The description for Monster Island contained the phrase, “inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon”. For me, good or bad, that’s pretty much an instant watch. I’m a sucker for an old-fashioned monster movie, and there is a lot of classic charm in Monster Island. If only the budget met their aspirations.

• Directed By: Mike Wiluan
• Written By: Mike Wiluan
• Starring: Dean Fujioka. Callum Woodhouse. Alan Maxson

The set up is halfway decent, and more than slightly reminiscent of parts of Kong: Skull Island. A British soldier, Bronson, and a Japanese soldier, Saito, end up marooned on an island inhabited by monsters and must learn to work together to survive. Monster lsland takes some short cuts by establishing that Saito was arrested for treason. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just on the wrong side. 

Their friendship is odd, but only when considering that they don’t truly speak each other’s language. Most of the dialogue then is for the audience’s benefit, until the plot needs them to understand each other. The communication barrier is compelling, but its uneven implementation muddies the effect. 

The Budget

The budget for Monster Island really impacts the overall production when it comes to the monster. This is one hundred percent a guy in a suit.  Now I love a guy in a suit. If you are paying homage to Gill-man, this isn’t necessarily the wrong direction. There is something about this suit that feels lower effort than the movie deserves, however.  The filmmakers cover for it by mostly showing the creature in bits and pieces or using distance shots. They’re clearly trying to work with the limitations they have. 

They don’t really succeed. About halfway through, the movie separates its leads. This removes the most compelling part of the story for way longer than necessary. It’s because they are separated and fail to spend any meaningful time together that the ending falls flat. 

Well, one of the reasons anyway.

The End

Let’s unravel this one. Soldiers crashed on the fish person’s island. Due to a previous poor encounter, the “monster” chooses to defend their home. Am I supposed to be rooting for the monster to die here? I’m not buying it. This is a movie that works to show two people overcoming the “us vs. them” mentality, then completely undoes that by the actions of its leads. 

In the end, so much time is wasted on details that don’t quite land. If the point is that Saito and Bronson were able to become friends, then they should have spent more time together.   Their actions could have made sense if it’s in the context of protecting the life of their new friend, or vengeance.  Not enough time is spent to build that bond and overcome the language barrier. Saito needed to speak some English with Bronson. 

Final Thoughts

Monster Island is a short movie. If there is nothing else to watch and you’re really craving some monster violence, there are some nice moments of practical gore. Don’t get me wrong; 75% of this movie is beautiful jungle shots and not much else. But when the monster craves violence, she delivers.  There just isn’t enough of it.

Read other streaming reviews here:

• Until Dawn
• Thirteen Ghosts