DEATH WISH

DIRECTOR JEFF WADLOW TALKS TWISTING THE CLASSIC FANTASY ISLAND TV SERIES INTO A FULL-ON HORROR FILM…

- BRYAN CAIRNS

DREAMS TURN INTO NIGHTMARES in Blumhouse’s updated take of Fantasy Island. The original 1977 television series found guests arriving at a remote, luxurious island where owner Mr. Roarke, played by Ricardo Montalban, would help participants fulfill their fondest wishes, typically punctuated by a life lesson. The Fantasy Island feature film mostly takes a similar path. However, visitors in this incarnation will soon discover this place is anything but a tropical paradise.

“When it came time to talk about Fantasy Island, one of the ideas I got excited about was, ‘What is fantasy?’” director Jeff Wadlow (Blumhouse’s Truth Or Dare, Kick-Ass 2) explains. “If I show you something, did it really happen? Maybe it didn’t happen. Maybe I’m showing something you think is your fantasy, but maybe it’s not your fantasy. How do you know it’s your fantasy? Just because I said it’s your fantasy, it doesn’t mean it necessarily is. Do you know what your fantasy even is? There’s all these questions of subjectivity we can explore. Once we start making these things real, it starts to become even more interesting and thrilling.”

Fantasy Island operates on two rules. Each guest gets only one fantasy – that’s all. The second rule states that people must see their fantasy through to its natural conclusion… no matter what the cost. In this case, four individuals find their hearts’ desires twisted into terrifying circumstances.