses chose this one after having been overlooked many, many times before. I suppose with all the crap I make her watch, I couldn't exactly say no!

The story starts with a couple, Julia & Steven along with their baby Alex, travelling to see Julia's parents, the Young family. Julia is clearly frustrated with the marriage and Steven doesn’t hold back in letting her know his feelings about spending his vacation on an island in the middle of nowhere. The Young’s live on a small island which is currently inhabited by a family of squatters, the Savage family, as well as themselves. As Julia & Steven are waiting for the boat to take them across the water they meet two members of the Savage family.

What follows is an uneasy and unnerving scene which showcases perfectly what kind of a family they are. With this unpleasantness behind them, Julia's brother Peter arrives with the boat. After arriving on the island and under the influence of some wacky backy, Peter begins driving a bit irrationally and before long they hit something. Thinking it was just a deer; they leave and make their way to the house. In fact what they have hit will set off a chain of events which will culminate with the Savage family trying to take the young baby Alex and what started as a holiday will turn into their worst nightmare.

As for the rest! You will just have to watch and see...
The production value of this film is bad to terrible at best and the acting is not much better (For the most part) Somehow they managed to cast the late Don S. Davis of Stargate SG-1 fame as Julia's father, Keith. This is a move which sad to say fails to make up for the rest of the cast. The storyline on the other hand is rather good. Quite original in a sort of Texas Chainsaw way but... And this is a massive BUT, it is disastrously let down by the ending. Shock endings are always good in these types of horror films but not this time I’m afraid. You may think differently, you may love the ending. In my opinion, they could have done so much better! Do not let my views put you off though!

Despite the poor aspects of this film, Savage Island had a great base and if they had a bit more cash to splash, it would have been a different machine entirely. As I said, the misses picked this one out and whether it was an attempt to justify her decision or not, she really liked it and I didn't hate it. If low budget shock horror films with a twist are your thing, you should definitely give it a whirl.

Released: 2005
Savage Island (2005) on IMDb
My Rating: 4.5

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